As expected in the 8u age group, much can change from fall to spring. The MARA Mavericks finished as our #1 team after posting an undefeated 17-0 record this past year. While the COVID pandemic shortened seasons for many teams, we were still able to observe a lot of great baseball in this age groups. Here we recap our final 8u rankings for the 2019-2020 seasons.
- MARA Mavericks
The MARA Mavericks finished in the top spot in the 8u age group after they posted an undefeated 17-0 record, highlighted by a title at the Beast of the East Super NIT in June. Along the way, they scored wins over #2 Ashville A's, #6 SBA Futures, and #11 CBA Copperheads Black (x2). And while they may not have had the breadth of victories as some of the other teams in our rankings, their undefeated record, Super NIT win, and victories over other top competition landed the Mavericks in our top spot. Of their 17 wins, only 3 came by 2 runs or less an they posted an average margin of victory of over 11 runs per game. - Asheville A's
After going 17-6 this past fall and finishing 2019 in our 3rd spot, the A's posted an 11-2 record this spring to finish with an overall record of 28-8 against 8u teams (they also went 1-6 against 9u competition). They had a total of 7 wins over ranked opponents including two over #6 SBA Futures, 4 over #16 Dirtbags Black, and a win over #17 Bad Company. Their losses came at the hands of #1 MARA Mavericks as well as some of the best teams from Tennessee (TN Nationals, Knoxville Stars) and South Carolina (Carolina Reds, Young Guns). Their season was highlighted by a tournament win at the Fall Beast of the East. - Five Star Carolina - Hilton
The boys from Five Star finished with an overall record of 31-7, after going 15-3 in the fall and 16-4 in the spring/summer. Among their 31 wins, Five Star - Hilton posted 9 wins over ranked teams including wins over #8 Carolina Rockies - Bullard, #9 South Charlotte Cardinals (x3), #10 West Raleigh Blue, #15 DC Vipers (x3), and #19 Spartans - Davidson. Of their losses, two came against 9u competition, two against one of South Carolina's best teams, the Carolina Reds, and two more against #7 GBC Prospects. - Clayton RailRoaders
The RailRoaders built on a strong 17-5 this past fall by posting a 24-5-2 record this spring, to finish at 41-10-2 this year. In the fall, they had 2 wins over #5 Area Stars Orange, a win over #13 Carolina Thunder, and 2 wins over #18 NCDB Rivercats. In the spring, the RailRoaders notched another 7 wins over ranked teams including a win over #12 Leland Lugnuts, two wins over #13 Carolina Thunder (x2), a win over #14 Greenville Athletics, a win over #18 NCDB Rivercats, and two wins over #20 EC Diamondbacks. They also had 3 losses against ranked teams and a tie against #5 Area Stars Orange this spring/summer. - Area Stars Orange
One of the toughest decision we made in the rankings was separating the Area Stars from the RailRoaders. The Stars finished with a 39-9-1 record against 8u competition (0-3 against 9u teams) this year, including going 20-3-1 this spring/summer. They had 7 wins over ranked teams this spring/summer and 6 this past fall. Overall, the Area Stars went 1-2-1 overall against the RailRoaders, demonstrating how close these two teams were and in the end it was this head-to-head record that separated our #4 and #5 teams.
- SBA Futures
The SBA Futures were one of the top teams in this age group this past fall, finishing #4 at the end of the fall season after posting a 15-3 record. They went 14-4-2 this spring against 8u competition (2-1-1 against 9u teams) to finish 31-8-3 overall for the year. They notched 3 wins over #16 Dirtbags Black this spring in addition to 4 wins over ranked teams in the fall. Of their losses, one came against the Dirtbags, another came at the hands of #9 South Charlotte Cardinals, and they fell against #1 MARA Mavericks and #2 Asheville A's. - GBC Prospects
The Prospects finished at 30-9 overall this year, after going 14-6 this spring/summer a 16-3 record this past fall. In addition to wins over #3 Five Star Carolina (x2), #10 West Raleigh Blue, #15 DC Vipers, and #19 Spartans - Davidson (x2) from this past fall, GBC scored wins over #9 South Charlotte Cardinals and #16 Dirtbags Black. In addition, of their losses, 6 came against #6 SBA Futures, West Raleigh Blue, #18 NCDB Rivercats, and one of the best teams in South Carolina, the Carolina Reds (x3). - Carolina Rockies - Bullard
The Rockies were one of the bigger turnarounds from fall to spring, improving from 9-7 in the fall to 22-3 this spring to finish at 31-10 overall. This spring they scored 4 wins over ranked opponents including #10 West Raleigh Blue (x2) and #15 DC Vipers (x2) to go along with a win over the Vipers and #19 Spartans - Davidson last fall. - South Charlotte Cardinals
After going 0-3 in their only event of the fall, losing to #2 Asheville A's and #3 Five Star Carolina - Hilton (x2), the Cardinals posted a record of 12-3 this spring, including a win over #6 SBA Futures and two wins over #16 Dirtbags Black. - West Raleigh Blue
The boys from West Raleigh got a late start to their summer season, after their recreation season was pushed back. They posted a 6-4 record this summer to finish 20-6 overall after going 14-2 this past fall. These circumstances made West Raleigh extremely difficult for us to rank accurately. They had wins over #4 Clayton RailRoaders, #5 Area Stars Orange (x2), #7 GBC Prospects, #12 Leland Lugnuts, #13 Carolina Thunder, and #14 Greenville Athletics in the fall. In the summer, they had wins over the RailRoaders, #18 NCDB Rivercats (x2), and #21 Meadow Indians in addition to all 4 losses coming against ranked teams.
