It was an incredible weekend of games at the USSSA Beast of the East, which is routinely one of the best tournaments in the state. Many of the best teams in all of North Carolina were in play, and went up against some of the best teams from neighboring states. There were major upsets, and clashes between several top ranked teams. Take a look at our recap for full details of this weekend’s event.
8u Machine Pitch
In pool play, #5 East Rowan went 2-0 with a 7-2 win over the G-town Pirates (SC) and a 12-4 win over the Young Guns (SC) to earn the top seed in bracket play. The Tega Cay Titans (SC) also went 2-0 with wins over MARA Spartans (12-9) and #4 South Charlotte Cardinals (13-8) to earn the #2 seed on Sunday. The South Charlotte Cardinals went 1-1 in pool play with a 9-5 win over the MARA Spartans. In bracket play, the Cardinals topped MARA Spartans again, this time by the score of 11-8, to set up a match up against East Rowan in the semifinals. In the semifinals, the Cardinals topped East Rowan 15-13 to reach the finals. On the other side of the bracket, the G-town Pirates beat the Young Guns 10-8 before besting the Tega Cay Titans in the semifinals by the score of 15-7. In a tightly contested finals, it was the G-town Pirates over the South Charlotte Cardinals 8-7 to win the championship.
9u
The #1 Park Sharon Nationals proved again why they are our top team in the state of North Carolina at 9u, going 4-0 and outscoring opponents 41-9 en route to the 9u title. On Saturday, Park Sharon dominated the Carolina Arsenal 13-1 before needing a 7-run rally in the bottom of the 5th inning to top the #14 Carolina Red Sox – Jones 11-8 and earn the top seed for bracket play. Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley earned the 2nd seed, going 2-0 in pool play with wins over Carolina YardDawgs (8-7) and the South Charlotte Cardinals (8-7). The Red Sox finished 0-1-1 in pool play with a 9-9 tie against the Ninth Inning Dodgers (GA) to earn the 5th seed. In bracket play, Carolina Red Sox – Jones topped the YardDawgs 17-10 to set up a rematch against Park Sharon. The Nationals were able to get past the Red Sox 9-1 to reach the finals. On the other side of the bracket, the South Charlotte Cardinals beat the Ninth Inning Dodgers 9-5 to reach the semifinals against Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley, who beat the Carolina Arsenal 9-8 in the quarterfinal. In this semifinal, it was the South Charlotte Cardinals over Team 24 20-6 to reach the finals. In the finals, however, Park Sharon flexed their muscles dominating the finals by the score of 8-0.
10u
In what was perhaps the best 10u tournament of the fall in North Carolina thus far, it was the Georgia Bandits who won 4 games on Sunday, and finished 6-0 for the weekend, who took home the 10u Beast of the East tournament crown. The Bandits went 2-0 on Saturday with wins over the Tega Cay Titans (SC) (9-5) and Predators Columbia NE (13-4), although this was not good enough to earn one of the top two seeds in bracket play and the bye that came along with those two seeds. The top two seeds went to our #1 Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist, who went 2-0 defeating the MARA Bolts 26-0 and Five Star Carolina – Hunter 25-1, and Gameday Shockwave (SC), who topped the Tega Cay Titans (13-4) and the Predators Columbia NE (13-5). Our #2 team, MARA Cobras, also went 2-0 in pool play, with wins over Five Star Carolina – Hunter (10-7) and #12 Carolina Havoc (11-5). #5 East Rowan had a rough time in pool play, going 0-2 with a 5-4 loss against #11 Dirtbags Black and a 20-6 loss to #16 Sandhills Stingrays. #6 Mission Baseball Gold went 2-0 on Saturday with a 20-3 win over the Sandhills Stingrays, who finished 1-1 in pool play, and an 8-7 nail-biter over The Club Red (GA). Dirtbags Black finished 1-0-1 in pool play, with a 6-6 tie against The Club Red in addition to their win over East Rowan. Carolina Havoc finished 1-1 in pool play, winning 10-7 against the MARA Bolts in addition to their loss to the MARA Cobras.
