What a weekend of baseball at the USSSA Beast of the East (BoE) Select 30 Super NIT. We're going to do our recaps in parts because there was too much action to detail in a single post. We'll start with the 8's and the 9's where a combined 8 ranked North Carolina teams and 2 ranked South Carolina teams took the fields this weekend. In the end, our #1 8u team, East Rowan, and our #1 9u team, SBA Futures, stood out in loaded fields and took home the titles in their respective age groups. Here we recap the 8 and 9u action from this past weekend in Charlotte.
8u
6 of our top 10, including #'s 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 9 were in the loaded Beast of the East field in Charlotte this past weekend. #1 East Rowan scored an 18-4 win over the Carolina Reds (SC) and an 11-6 win over Charlotte Metro Region #5 MARA Mud Dawgs to get their weekend started. The Mud Dawgs blasted their way to an impressive 19-4 win over NC #5 McDowell Titans in their other pool play game. The Titans fell 10-7 against the Reds in their other pool play game, to finish a disappointing 0-2 in pool play. NC #7 Dry Pond finished pool play with the top seed for bracket play after a 13-2 win over Equip and a 5-3 win over Union County Crush - Roadcap. The South Charlotte Cardinals finished with the #2 seed after a 7-6 win over NC #9 Lugnuts Blue and an 18-3 win over the WCWAA Waves in pool play. NC #2 Dirtbags Black finished with the #3 seed for bracket play with a 2-0 showing in pool play including a 10-3 win over Lugnuts Blue and a 17-7 win over the Waves. NC #6 SBA Futures finished 1-1 in pool play, topping equip 12-4 and falling 8-6 against Union County Crush - Roadcap.
4 teams (Dirtbags Black, Dry Pond, East Rowan, and the South Charlotte Cardinals) earned byes into the quarterfinals on Sunday. In the play-in games, the SBA Futures rolled to a 19-6 win over the McDowell Titans, the MARA Mud Dawgs got past Equip with an 8-5 victory, the WCWAA Waves moved on with a 12-5 win over Crush - Roadcap, and Lugnuts Blue scored a 19-10 win over the Carolina Reds. In the quarterfinals, SBA Futures notched an 8-5 win over Dirtbags Black, the MARA Mud Dawgs blasted their way to a 17-5 win over the South Charlotte Cardinals, East Rowan rolled to a 9-2 win over the WCWAA Waves, and Dry Pond notched a 22-7 win over Lugnuts Blue. In the semifinals, the Mud Dawgs advanced on the strength of a 14-3 win over the Futures, while East Rowan pounded out a 19-11 win over Dry Pond. In the finals, East Rowan put on exclamation point on their #1 ranking in North Carolina and finished off a 5-0 weekend with a 14-6 win over the MARA Mud Dawgs.
Predicted champion: Dirtbags Black
Champion: East Rowan
Instant Analysis
How could we have picked against East Rowan? East Rowan has now laid claim to perhaps the two biggest titles of the 2018-2019 8u season with Top Gun Winter World Series and the Spring BoE championships, and set themselves apart in the 8u age group. There's still plenty of baseball to be played this spring, but these guys are a clear #1 right now in the 8u age group. We also saw a fair number of evenly matched teams near the middle of our top 10, with Dry Pond, Dirtbags Black, and the SBA Futures having up-and-down, but still solid weekends. It was a disappointing weekend for both the McDowell Titans and Lugnuts Blue, who did not appear to play up to their own high standards this weekend. The MARA Mud Dawgs and union County Crush - Roadcap both produced some impressive results as unranked teams with wins over ranked opponents. Of note, over in Greensboro, NC #4 Spartans - Mullins went 3-1 for the weekend, falling to the GBC Prospects in the finals. The Prospects also finished 3-1 for the weekend, falling to the Spartans in pool play before defeating them in the finals.
