End of Fall Rankings Recap 9u 2018

The 9u age group saw two teams, SBA Premier and Dirtbags Black, really separate themselves as perhaps the two best teams in North Carolina this fall. Beyond those two, there were some surprises as well as strong performances by teams who were highly ranked as 8u teams. Here we provide a recap and rationale for our final 9u rankings this fall.

  1. SBA Premier

    9u #1 SBA Premier was dominant this fall, posting a 17-5 record this fall, including only 1 loss against 9u competition.

    SBA Premier finished the fall season 17-5. Of those 5 losses, however, only 1 came against a 9u team, with the other 4 coming against 10u teams. In addition, the 9u team they lost to (Line Drive - Harris [GA]) went 20-1 this fall. Along the way, SBA Premier scored a win over #2 Dirtbags Black, giving the Dirtbags their only loss of the fall, a win over #3 LBC Vipers, and a win over #8 East Rowan. They also notched a tournament win at the Fall Beast of the East, which was one of the top 9u fields in North Carolina this fall.

  2. Dirtbags Black

    Perhaps in no other age group are our #1 and #2 teams as closely grouped as they are in the 9u age group. The Dirtbags finished an impressive 24-1 this fall, with their only loss coming against #1 SBA Premier. While SBA Premier's 13-3 head-to-head win over Dirtbags Black was enough for us to separate these two, that should take nothing away from the Dirtbags' impressive fall season. Throughout the fall season, the Dirtbags picked up impressive win after impressive win including wins over #5 Dirtbags East, #6 Triple Crown Lookouts (x2), #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, #8 East Rowan, #9 West Raleigh Blue, #10 Luckies Bronze, #12 Greenville Athletics - Whitley, #13 NCDB Rivercats (x2), #15 East Coast Elite, and #16 Youngsville Phantoms. That's A LOT of impressive wins for one team.

  3. LBC Vipers

    The LBC Vipers finished 22-6 this fall season after finishing #4 in our final 8u rankings in 2017-2018. They scored several wins over ranked teams including a win over #4 HPT HiToms, two wins over #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, two wins over #14 South Charlotte Cardinals, and a win over #17 Union County Crush - Gadd. In addition to their impressive list of wins, their losses came against the best competition. 3 of their 6 losses came against #1 SBA Premier. Their only other losses against 9u competition came against the Triple Crown Lookouts (x2).

  4. HPT HiToms

    The HiToms were one of the surprises of the fall season, finishing 25-4-1 and coming in at #4 in our final fall rankings. They had several impressive wins over ranked teams, including a win over #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, 3 wins over #10 Luckies Bronze, a win over #11 Carolina Rockies, a win over #14 South Charlotte Cardinals, and a win over #17 Union County Crush - Gadd. Their 4 losses came against the #3 LBC Vipers, #10 Luckies Bronze, #14 South Charlotte Cardinals, and Canes Baseball 757 (VA) - Roach, who finished 26-6 this fall.

 

  1. Dirtbags East

    The Dirtbags finished 13-2 this fall season, posting one of the best winning percentages in the 9u age group. Their two losses came against #2 Dirtbags Black and #12 Greenville Athletics - Whitley. They also notched a handful of wins over top 20 teams including a win over #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, two wins over #12 Greenville Athletics - Whitley, 3 wins over # 13 NCDB Rivercats (interestingly all by 1 run), and a win over #16 Youngsville Phantoms.

  2. Triple Crown Lookouts

    The Triple Crown Lookouts were another pleasant surprise in the 9u age group, finishing 19-9 against an impressive schedule. Among their 19 wins, the Lookouts notched 7 wins over ranked teams, including two wins over #3 LBC Vipers, a win over #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, a win over #8 East Rowan, a win over #17 Union County Crush - Gadd, and two wins over #20 Kings Mountain Storm. The majority of their losses also came against top competition, with 5 of their losses coming against top 4 teams (two losses to Dirtbags Black, two losses against the LBC Vipers, and a loss against the HPT HiToms).

  3. Canes Baseball NC - Harris

    As expected, the Canes played one of the more competitive schedules in the state, finishing 11-5 for the fall season and landing in the #7 spot in our final rankings. All 5 of their losses came against ranked teams (#2 Dirtbags Black, #5 Dirtbags East, #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, #8 East Rowan, and #16 Youngsville Phantoms). Additionally, they notched 6 wins over ranked teams including a win over #8 East Rowan, two wins over #9 West Raleigh Blue, a win over Greenville Athletics - Whitley, and two wins over #16 Youngsville Phantoms. We felt that teams ranked 4-9 were a bit tough to sort, and in the end the Canes dropped to 7th as we gave the advantage to teams that held head-to-head advantages over the Canes (Dirtbags East 1-0 against Canes - Harris, Triple Crown Lookouts 1-0 against the Canes) but kept East Rowan (1-1 against Canes - Harris) slightly behind the Canes at 8th.

  4. East Rowan

    Although East Rowan posted only a 7-5 record this fall, their competition level was perhaps the best in the state and their performance against this competition is what kept them in our top 10. Among their 7 wins, East Rowan scored a win over #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, a win over #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, a win over #14 South Charlotte Cardinals, and two wins over #17 Union County Crush - Gadd. 4 of their 5 losses came against ranked teams (#1 SBA Premier, #2 Dirtbags Black, the Triple Crown Lookouts, and Canes - Harris).