- CBA Copperheads Black
Copperheads Black as been one of the most steady performers in this age group over the past year. They finished 31-12 overall this past year, including a record of 20-6 this spring. During the spring/summer season, the Copperheads posted a win over #19 Spartans - Davidson and one of the beast teams in South Carolina, the Carolina Reds, to highlight their season. - Leland Lugnuts
As best we can tell, the Lugnuts finished 34-18 across all competition this past year. This included a record of 22-10 this spring and summer. Along the way, they notched wins over #5 Area Stars Orange, #14 Greenville Athletics, #18 NCDB Rivercats, and #20 EC Diamondbacks. They highlighted their season with a tournament win at the Top Gun Wood Bat World Series this July. - Carolina Thunder
The Carolina Thunder finished 16-7-1 this spring, and 32-14-1 overall. They backed up a strong fall season that included wins over #4 Clayton RailRoaders, #12 Leland Lugnuts (x2), #14 Greenville Athletics, #18 NCDB Rivercats (x2), and #21 Meadow Indiands with wins over the RailRoaders, Lugnuts (x2), and Rivercats (x3) this spring/summer. In retrospect, this is one team who we may have not given enough credit to for an outstanding year. - Greenville Athletics
After going 12-7 overall in the fall season, the Athletics finished 16-4 this spring and 28-11 overall. They, like several other teams in our rankings, played a number of games against ranked opponents. In the fall season they had wins over #4 Clayton RailRoaders and #13 Carolina Thunder. This spring they notched wins over the RailRoaders, #20 EC Diamondbacks (x3), and #21 Meadow Indians. - DC Vipers
The Vipers backed up an impressive 16-3 record this past fall with a 19-11 record this spring to finish 35-14 overall. This included capturing the NCGameOn points title for 8u age group. They highlighted their season with two wins over #8 Carolina Rockies - Bullard this spring, in addition to 5 wins over the Rockies and two over #17 Bad Company in the fall season.
- Dirtbags Black
Dirtbags LKN became Dirtbags Black this spring and posted a 14-10-1 record after going 8-13 in the fall. Among their wins this spring, the Dirtbags scored victories over #6 SBA Futures and #9 South Charlotte Cardinals. - Bad Company
Bad Company posted an overall record of 16-5 in USSSA play this past year, including a record of 10-4 this summer. As best we can tell, their overall record was 18-7 this past year. Although they did not defeat any ranked teams this past year, they appear to us to be one of the best teams in Mountain Region with a nice win over an excellent Athlete's Lab team. - NCDB Rivercats
The NCDB Rivercats finished the year with an overall record of 32-19, including a record of 20-15 this spring/summer. Of their 51 games, 31 came against ranked opponents with the Rivercats notching a respectable 14-17 record in those games. This spring/summer, the Rivercats scored wins over #5 Area Stars Orange, #7 GBC Prospects, #10 West Raleigh Blue, #13 Carolina Thunder, #19 Spartans - Davidson, #20 EC Diamondbacks, and #21 Meadow Indians (x2). - Spartans - Davidson
Spartans - Davidson posted an overall record of 19-13 this past year. This included 10 total games against ranked opponents which was highlighted by a win over #11 CBA Copperheads Black this spring. - EC Diamondbacks
The EC Diamondbacks finished the year with an overall record of 28-25. They played a total of 20 games against ranked teams this past year. This included wins over #18 NCDB Rivercats and two wins over #21 Meadow Indians. - Meadow Indians
The Meadow Indians finished with an overall record of 15-11 this past year. They had 4 wins over ranked teams in the fall (#5 Area Stars Orange, #14 Greenville Athletics, #18 NCDB Rivercats, and #20 EC Diamondbacks. They followed that up with two more wins over ranked teams including #10 West Raleigh Blue and the Rivercats this spring.