In the opening round of of bracket play, it was Carolina Havoc over the Tega Cay Titans 7-6, East Rowan bouncing back with a 16-6 win over the Dirtbags, the Georgia Bandits on top of the MARA Bolts 12-2, the MARA Cobras over Predators Columbia NE 11-2, Mission Baseball Gold over Five Star Carolina – Hunter 8-4, and the Sandhills Stingrays over The Club Red 8-4. In the quarterfinals Gameday Shockwave blew out the Havoc 16-1, the Georgia Bandits edged out East Rowan 5-4 after trailing 4-0 and scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the last inning to win it, the MARA Cobras topped Mission Baseball 13-3, and Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist rolled over the Sandhills Stingrays 10-2. In the semifinal, the Bandits continued to live on the edge topping the Shockwave 7-6 after scoring 2 runs in the top of the last inning to win it. In the other semifinal, it was a matchup of our #1 and #2 teams in the state, Evoshield Canes NC – Gilchrist and the MARA Cobras. Earlier this fall these two met in the Perfectgame Super 25 qualifier and Evoshield came away the winner 4-2. This time, however, it was the Cobras who got the revenge and topped the Canes 6-4 to move on to the finals. In the finals, the Bandits jumped out to a 5-1 lead and held on to win 7-6 as the Cobras narrowed the gap in the 5th and 6th innings.
11u
In another absolutely loaded age group, #1 SBA Canes – Ross opened pool play going 2-0 with a 12-6 win over the Carolina Athletics and #8 Big Game 2025 6-5. #2 Five Star Carolina – Neyra started in consistent in pool play with a 21-8 win over Mission Baseball Black and a 12-4 loss to the Vision Bandits. #4 Mission Baseball Gold went 1-0-1 in pool play with an 11-2 win over #18 Carolina Astros and a 5-5 tie against the Asheville Braves. #5 Evoshield Canes NC – Hood also opened up 2-0 in pool play with a 10-2 win over Mission Baseball Black and a 13-1 win over #13 MARA Cobras, and earned the top seed in bracket play. #6 Carolina Blue Sox finished 1-1 in pool play with a 9-2 win over #11 SBA Canes – Erwin and a 15-0 loss to #8 Big Game 2025. SBA Canes – Erwin also finished pool play 1-1 with an 8-7 win over the Carolina Athletics in addition to their loss to the Blue Sox. The MARA Cobras ended pool play 1-1 with a 4-2 win over the Vision Bandits in addition to their loss to the Evoshield Canes. Five Star Elite (GA) earned the #2 seed in bracket play with two wins in pool play over the Carolina Astros (8-1) and the Asheville Braves (9-2).
In bracket play, the MARA Cobras defeated Five Star Carolina – Neyra 9-8, the Vision Bandits topped the Asheville Braves 10-4, SBA Canes – Ross edged out Mission Baseball Black 5-4, Big Game 2025 defeated the Carolina Astros 7-2, the Carolina Athletics beat Mission Baseball Gold 11-8, and the Carolina Blue Sox blasted SBA Canes – Erwin 11-0. In the quarterfinals, Five Star Elite topped the MARA Cobras 6-0, the Vision Bandits upset SBA Canes – Ross 3-1, Big Game 2025 topped the Carolina Athletics 7-3, and Evoshield Canes NC – Hood edged out the Blue Sox 4-3. In the semifinals, Five Star Elite continued their undefeated run with a 6-3 win over the Vision Bandits, and Big Game 2025 rolled over the Evoshield Canes NC – Hood 11-0 to reach the final. In the finals, Five Star Elite dominated their way to an 11-3 win and the championship over one of the best 11u fields in the state of North Carolina this fall.
12u
#1 Legends Baseball started its tournament run with a 7-6 win over the Jersey Storm, a team who prior to this tournament had a record of 47-5 in 2017, and an 11-0 win over #4 Park Sharon Nationals to earn the #3 seed for bracket play. #2 Minion earned the #1 seed in bracket play, going 2-0 in pool play with an 11-0 win over #10 Carolina Chaos and a a 19-4 win over the Carolina Red Sox. The #2 seed went to #17 WM9 Signature who defeated the #5 Carolina Vipers Blue 8-4 and the Green Sox (SC) 2-1. The Park Sharon Nationals went 1-1 with a 13-2 win over Carolina Fleet (SC) in addition to their loss to Legends Baseball. The Vipers finished pool play 0-2 following losses to WM9 Signature and a 12-3 loss to Team Carolina – Demarini (SC). The Chaos also finished 0-2 in pool play with an 8-2 loss to the Carolina Bruins (SC) in addition to their loss to Minion. The #15 SBA Canes finished pool play 1-1 with an 11-9 win over the MARA Cobras and a 10-7 loss to Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown (SC).
