9u End of Season Rankings Recap 2019-2020

The 9u age groups was perhaps the most competitive age group in the race for the #1 spot with anywhere from 5-8 teams making a reasonable claim for consideration. Initially we chose the Carolina Revolution for our top spot based on their performances against some of the best competition in the state over the SBA Futures and their outstanding showings against more regional and national competition. However, the Futures' performance at the recent USSSA South Carolina Super NIT was impressive and warranted a late change. We've decided to finish the season with co-#1 teams - the Carolina Revolution and the SBA Futures. Here we provide some context for our final rankings.

 

  1. Carolina Revolution (tie)
    The Carolina Revolution finished the year with a 24-5 record, including going 17-4 this spring and summer. They had 13 total wins against ranked opponents with all 5 losses coming at the hands of ranked teams. Among their 13 wins over ranked teams, they had victories over #3 Five Star Carolina - Secrist, #6 SBA Rowan Navy,  #7 Dirtbags LKN (x3), #8 Park Sharon Nationals, #10 LKN Hurricanes, #12 SBA Rowan Spinners, #17 MARA Cobras, #21 Davidson Crush, and #24 Dry Pond (x2). Impressively, 10 of these wins came against top 10 opponents. We had hoped to see a showdown of our #1 and #2 team, the SBA Futures, at the USSSA Charlotte Super NIT, however this did not materialize.
  1. SBA Futures (tie)
    The separation between #1 and #2 was probably the smallest in the 9u age group. The Futures were excellent this year, going 37-9-1 overall. Overall, the Futures had 10 wins against ranked opponents in North Carolina, including wins over #4 Area Stars Orange, #4 Mission Baseball - Smith (x2), #6 SBA Rowan Navy, #7 Dirtbags LKN (x3), #10 LKN Hurricanes, #12 SBA Rowan Spinners, #17 MARA Cobras (x2), and #24 Dry Pond. They also had wins over an excellent RBI Redstitch (TN), Ambush Baseball (TX), and Marucci Elite Texas - Jacob teams. The Futures made a late push to move to #1 after they won the South Carolina Super NIT in impressive fashion, and we've decided to make a late change to the 9u age group and finish with co-#1 teams.
  1. Five Star Carolina - Secrist
    Right behind our top two was Five Star Carolina - Secrist, who, by our count, finished 30-6-1 this spring, and 17-8 as GRIT in the fall. Five Star had an impressive 14 wins over ranked teams this spring. This included wins over #4 Mission Baseball - Smith, #6 SBA Rowan Navy, #7 Dirtbags LKN, #8 Spartans - Mullins (x3), #12 SBA Rowan Spinners (x3), #13 Carolina Naturals, #16 Canes Baseball NC - Tyson, and #24 Dry Pond.
  2. Mission Baseball - Smith
    The decision between #4 and #5 was another where we have decided to make a late change. Initially we moved Mission to #5 and the Area Stars to #4, in part because of Area Stars's impressive record against good competition. In the end, however, despite a record of 26-14 this spring, we felt Mission's performance against a higher competition level warranted having them at #4. They played a total of 26 (!) games against ranked teams, posting a record of 15-11 in those games. This included wins over #3 Five Star Carolina - Secrist (x2), #6 SBA Rowan Navy, #7 Dirtbags LKN, #8 Park Sharon Nationals, #10 LKN Hurricanes, #12 SBA Rowan Spinners (x4), #13 Carolina Naturals, #15 Dirtbags Black, #16 Canes Baseball NC - Tyson, and #17 MARA Cobras. Mission should be proud about performing so well against such a high level of competition, and putting together one of the more impressive seasons in the 9u age group this spring/summer.
  3. Area Stars Orange
    The Area Stars impressed all year, putting up one of the best records against 9u teams in the state. Overall, the Area Stars went 43-10 against all competition. This included 9 wins over ranked teams. The Area Stars notched wins over #13 Carolina Naturals, #14 Carolina Titans - Ricks (x2), #19 NCDB Rivercats (x2), #20 Dirtbags East, #22 Dirtbags Coastal (x3).

