The 11u age group was perhaps the most competitive age group in North Carolina this fall. While SBA Canes – Ross was our #1 team the entire fall, the separation between them and the rest of the top 20 was considerably less than in other age groups. It just so happened that no one team could separate themselves from the pack this fall to unseat the Canes as the top team. Unlike the 10u age group, many of the top teams in the 11u age group did not go head-to-head, making direct comparisons somewhat challenging. This is an age group where I would expect to see considerable changes as the Spring progresses. SBA Canes – Ross finished started and finished #1 in our top 20 this fall. The Canes finished 21-5 this fall including going 2-1 against #3 Evoshield Canes NC – Simpson, 3-0 against #4 Mission Baseball Gold, and 2-0 against #6 Big Game 2025. Their only losses came against Evoshield Canes – Simpson, an excellent Team Dirty South Bats (VA) who finished 19-2-1, the 23-2-1 Huguenot Red Legs (VA), #14 Vision Bandits in the USSSA Beast of the East, and the 12u Team 24 Gamecocks – Miller. Evoshield Canes NC – Hood ended the fall season #2 in our rankings after going 15-6. The Canes – Hood finished 1-0 against #7 Carolina Blue Sox, 2-0 against #11 Hitmen Baseball, and 2-0 against #20 Rock Solid Red. They appear to be one of the top competitors to unseat SBA Canes – Ross in our rankings heading into the Spring. Evoshield Canes NC – Simpson finished #3 in our rankings after posting and 8-4-1 record this fall. Although they didn’t have near the volume of wins as some of the other top teams in our 11u rankings, they did post one win over #1 SBA Canes – Ross, a 1-1 record against and excellent Carolina Bruins (SC) team, and a win over #5 Five Star Carolina – Neyra. Mission Baseball Gold finished #4 in our top 20 after going 17-6-1 this fall, including a 1-1 record against #7 Carolina Blue Sox, a 3-0 record against #14 Vision Bandits, and wins against #15 Weddington Warriors and #16 OTK Saints. Rounding out our top 5 was Five Star Carolina – Neyra. Five Star went 13-7 this fall and boasts wins over 12u #9 Majestic Greensboro, 12u #12 Carolina Rattlers, and a 3-1 record against #6 Big Game 2025.
Big Game 2025 finished #6 in our 11u rankings this fall after posting a 16-9 record this fall. Big Game went 1-0 against #2 Evoshield Canes NC – Hood and scored a win over #7 Carolina Blue Sox and a win over #5 Five Star Carolina – Neyra. Our #7 spot went to the Carolina Blue Sox who went 10-6 this fall against excellent competition. The Blue Sox went 2-1 against #9 SBA Canes – Erwin and 2-0 against #14 Vision Bandits. They also had wins against #4 Mission Baseball Gold and #13 Lake Norman Hurricanes. The Cleveland Wildcats finished #8 in our rankings after going 17-6 this fall. The Wildcats were 2-0 against #2 Evoshield Canes NC – Hood and also posted a win over #18 Carolina Pilots this fall. SBA Canes – Erwin earned our #9 ranking after posting a 21-7-1 record this fall including wins over #7 Carolina Blue Sox and #8 Cleveland Wildcats. Team Ghost finished #10 in our rankings after posting a 25-11 record in Top Gun play this fall. This included a win over #20 Rock Solid Red on their way to the 11u D2 Top Gun Winter World Series. Despite their excellent record, they did not see the same level of competition of many of the teams in our top 10 hence their ranking at #10 instead of higher.
Our #11 ranking went to Hitmen Baseball, who posted a 15-6 record this fall. This included wins over #8 Cleveland Wildcats, #17 Durham Blues, and #18 Carolina Pilots, as well as a very impressive win over the Huguenot Red Legs. Athlete’s Lab/Carolina Crushers earned our #12 ranking after posting a 23-3 record this fall. Although their record is very impressive, it’s hard to know exactly what to make of the Crushers as they posted only one win against top 20 competition, a win over #13 Lake Norman Hurricanes. This may be a team that moves substantially in our rankings (either up or down) in the Spring if they are able to increase their competition level a bit. The Lake Norman Hurricanes finished #13 in our rankings, going 17-6 this fall. This is another team that is difficult to rank because they did not face the same level of competition as teams above them. When they did face other top 20 competition, they did not fare well losing big to the Carolina Blue Sox, the Weddington Warriors, and Athlete’s Lab/Carolina Crushers. Similar to Athlete’s Lab, we may hopefully get a better reading on this team with some enhanced competition in the Spring. The Vision Bandits finished #14 in our rankings after posting an astonishing 25-22 (!) record this fall. It’s unclear how to interpret this record as this is a combined record between USSSA and Top Gun play, and there are at least two weekends (9/30-10/1 and 11/4-11/5) where there are results posted for the Bandits in both USSSA and Top Gun tournaments. Their is significant overlap between their USSSA and Top Gun rosters as well, although they are not identical. Nevertheless, the Bandits posted a runner-up finish at the USSSA Beast of the East that included wins over #1 SBA Canes – Ross and #5 Five Star Carolina – Neyra. The Weddington Warriors finished #15 in our rankings after going 18-8-2 this fall including two wins over #13 Lake Norman Hurricanes and a tie with #9 SBA Canes – Erwin. The Warriors posted an excellent record, but did not face the same level of competition as some teams in our top 10 did routinely.
The OTK Saints earned our #16 ranking after going 16-2 this fall including a win over #12 Athlete’s Lab/Carolina Crushers, but didn’t see much other highly ranked competition. The Durham Blues finished #17 in our 11u top 20 after posting a 21-6 record this fall largely in AAU competition, although they did not score a win over any of our top 20 teams. The Carolina Pilots finished #18 in our rankings after posting a 20-6 record this fall in Top Gun play. They posted a win over #10 Team Ghost, a win against #19 NSA Thunder, and two wins against #20 Rock Solid Red. The NSA Thunder earned our #19 ranking after posting a 28-7 record in Top Gun play this fall including going 2-0 against #10 Team Ghost. The 20th and final spot in our 11u rankings went to Rock Solid Red. Rock Solid Red went 14-7 this fall including going 1-1 against #2 Evoshield Canes NC – Hood and had a win over #17 Durham Blues.
The 11u age division is one of the most competitive in the state of North Carolina. While SBA Canes – Ross appeared to us to be the #1 team this fall, the separation between them and some of the teams right behind them is not that large. We hope to see many of these teams in competition against one another, and there are several teams right on the outside of our top 20 who we expect to make some noise in these rankings in the Spring.