9u
13 teams, including teams ranked #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, and 16 in North Carolina, #1 and 8 teams in South Carolina, and perhaps the top team in Michigan, faced off this weekend in the 9u Majors division in Charlotte. NC #1 SBA Futures earned the top seed for bracket play with a 16-2 win over SC #8 Titans Baseball and a 15-0 win over the Upstate Reds (SC). NC #2 Dirtbags Black scored the #2 seed for bracket play with a 17-2 win over NC #4 HPT HiToms and a 9-1 win over SC #1 Team 24 Gamecocks - Clayton. The HiToms fell 13-4 against NC #6 Triple Crown Lookouts in their other pool play game, while Team 24 dropped an 11-7 decision against Dingers Athletics - Locke (GA) in their other pool play game. The Lookouts finished off a 2-0 run in pool play with an 8-7 win over Titans Baseball, and found themselves with the #6 seed for bracket play. Dingers Athletics rolled to a 21-0 win over the Upstate Reds in their other pool play game and earned the 3 seed for bracket play. The #1 team in Michigan, the Motor City Hitdogs finished 2-0 in pool play and scored the #4 seed for bracket play after an 18-2 win over NC #16 Union County Crush - Gadd, and an 11-6 win over NC #9 Ultimate performance Black Sox. NC #3 LBC Vipers went 2-0 in pool play with a 7-2 win over the Black Sox and an 11-7 win over NC #8 Five Star Carolina - Young to finish with the #5 seed for bracket play. Five Star Carolina - Young fell 8-7 against Crush - Gadd in their other pool play game, which left Crush - Gadd with the #7 seed and Five Star - Young the #9 seed for bracket play.
The SBA Futures, Dirtbags Black, and Dingers Athletics all received byes into the quarterfinals of bracket play. In the play-in games, The Lookouts edged past Titans Baseball 7-6, Team 24 - Clayton notched a 9-3 win over Crush - Gadd, the Vipers got past the HiToms 12-10, Motor City Hit Dogs - Hammond rolled to an 18-7 win over the Upstate Reds, and Five Star Carolina - Young blasted their way to a 14-2 win over Ultimate Performance Black Sox. In the quarterfinals, Dingers Athletics edged the Lookouts 9-8, Dirtbags Black notched a 12-3 win over Team 24 - Clayton, Motor City rolled to a 15-2 win over the LBC Vipers, and the SBA Futures launched an impressive 20-1 win over Five Star - Young. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black got past Dingers Athletics 13-5 whle the Futures stymied Motor City on their way to a 10-1 win to set up a showdown of the top 2 teams in North Carolina in the finals. In the finals, our top team, SBA Futures, continued to show why we have them ranked #1 as they got past the Dirtbags with a 7-2 win to take home the 9u BoE crown.
Predicted champion: SBA Futures
Champion: SBA Futures
Instant Analysis
We got this one right, with the SBA Futures taking home the BoE crown this weekend. The tournament win by the Futures made our #1 teams in the 8u and 9u age groups 2 for 2 with titles this weekend. The Futures were dominant all weekend, outscoring 5 opponents a combined 68-6 on their way to the title. While #2 Dirtbags Black was similarly impressive, outscoring 5 opponents 53-18 while going 4-1 weekend, the Futures have left no doubt who the #1 9u team in North Carolina is currently. While #3 LBC Vipers and #6 Triple Crown Lookouts both went 3-1 this weekend, it was a down weekend for #4 HPT HiToms, who went 0-3 against some excellent competition. #9 Ultimate Performance Black Sox also went a disappointing 0-3 this weekend, but saw some excellent competition in the LBC Vipers, #8 Five Star Carolina - Young, and the top team in Michigan, the Motor City Hit Dogs - Hammond. Of note, NC #13 NC Rogue went 4-0 this weekend, taking the title over in Greensboro, while the Roberson Ramblers took home the title in Morganton, including a win over Mountain Region #4 Equip.