 

 

 

 

  1. SBA Rowan Navy
    SBA Rowan was one of the more up-and-down teams in the 9u age group. After finishing the fall with a 19-2-1 record, and the #1 spot in our rankings, they opened up the spring going 7-8 before closing the season going 12-2 over their last 14 games to finish 19-10 for the spring, and 38-12-1 overall. Along the way, they defeated 8 ranked teams in the spring/summer season after scoring another 8 wins over ranked opponents in the fall. This spring included wins over #1 Carolina Revolution, #8 Park Sharon Nationals, #11 West Raleigh Blue, #12 SBA Rowan Spinners, #15 Carolina Naturals, #21 Davidson Crush, and #24 Dry Pond. 9 of their 12 total losses came against ranked opponents as well.
  2. Dirtbags LKN
    You may have picked up on this already, but one of the most frequent names listed above in games with some of the highest ranked teams in North Carolina is Dirtbags LKN. The Dirtbags finished their 9u campaign with an overall record of 35-17, including a record of 20-9 this spring/summer. They played a total of 16 games against ranked teams this spring/summer, finishing 9-7 in those contests. They were the only team to defeat both of our #1's (Carolina Revolution and the SBA Futures). They also had wins over #6 SBA Rowan Navy, #8 Park Sharon Nationals (x2), #12 SBA Rowan Spinners, #17 MARA Cobras, and #21 Davidson Crush. This was in addition to 7 more wins over ranked opponents last fall. This is another team who we had a last minute change of heart and have moved up to #7, because of their outstanding competition and performance all year.
  3. Park Sharon Nationals
    The Nationals finished the spring/summer seasons with a 15-8 record. Combined with a 22-10 record in the fall season, the Nationals finished the 2019-2020 seasons with an overall record of 37-18. This spring the Nationals played 17 games against ranked opponents and had 10 wins in these games, including wins over #1 Carolina Revolution (x2), #4 Mission Baseball - Smith (x2), #10 LKN Hurricanes, #17 MARA Cobras, #21 Davidson Crush (x2), and #24 Dry Pond (x2). This was a big improvement from 2 wins over ranked opponents in the fall season.
  4. Spartans - Mullins
    The Spartans finished 38-15 across all competition this past year. This included a total of 8 wins over ranked opponents, including 6 during the spring and summer season. Specifically, the Spartans notched wins over #4 Mission Baseball - Smith, #15 Carolina Naturals, #17 MARA Cobras, and #21 Davidson Crush (x3) in 2020.
  5. LKN Hurricanes
    The Hurricanes finished the year with an overall record of 44-10, including a mark of 22-6 in the spring/summer season. They notched 3 wins over ranked opponents (#4 Mission Baseball - Smith, #8 Park Sharon Nationals, and #17 MARA Cobras) in addition to 6 other wins over ranked teams in the fall season. In addition, 6 of their 10 losses came against ranked opponents.

 

 

  1. West Raleigh Blue
    Many of the teams from West Raleigh fell victim to a delayed start to their travel season as COVID pushed back their rec season, and consequently the travel season for their Blue teams, and the 9u club was no exception. They posted an impressive 17-3 record this spring, to go along with a 9-5 mark in the fall to finish the year with a 26-8 overall record. They had 7 total wins over ranked teams this spring/summer, including wins over #3 Five Star Carolina - Secrist, #9 Spartans - Mullins, #13 Carolina Naturals, #15 Dirtbags Black, and #19 NCDB Rivercats (x3). In retrospect, West Raleigh performed too well against too good of competition to be ranked 14th, so we have moved them up to #11 in our final rankings.
  2. SBA Rowan Spinners
    The Spinners, who affiliated with SBA Rowan in the winter of 2019/2020, posted an overall record of 50-23-1 (as best we can gather) this past year, including a mark of 28-14-1 this spring/summer. In addition to 5 wins over ranked opponents in the fall of 2019, the Spinners scored 6 more wins over ranked teams in the spring/summer. This included wins over #4 Mission Baseball - Smith (x2), #7 Dirtbags LKN, #9 Spartans - Mullins, #17 MARA Cobras, and #19 NCDB Rivercats. In total, the Spinners played 19 games against ranked foes this spring/summer. Similar to other late moves we have made in this age group, we bumped the Spinners up a few spots in our final rankings because of their performance against the top competition.
  3. Carolina Naturals
    The Carolina Naturals, who were known as Canes Baseball NC - Hartman for the fall season, finished with an overall mark of 36-17, including going 21-11 this spring/summer. Among their 21 wins in 2020, the Naturals scored 5 wins over ranked opponents. This included wins over #4 Mission Baseball - Smith, #9 Spartans - Mullins, #14 Carolina Titans - Ricks, and two wins over #23 Triad Warriors.
  4. Carolina Titans - Ricks
    The Titans finished the 2019-2020 seasons with an overall record of 41-19, a record which included a 23-10 mark this spring. They had 4 total wins over ranked opponents this summer, including wins over #15 Dirtbags Black (x2), #19 NCDB Rivercats, and #20 Dirtbags East to go along with two other wins over ranked opponents in the fall of 2019.
  5. Dirtbags Black
    Dirtbags Black posted a record of 15-14-3 this spring/summer, and an overall record of 32-22-3 this past year. They had 5 total wins over ranked opponents in the fall season. This spring/summer, the Dirtbags posted wins over #9 Spartans - Mullins and #18 Leland Lugnuts to go along with their 5 wins over ranked teams in the fall. Additionally, 7 of the Dirtbags' 14 losses this spring/summer came against 10u competition.