In bracket play, the Carolina Chaos topped the Carolina Vipers Blue 2-1 in the play-in game to get into the round of 16. In the round of 16, the Jersey Storm beat the SBA Canes 10-2, Legends edged out Carolina Fleet 10-8, Team Carolina – Demarini beat the MARA Cobras 12-8, WM9 Signature topped the Lake Murray Sandstorm (SC) 7-6, Park Sharon took out the Carolina Bruins 3-2, Minion continued their run with an 8-0 win over Carolina Chaos, the Carolina Red Sox edged the Green Sox 8-7, and Five Star Tigers – Demarini (FL) beat Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown 13-2. In the quarterfinals, Legends bested Jersey Storm 9-1 in a rematch of their pool play game, Team Carolina – Demarini topped WM9 Signature 12-3, Minin beat Park Sharon Nationals 5-2, and the Five Star Tigers – Demarini beat the Carolina Red Sox 20-1. In the semifinals, it was Legends Baseball all over Team Carolina – Demarini 18-4, while Minion blasted Five Star Tigers – Demarini 16-4 to set up a dream match up of the top two 12u teams in the state of North Carolina. This game lived up to the billing, with Minion edging out Legends Baseball 9-8. Legends scored 3 runs in the top of the 6th inning to go up 8-7, but Minion battled back and scored two runs in the bottom of the 6th inning to pull out the win and bring home their third straight Beast of the East title.
13u
Our #1 team in North Carolina, Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher headlined this field and started their tournament run 2-0 in pool play with a 5-2 win over Iron Horse Baseball (SC) and a 13-5 win over Charlotte Elite, and earned the #2 seed in bracket play. The top seed in bracket play went to the On Deck O’s Orange, who defeated Copperheads – Barozzino 9-6 and the Charlotte Nationals South 9-1. Our #4 team, Evoshield Canes NC – Haire went 1-1 in pool play with a 12-1 over the Harrisburg Storm and a 20-7 loss to Dirtbags Camo. Dirtbags Camo earned the #3 seed with an 8-1 win over Carolina Sox in addition to their win over Evoshield Canes NC – Haire. #5 Akadema Knights Gray went 1-1 in pool play including a 9-5 loss to Iron Horse Baseball and a 3-2 win over Charlotte Elite. #10 Carolina Havoc – Clonch also went 1-1 in pool play with a 6-5 win over Team 24 Gamecocks – Zohner and a 7-3 loss to #14 CBC Baseball Club. CBC finished 1-1 in pool play with a 16-7 loss to #16 Bomb Squad Elite in addition to their win over the Havoc. Bomb Squad Elite went 2-0 in pool play including an 8-5 win over SBA Marucci and a win over CBC, and earned the #4 seed for bracket play.
In bracket play, the Charlotte Elite topped the Carolina Vipers Blue 8-3 and SBA Marucci blasted the Carolina Sox 16-2 in the play-in games to get into the round of 16. In the round of 16, Iron Horse topped Copperheads – Barozzino 4-0, Dirtbags Camo edged the Charlotte Nationals South 5-4, the Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher rolled over Charlotte Elite 14-2, Akadema Knights Gray edged the Harrisburg Storm 7-6, the Carolina Havoc – Clonch blanked Team 24 Gamecocks – Zohner 4-0, SBA Marucci topped the On Deck O’s Orange 10-1, Bandits powered by CBC beat CBC Baseball Club 12-7, and Evoshield Canes NC – Haire blasted Bomb Squad Elite 18-6. In the quarterfinals, Iron Horse edged Dirtbags Camo 11-9, Evoshield Cane NC – Gallaher snuck past Akadema 4-3, the Havoc bested SBA Marucci 4-2, and Evoshield Canes Haire – NC took out the Bandits powered by CBC 13-7. In the semifinals, Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher topped Iron Horse 5-3 and Evoshield Canes NC – Haire rolled over the Havoc 16-5 to set up the all-Evoshield Canes NC finals. In a high scoring game, it was the Canes – Gallaher over the Canes – Haire 23-15 to win the Beast of the East championship. Coming off the heels of their win over a similarly competitive field at the Top Gun Winter World Series, the Evoshield Canes NC – Gallaher have cemented themselves as the top 13u team in North Carolina.