Each winter we like to preview some of the biggest and best tournaments in and around North Carolina as a means to showcase where some of the best competition might be found. As we enter 2021, there are a number of excellent tournaments for teams to consider this year. This year, we've also added a few national events to our list to consider. Here we highlight just a few of the many outstanding events available to North Carolina travel baseball teams.
North Carolina Events
Atlantic Coast Baseball Cap Classic
The Cap Classic, a 5-game guarantee event scheduled for June 11th-13th, is one of the more unique events in North Carolina. This will be the 4th annual event, although the event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. The Cap Classic North Carolina is part of a series of "Cap Classic" events put on by Atlantic Coast Baseball across the country at sites including Elizabethtown, Kentucky; Gilbert, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; Oxford, Mississippi; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Participants receive custom-designed New Era team hats as part of their entry fee. The original Cap Classic in Pittsburgh, now in its 11th year, regularly attracts over 220 teams and the North Carolina team appears to be growing to a similar level. 16 teams from four states are already registered across the 9u-15u age groups, including teams from Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. They have also added the Cap Classic Championships on July 28-August 1st in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which will bring together the best teams from each Cap Classic event.
Perfect Game Coastal Super Regional NIT
Perfect Game Coastal will be hosting a number of youth events around North Carolina this year, as Perfect Game continues to expand their offerings of youth tournaments in this area. Perhaps the biggest of them all will be the Perfect Game Coastal Super Regional NIT. Although the name might seem a bit silly, don't be fooled. Perfect Game has added the Invitational National Championships to its schedule this year. According to Perfect Game, the only way to get in these Championships is to win "a Super Regional NIT Tournament or finish in the top 15 of last year's PG Rankings." Needless to say, if that's the criteria it will be exclusive company. The Super Regional in North Carolina will take place across the Charlotte area on April 9th-11th. 43 teams area already signed up across the 9u-13u age groups including two teams ranked in North Carolina including over a dozen teams ranked in North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition, some of the country's best teams are signed up including 11u Beaver Valley Red (PA), Perfect Game's national #15 Motor City Hit Dogs - Hammond (MI), and Perfect Game's #1 team in America, the Next Level Prospects (GA). Perfect Game Coastal will also be hosting Super Regional NIT events in Richmond, Virginia, and Greenville, South Carolina, the weekend of May 28th-31st for teams looking for more opportunities to qualify for the Invitational National Championships.
The Top Gun Summer World Series generally attracts one of the largest fields in the entire state, and this year should be no different. Taking place over the course of two weekends in the Rocky Mount area, the 8u, 9u, 11u, 13u, and 15u age groups are slated to play from June 18th-20th while the 10u, 12u, 14u, 16u, high school age groups will be in action from June 25th-27th. One of the unique and attractive features of the Summer World Series that differentiates it from other large events in the state is that it is NOT a stay-to-play event, which may reduce the cost somewhat for some families. This event was pushed into the fall this past year because of COVID restrictions, however moving back to the summer should put it right back to being one of the top events in the state. With teams already signed up from at least 4 states, this should be another outstanding Summer World Series event right here in North Carolina.
Triple Crown Sports Border Wars
The Border Wars holds a unique place on the North Carolina travel ball circuit. Beginning in 2005, the Border Wars is generally held the first weekend in May (May 1-2, 2021) and annually brings together some of the best competition from North Carolina and Virginia, with teams from surrounding states including South Carolina, Maryland, and Pennsylvania taking part as well. The Border Wars was another of the "victims" of the COVID pandemic and was forced to be cancelled in 2020, but it should return in full force in 2021. With dozens of the best teams from North Carolina and Virginia already "penciled in", this is an event that is not to be missed.
USSSA Queen City Select Super NIT
The spring USSSA Super NIT has be renamed the Queen City Select Super NIT after a shake up in USSSA tournament directors this past year. Previously known as the Beast of the East, the USSSA spring Super NIT in the Charlotte area generally boasts the best and most competitive fields of the spring season in North Carolina. This year, however, could be a bit different as the Queen City Select Super NIT will take place the weekend of April 9th-11th, and will compete directly with another huge event on our list - the Perfect Game Coastal Super Regional NIT. This will make for an interesting lead up to these events to see which teams and organizations align with which event. A review of the Who's Coming lists already suggests how some of the organizations will align. From a purely baseball participant standpoint, it is too bad for the teams and players that these two events will go head-to-head against one another for competition this year.