 

 

 

  1. Canes Baseball NC - Tyson
    This one probably isn't fair. Canes Baseball NC - Tyson was a teamed formed late in the summer who only played 15 games together, posting an overall record of 12-3. They scored 3 wins over 10u teams and 6 wins over ranked opponents in those 12 games, notching wins over #4 Mission Baseball - Smith, #6 SBA Rowan Navy, #11 West Raleigh Blue, #14 Carolina Titans - Ricks, #19 NCDB Rivercats, and #21 Davidson Crush. In addition, 2 of their losses came against top 5 teams with the other coming at the hands of a 10u team. Talent-wise, this team is as good as almost any in this age group. But as rankings go, they just didn't have the breadth of wins that many teams above them had. Look for these guys to make a bunch of noise at the 10u level this year.
  2. MARA Cobras
    The MARA Cobras finished at #17 in our 9u rankings after they went 30-17 this past year, including a 15-11 record in 2020. They played excellent competition all year, notching 3 wins against top 10 teams in 12 total games against ranked opponents this spring/summer. These included wins over #1 Carolina Revolution, #7 Dirtbags LKN, and #8 Park Sharon Nationals.
  3. Leland Lugnuts
    The Lugnuts finished with a record of 15-3-1 this spring/summer and an overall record of 23-8-1 this past year. This included 4 total wins over ranked teams including #5 Area Stars Orange, #13 Dirtbags Black, and #22 Dirtbags Coastal (x2).
  4. NCDB Rivercats
    The Rivercats finished the year with an overall record of 32-20-2. Like many of the teams in their organization, they competed against an excellent schedule, facing 14 ranked teams this spring. They scored 7 wins in those games, notching wins over #3 Five Star Carolina - Secrist, #13 Dirtbags Black, #14 Carolina Titans - Ricks, and #20 Dirtbags East (x4). They had two other wins over ranked opponents in the fall as well.
  5. Dirtbags East
    After posting a 17-5 record last fall, including 4 wins over ranked opponents, the Dirtbags posted an 11-9-1 record this spring/summer to finish at 28-14-1 for the year. They notched 4 wins over ranked teams this spring/summer, including victories over #11 West Raleigh Blue, #13 Carolina Naturals, #14 Carolina Titans - Ricks, and #19 NCDB Rivercats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Davidson Crush
    The Davidson Crush posted a 13-13-1 record this spring and a 15-6 record last fall to finish at 28-19-1 overall this past year. They played a total of 16 games against ranked teams this spring, winning games against #3 Five Star Carolina - Secrist, #6 SBA Rowan Navy, and #23 Triad Warriors. They also had wins against 3 ranked teams in the fall season.
  2. Dirtbags Coastal
    Dirtbags Coastal was known as the Ogden Hurricanes last fall. This year they amassed a record of 15-6, not getting started in the spring season until late June/early July. In their short summer season, they notched wins over #5 Area Stars Orange and #13 Carolina Naturals (x2) to earn a spot in our top 25.
  3. Triad Warriors
    The Triad Warriors finished in the #23 spot in our 9u rankings after they went 15-5 this spring/summer and 27-12 over this past year. They played a number of ranked and quality teams over the course of the year, highlighted by a win over #9 Spartans - Mullins.
  4. Dry Pond
    Dry Pond was another of the state's excellent teams who got a late start on the summer season. In the end, they posted a 12-5 record this summer, including wins over excellent Mountain Xplosion (x2) and Equip Sports Ministry teams to highlight their summer.
  5. Southern Athletics
    Southern Athletics, from Asheville, was another of the excellent teams from the mountain region who got a late start this summer. The Athletics finished with a 14-4 record in USSSA play including a win over Mountain Xplosion.