There were a handful of ranked teams in action this past weekend in Oxford. This included a matchup of top 15 teams in the 8u age group. Here we recap the weekend of games at the NCGameOn site in Oxford this past weekend.
8u
On Saturday, the #10 team in North Carolina, Carolina Thunder, went 2-0 with a 15-0 win over the North Wake Bombers and an 11-10 win over #11 NCDB Rivercats. The Rivercats scored an 18-7 win over Dirtbags Gold in their other game on Saturday. In the semifinals on Sunday, the Rivercats rolled to a 13-1 win over Dirtbags Gold and the Thunder blanked the Bombers 15-0. In the rematch between these two ranked teams in the finals, the Rivercats got some revenge blasting their way to a 16-4 win over the Thunder to take home the title in their first event of the spring.
9u
Our #9 team in North Carolina, the Carolina Naturals (previously Canes - Hartman), went 2-0 on Saturday, rolling to a 22-5 win over the Orange County Crushers and a 16-1 win over the Carolina Rattlers. On Sunday, they followed up a dominate Saturday with a 20-5 win over the Rattlers in the semifinals and a 17-0 win over Spartans Baseball - Long in the finals.
10u
The Riptide earned the top seed for bracket play with a 7-4 win over the North Wake Rebels and a 17-3 win over Rocky Mount Marshals - Roberson in pool play. GBI Express scored the #2 seed with a 12-5 win over Marshals - Roberson and a 7-4 win over Durham Blues - Norris. The Blues scored a 14-5 win over the Rebels in their other game on Saturday. In the #4/5 play-in game on Sunday, Marshals - Roberson topped the North Wake Rebels 18-5. In the semifinals, Blues - Norris topped the GBI Express 16-6 and the Riptide notched a 14-4 win over Marshals - Roberson. In the finals, Blues - Norris edged the Riptide 5-4 to take home the 10u crown in Oxford.
11u
Open
In this one-day event, the HYAA Hawks and Warriors Baseball earned spots in the finals after the Hawks went 1-1 and the Warriors went 2-0 in pool play. The Hawks edged our #17 team, the Garner Royals 4-3, and fell 7-3 against Warriors Baseball. The Warriors also scored a 10-2 win over the Orange County Crushers in pool play. The Royals also went 1-1 in pool play, rolling to a 10-0 win over the Orange County Crushers in their other pool play game. In the finals, the HYAA Hawks got some revenge on the Warriors, scoring a 1-run 5-4 win in the finals.
D3
The HSA Roadrunners went 2-0 on Saturday with an 8-3 win over the Carolina Tide and an 8-0 win over the Carolina Generals. Riptide Gold also went 2-0 in pool play with a 9-6 win over NCABC Fungo - Brock and an 11-7 win over Mid-Atlantic Orioles - Fulton. In the Gold bracket semifinals, Riptide Gold topped Durham Blues - Clegg 8-4 and the Roadrunners topped the Garner Generals 7-4. In the finals, the HSA Roadrunners finished off a 4-0 weekend with a 10-5 win over Riptide Gold.
12u
In this one-day event, Durham Blues - Prince earned the #1 seed in the finals after going 2-0 in pool play with a 6-4 win over the Diamond Thieves and a 12-5 win over the Chatham Mustangs. The VA Squires earned the second spot in the finals, going 1-1 in pool play with a 7-6 loss against the Chatham Mustangs and a 5-0 win over NCABC Fungo Elite - Bonner. In the finals, Blues - Prince rolled to a 12-1 win over the VA Squires.