12u End of Season Rankings Recap 2018-2019

The 12u age group had perhaps the most competitive race for #1 of any age group, with at least 6 teams staking a claim for the top spot. In the end, that lead to significant controversy, even among ourselves, over where each of the top 6 should be ranked. Here we'll lay out our rationale for our rank order for the top 6 and the rest of the top 20 in an outstanding age group.

1. SBA Futures

   The SBA Futures have been one of the top teams in North Carolina and the United States for several years. They are currently 16th in Perfect Game's National 12u Top 100 rankings after going 34-5-1 this spring, and 55-13-2 overall as a 12u team. They finished #1 in NC in our final 11u rankings last year, and proved once again to be the top team in the state this year. They scored 8 wins over nationally ranked teams (#24 Canes Baseball NC - Hood, #25 Motor City Hit Dogs (MI), #53 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson [x2], #77 Mission Vipers Gold, #81 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, and #100 Dirtbags Legends [x2]) and posted a 13-4-1 record against top 20 teams in North Carolina. This included wins over #2 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, #3 Mission Vipers Gold, #4 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson (x2), #5 Canes Baseball NC - Hood, #6 Dirtbags Legends (x2), #12 LKN Hurricanes, #13 Kernersville Bulldogs, #14 WNC Five Star, #15 NC Saints, and #16 Vision Bandits.

2. Five Star Carolina - Neyra

   We settled on Five Star Carolina - Neyra at #2, however this wasn't without serious debate. Five Star went 33-7-2 this spring, and 44-13-4 overall this past year. They had 6 wins over national top 100 teams (#29 Yalobusha Giants (MS), #53 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #76 Double Plays (GA), #77 Mission Vipers Gold, #92 Meridian Panthers (GA), and #100 Dirtbags Legends. In addition, they had an 11-7 record against top 20 competition. This included wins over #3 Mission Vipers Gold, #4 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #6 Dirtbags Legends, #7 Rock Solid Red, #9 NCDB Rivercats (x4), #11 Dirtbags East, #13 Kernersville Bulldogs, and #17 West Raleigh Blue. They also had a win over 11u #1 Canes Baseball NC - Foster this past fall and a tie against #1 SBA Futures.

3. Mission Vipers Gold

   The top 6 were exceedingly difficult to feel we ranked accurately as there are strong arguments to move teams up or down relative to one another. We decided on Mission Vipers Gold at #3 after they went 29-10-1 this spring, and 46-14-1 overall this past year. The Vipers are currently ranked #77 in Perfect Game's national top 100. They posted 7 wins over national top 100 teams (#8 East Cobb Astros Orange, #53 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #81 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, and #100 Dirtbags Legends [x4]). They had an 11-5 record against top 20 teams in North Carolina including wins over #9 NCDB Rivercats, #15 NC Saints, and #18 Carolina Astros (x3), in addition to their wins over Five Star - Neyra, Canes - Simpson, and Dirtbags Legends.

4. Canes Baseball NC - Simpson

   The Canes finished a combined 53-12 this past year, including 35-6 this spring, and are currently #53 in Perfect Game's national top 100. They notched 5 wins over national top 100 teams (#16 SBA Futures, #77 Mission Vipers Gold, #81 Five Star Carolina - Neyra, and #100 Dirtbags Legends [x2]). They also had an overall record of 10-9 against top 20 competition in North Carolina. This included wins over #7 Rock Solid Red (x3), #15 NC Saints, and #18 Carolina Astros, in addition to their wins over the Futures, Mission Vipers Gold, Five Star - Neyra and Dirtbags Legends.

5. Canes Baseball NC - Hood

   Canes - Hood notched an 18-8-2 record this spring and a 30-12-2 record overall this past year. They are currently ranked 24th in Perfect Game's top 100. Over the course of the past year, they notched 8 wins over teams in the top 100 including #16 SBA Futures, #18 MVP Hustle - Celiz (CA), #29 Yalobusha Giants (MS), #65 HTX Swing Kings (TX), #74 Monroe Rockets (LA), #77 Mission Vipers Gold, and #81 Five Star Carolina - Neyra (x2). They had 2 other wins over top 20 teams from North Carolina including over #7 Rock Solid Red and #11 Dirtbags East and an overall record of 6-2 against top 20 teams from North Carolina. We found Canes - Hood to be a difficult team to feel we could accurately rank. The tied for the most wins over top 100 teams in this age group, however had far fewer wins and games against other top 20 in-state teams than the other teams in the top 5-6 in this age group.