The return of our annual ranking of the top programs in North Carolina is here. Every year we try and produce a ranking of the programs involved in travel baseball. This ranking is based off performance across all of the youth age groups (8u-13u) and is meant to be a cumulative assessment of a program’s overall performance. These rankings say NOTHING about the quality of instruction, cost/value of a program, or the quality of the players and families involved with these and other organizations. Congratulations to all the programs who made our rankings.
The SBA Futures finished the 2018-2019 12u season as the #1 team in this age group, and they finished off the fall 2019 season in the same spot. They have shown they are willing to travel anywhere and play anyone, but the gap between the Futures and the rest of the top of the age group is small. Hopefully we’ll see some more competition between the top teams in this age group this spring.
Although the 11u age group may have been the most controversial in the race for #1, the decision was nearly as difficult in the 12u age group as well. Several of the teams who have been around the top in years past were again top competitors in the fall, however in the end it was the Rawlings Prospects who won out for #1 spot in our final rankings. Here we recap an outstanding season of baseball in the 12u age group.
There was perhaps no bigger debate for the #1 spot in an age group than in the 11u age group. 3 teams – the SBA Futures, Park Sharon Nationals – Pirro, and the SBA Nationals – made strong cases for the #1 spot. In the end, we chose the Futures for our #1 team, but this will be a debate that continues into 2020. Here we recap the Fall 2020 season in the 11u age group.
It was a tight battle for the top spot in the 10u age group, with the results of a single extra inning game separating the top two teams. Right behind the top two teams were several other strong performing teams in this highly competitive age group. We saw a lot of matchups between ranked teams this fall and this will be an exciting age group to follow in 2020. Here we recap the fall season in the 10u age group.
The 9u age saw a number of teams state their case for the top spot this fall, posting some impressive showings. In the end, SBA Rowan’s outstanding record and level of competition won out as they held onto the top spot in our final rankings. Here we recap the seasons of our top 20 teams in North Carolina.