Regional/National Events
Perfect Game World Series/National Elite Championship/Invitational National Championships/WWBA
Perfect Game has entered the youth travel ball circuit in a big way nationally over the past few years, and exploded on the national youth scene last year with their wildly successful national World Series events. This year, Perfect Game will host 2 major national events for youth teams, as well as extend their WWBA and National Elite Championship events down into the 13u age group. Get ready to travel if you want to compete in these events as these tournaments will be spread across the Southeast in June and July. For 8u-12u teams, Invitational National Championship will take place at the Boombah Sports Complex in Sanford, Florida, with 10u and 11u teams playing July 6th-11th, and 8u, 9u, and 12u teams competing from July 12th-17th. The 13u event will take place in Albertville, Alabama, from July 9th-13th. The World Series will be spread across a few weeks in June and July with 9u-12u teams playing at the East Cobb Complex in Marietta, Georgia, and the 13u age group heading to the Boombah complex in Sanford, Florida. The 10u World Series is scheduled from June 10th-15th, the 11u event from June 17th-22nd, the 9u and 12u events from July 1st-6th, and the 13u event from July 18th-22nd. 13u teams will also have the opportunity to compete in the WWBA Championships from July 3rd-7th in West Palm Beach, Florida, and the National Elite Championship from June 17th-21st in Hoover, Alabama. One look at the list of teams planning to attend these events confirms that these will be some of the best events of the year.
Travelball Select National Championships
TravelBall Select is looking to further solidify their spot among the top tournament organizations in the country with an expanded National Championship this year. This event will go off from June 15th-20th in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in one of the finest complexes in the midwest. Similar to many Perfect Game events, teams are required to request an invitation to the Travelball Select National Championships. This will be a 5-game guarantee for 8u-10u age groups, and 6-game guarantee for 11u-13u teams. There are already a handful of teams from North Carolina signed up, as well as teams from at least 13 states making this one of the top destination events in the country this year.
This summer will mark the 18th year of the Triple Crown Summer Nationals. The Triple Crown Summer Nationals take place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina across the month of July. 8u-12u events will begin July 14th and wrap up on July 18th, while the 13u age group will compete from July 18th-22nd. Primarily due to the national reputation of Triple Crown Sports, the beach and field location, as well as the time of the year, this event attracts a large number of out-of-state/region teams. This year alone we count teams hailing from 20 different states already signed up for this unique event.
USSSA Wilson Demarini Elite World Series
The USSSA Wilson Demarini Elite World Series has generally served as the premier national event in youth travel baseball over the past several years. While it has seen increasing competition each year from other organizations, 2021 will see this event again serve as one of the major events on the national youth travel baseball circuit. The Elite World Series will take place in Viera, Florida, across two weeks in July (8u, 10u, 11u, 13u 54/80: July 6th-11th; 9u, 12u, 13u 60/90: July 12th-17th). One of the unique features of the Elite World Series is that teams must win/qualify their way into this event by winning a Super NIT qualifier event (**If a Super NIT winner already has an Elite World Series berth or elects not to accept their berth, that berth moves to the 2nd place team and on down the list until a team from each Super NIT accepts a berth - however several teams are registered for this event who appear to not have qualified in this way**). This, therefore, selects for a VERY high quality of competition at the actual Elite World Series event. Currently, teams from 24 states and Puerto Rico are already signed up for this event, and we'd expect this event to again be one of the very best tournaments in the entire country this year.
Honorable Mention Events
While these events did not make our list above, they are still some of the best tournaments available to North Carolina teams this spring and summer.
Perfect Game Coastal World Series
Perfect Game Coastal is the the tournament director for Perfect Game youth events in this region. They will be hosting a number of events through the spring and summer in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Perhaps none of these more regional events will be bigger than the Coastal World Series being held from July 8th-11th in the Raleigh area. 32 teams are already signed up for this event, and this will be a unique event for the Raleigh area, which generally has not hosted very many Perfect Game events.
Triple Crown Sports Capital City Invitational/Virginia State Championships
Triple Crown hosts two large events in Virginia during the spring and summer. This includes the Capital City Invitational in Richmond on April 10th-11th, and the Virginia State Championships in Yorktown/Newport News on June 5th-6th. The Capital City Invitational is a 4-game guarantee event while the Virginia State Championships is a 3-game guarantee event, and champions of the Capital City Invitational receive a free berth to the Virginia State Championships or a $500 voucher for the Summer Nationals. Perhaps a bit unusually, Triple Crown will require teams to supply their own baseballs for these events. There is also a potential for up to 9 games at the Capital City Invitational, which teams should be aware of prior to signing up.
As noted above, USSSA Super NITs are the qualifying events for the Elite World Series and generally attract some of the best teams across the region and country. There are several of these events ongoing throughout the spring that are in reach for North Carolina-based teams. This includes the Atlanta Spring Select Super NIT from March 20th-21st, the Border Wars Select Super NIT in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from April 17th-18th, the South Carolina Spring Super NIT in Lexington/Columbia, South Carolina, on April 24th-25th, and the Atlanta Summer Select Super NIT on May 22nd-23rd. There are also Super NIT events in Greensboro on May 22nd-23rd, Salem, Virginia, on May 15th-16th, and the Beast of the East Select Super NIT in central Maryland from May 8th-9th for North Carolina teams to consider.