 

  1. West Raleigh Blue

    West Raleigh Blue fell into a similar position as East Rowan in our rankings, posting a decent 9-6 record this fall against some excellent competition. As we've stated before, we changed the focus of our rankings to reward teams playing the best competition, and West Raleigh Blue is an example of that philosophy. They notched 4 wins over #16 Youngsville Phantoms, as well as a win over Line Drive - Harris (GA), who was 20-1 this fall including a win over #1 SBA Premier, and a win over 26-6 Canes Baseball 757 (VA) - Roach. Their 6 losses came against #2 Dirtbags Black (x2), #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, #13 NCDB Rivercats, Line Drive - Harris, and Canes Baseball 757.

  2. Luckies Bronze

    The Luckies finished the fall season at 19-6, including going 15-3 in their last 18 games. Although they didn't see the same level of competition regularly as some of our top 10, they did score two wins over ranked teams, including a win over #4 HPT HiToms and a win over #11 Carolina Rockies. Among their 6 losses, the Luckies fell against #2 Dirtbags Black, the HiToms (x3), and the Carolina Rockies.

  3. Carolina Rockies

    The Carolina Rockies are another team who posted another impressive record, going 18-6 overall this fall to finish in the #11 spot in our 9u rankings. They had a 1-1 record against #10 Luckies Bronze. In addition, they notched a win over Diamond USA (TN), who went 20-5 this fall.

  4. Greenville Athletics - Whitley

    Greenville Athletics went 12-5 this fall against some still competition. Their 5 losses all came against ranked competition (#2 Dirtbags Black, #5 Dirtbags East [x2], #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, and #13 NCDB Rivercats). They also notched a win over Dirtbags East, two wins over the NCDB Rivercats, and two wins over #19 Carolina Crushers 2027.

 

  1. NCDB Rivercats

    The Rivercats went 12-8 this fall, including going 7-1 in their last 8 games. They scored a number of quality wins this fall, including a win over #9 West Raleigh Blue, a win over #12 Greenville Athletics - Whitley, and a win over #16 Youngsville Phantoms. Among their losses, they fell to #2 Dirtbags Black (x2), #5 Dirtbags East (x3 - and as noted previously, all by 1 run), and Greenville Athletics - Whitley (x2).

  2. South Charlotte Cardinals

    The Cardinals, in our mind, presented our first extremely difficult decision in the 9u top 20. They posted only an 8-9 record this fall (8-8 against 9u teams), however their list of opponents is very impressive. They notched wins over #4 HPT HiToms and #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, speaking to their place among some of the best 9u teams in North Carolina. Of their 8 losses against 9u teams, all 8 came against ranked teams including #1 SBA Premier, #3 LBC Vipers (x2), HPT HiToms, #8 East Rowan, #17 Union County Crush - Gadd (x2), and #20 Kings Mountain Storm.

  3. East Coast Elite

    East Coast Elite went 16-3, including winning their last 12 games. Although their competition level wasn't as high as many of the teams ranked above them, they posted an impressive record, dominating lesser competition. They did score a win over #19 Carolina Crushers 2027 in addition to a loss against #2 Dirtbags Black.

  4. Youngsville Phantoms

    The Phantoms had a rough start to their fall campaign, going 3-9 in their first 12 games. This included a 1-run loss against #2 Dirtbags Black, four losses against #9 West Raleigh Blue, a loss against #7 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, and a loss against #13 NCDB Rivercats. They did score a win over Canes - Harris during that stretch, and finished their season with a 6-2 record over their last 8 games, with their losses coming against #5 Dirtbags East and Canes - Harris, to earn their way back into our top 20.

 

  1. Union County Crush - Gadd

    The Crush finished up the fall season 12-9-1 and earned a spot in our top 20 by not shying away from the top competition. They highlighted their fall season with a win over #6 Triple Crown Lookouts and two wins over #14 South Charlotte Cardinals. Of their 9 losses, 6 came against top 10 teams including two against #1 SBA Premier, one against #3 LBC Vipers, one against #4 HPT HiToms, one against #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, and one against #8 East Rowan. In addition, they also had one loss against 10u competition.

  2. WNC Line Drive

    The Line Drive are one of the few representatives in our top 20 hailing from the Western/mountain portions of the state. They posted a 22-8 record across USSSA play, and were one of the most dominate teams in that region. Although they did not have any wins over top 20 teams, they did post some nice wins over quality teams such as the Bears, the G-town Pirates (SC), and the Lincoln County River Rats. Our hope would be to see these guys go after some of the top competition in the spring to see where they stack up.

  3. Carolina Crushers 2027

    The Crushers posted an impressive 21-6 record this fall against a variety of competition levels. They were dominate against lesser competition, but didn't have the same competition level as many of the top 20 teams in North Carolina, despite their impressive record. They did have a one-run los against against #15 East Coast Elite, but did not score any wins over other top 20 teams.

  4. Kings Mountain Storm

    The Storm went 11-8 this fall and fared respectably against top competition. They notched a win over #14 South Charlotte Cardinals to highlight their fall season. In addition, they lost two games against #6 Triple Crown Lookouts, including a 1-run 7-6 loss.