8u
No changes here as the vast majority of 8u teams were idle this weekend. The South Charlotte Cardinals did have a nice weekend, finishing 2nd in the USSSA Beast of the East (BoE), but this was not enough to supplant any of our top 3 8u teams.
9u
Similar to the 8u age group, many of our top teams were idle in the 9u age group. Park Sharon continued their dominate play this fall at the BoE, although they needed a huge rally late to beat the Carolina Red Sox – Jones. Not much separating West Raleigh Blue or Dirtbags Black at this point, except for West Raleigh’s Top Gun WWS win. They’re 1-1 against each other this fall. The Piedmont Panthers continue to just win, but they haven’t faced the same level of competition West Raleigh Blue or Dirtbags Black have faced so they stay at #4 behind those two. The Carolina Titans remain at #5 and remain 13-1 this fall with their only loss against #13 Smash Baseball. Five Star Carolina – Hilton and Greenville Athletics – Scott stayed put, while the Lake Norman Thunder dropped from 8th to 11th after a 2-2 weekend that including two losses to the Piedmont Panthers. This allowed SW Colts, NCDB Rivercats, and Davidson County Rippers to all move up a spot. The Summerfield Stars moved into the rankings at #14 after a 4-0-1 weekend at the AA 9u Beast of the East tournament that included a tie with East Rowan, and wins over new #18 Diamond Deacons and #19 GBC Prospects. The Diamond Deacons dropped from #10 to #18 after a 3-2 weekend with losses to the Carolina Red Sox and the Summerfield Stars. Smash Baseball and Carolina Red Sox – Jones each moved up a spot, as did Mount Holly Lightning, GBI Express, and the Neuse River Broncos.
10u
This is a difficult age group to rank. Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist have a 20-2 record against the most competitive schedule of any 10u team. The MARA Cobras just gave the Canes their only loss to a 10u team this season, with a 6-4 win at the BoE. They are 1-1 against one another this fall with both teams winning one game by 2 runs. We decided to keep the Canes at #1 this week. The Canes gave MARA their only loss to a North Carolina team this fall (MARA is 10-3 with losses to Gameday Shockwave from SC and the Georgia Bandits) and have just played a better schedule than MARA. If the Canes don’t win the Top Gun WWS next weekend, we will probably move them down. Clayton Fusion stayed at #3 as they were idle. The Port City Rebels dropped from #4 to #7 after going 1-1 and losing to the Stix this weekend. Mission Baseball Gold moved up to #4 after a 3-1 weekend at the BoE with their only loss coming against #2 MARA Cobras. East Rowan had a disappointing weekend at the BoE going 1-3 including a blow out loss to the Sandhills Stingrays and close losses Dirtbags Black and eventual champion Georgia Bandits. They did avenge their loss to the Dirtbags with a big win of their own against the Dirtbags (16-6), but 1-3 is 1-3, and they just haven’t played enough games this fall so they were moved down to #15. The Carolina Havoc took advantage of other teams losses to move up from #12 to #6 after going 2-2 at the BoE with wins over the MARA Bolts and Tega Cay Titans, and losses to the MARA Cobras and Gameday Shockwave. They have played a loaded schedule and are 13-5 this fall. FV Wildcats made a big jump this week from #14 to #10. We had left the Wildcats for dead after a terrible opening tournament that included losses to #1 Canes, #3 Clayton Fusion, and #9 Stix. Since that time, however, they’ve gone 9-1 with wins over #14 Dirtbags Black and #18 NCDB Rivercats, and dominated lesser competition. The Stix made the biggest jump up the rankings, from #17 to #9, after a 2-0 weekend that included wins against the Port City Rebels and #17 Wendell Knights. Dirtbags Black dropped from #11 to #14 with another inconsistent schedule. The Dirtbags have played an outstanding schedule this fall, but at 9-6-1, just haven’t performed consistently enough to warrant a higher ranking. The Carolina Thunder moved down from #10 to #13 this week, although they were idle. They have performed well this fall, but have not seen near the competition as most the other teams in the top 20. We moved Wendell up a spot and NCDB down two spots this week. Wendell has been steady, but not great, all fall and haven’t been able to get over the hump against the better teams they’ve faced. NCDB has not been very active despite an early season win over #9 Stix. They’ll get their chance next week playing D1 at the Top Gun WWS. Finally, the Richmond Rockies were added at #20 after the Triple Crown Lookouts dropped out of the rankings. The Rockies went 5-0 this weekend and moved to 14-6 on the fall season.