As always, North Carolina will host several huge youth baseball tournaments in the spring and summer of 2019. In order for teams to best prepare for their upcoming seasons, we want to spotlight several of the biggest tournaments in North Carolina this spring as well as a few of the biggest events from surrounding states.
USSSA Beast of the East (4/5-4/7/19)
Perhaps the biggest event of the early spring season will come at the USSSA Beast of the East in the Charlotte area on April 5th-7th. The 2018 event featured over 180 teams from 8u-13u, spread out across Charlotte, Greensboro, and Morganton sites. The crown jewel of the Beast of the East, the Majors event in Charlotte, generally represents one of the most competitive fields in the entire Southeastern United States. In 2018, 41 teams in our rankings at that time were in the various fields from 8u-13u. This year should be no exception, with 13 ranked teams already signed up.
Triple Crown Sports Border Wars (5/4-5/5/19)
Triple Crown Sports is one of the more prominent youth baseball tournament circuits nationally, stretching from coast to coast, however they only have one event in North Carolina. Despite this, the annual Border Wars in Rocky Mount brings together some of the best competition in North Carolina and Virginia every year. Last year, over 20 ranked teams in were in the fields from 8u-13u, including 3 teams ranked #1 in their respective age group. This year should be no different as some of the top teams in North Carolina will face off against some of the best competition from the state of Virginia.
Perfect Game Super 25 Qualifiers (May/June 2019)
Over the past several years, Perfect Game has emerged as perhaps the preeminent showcase and tournament organization for high school aged baseball. More recently, they have begun to expand their tournament offerings for youth players. The Super25 National Championships, which take place annually in late June and July in Florida, are one of the flagship event of the Perfect Game youth schedule. Every year, the qualifier events for Super25 attract bigger and better competition. The Super25 is only offered to teams 10u-13u, with the first qualifier event for all age groups taking place May 17-19th (10u-12u in Greensboro, 13u in Pineville). A second 13u qualifier event will take place in Greensboro on June 21-23rd.
Top Gun Sports Summer World Series (6/14-6/16/19 & 6/21-6/23/19)
The Top Gun Summer World Series is generally one of the biggest tournaments in the entire Southeastern United States, if not the entire US. Last year over 300 teams competed across two weekends, including 29 ranked teams. In addition to top teams from North Carolina, several of the best teams from surrounding states (Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland) routinely play in this event. Situated in the middle to end of June, the Top Gun Summer World Series is a great way to head into the home stretch of the season for many teams.
Best Events from Surrounding States
In addition to the great events listed above in North Carolina, we wanted to highlight a few of the high profile events taking place in surrounding states.
USSSA Atlanta Spring Super NIT (3/16-3/17/19)
The USSSA Super NITs are some of the most competitive tournaments across the United States and the Atlanta Spring Super NIT brings together some over the very best teams in talent-rich Georgia. In 2018, some of the best teams in North Carolina made the trip to Atlanta and current 11u #2 TPA Nationals finished 6-0 to take home the 10u title. Current 10u #1 Park Sharon Nationals and #2 SBA Premier - Simmons both made it to the semifinals in the 9u age group, while current 12u #2 SBA Premier also made the trip down to Atlanta for the event. This year should be no different and we'd expect to see several North Carolina teams in the field looking to secure USSSA points and a berth in the USSSA Elite World Series this summer.
Triple Crown Sports Summer Nationals (7/9-7/21/19)
Somewhat different form the tournaments listed previously, the Triple Crown Summer Nationals is a week long event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The event takes place over two weeks with the 8u kid-pitch - 12u age groups playing 7/9-7/14/19 and the 13u age group playing 7/16-7/21/19. This tournament is regularly has one of the most geographically diverse fields in the Southeast with teams currently hailing from as far away as Washington state, California, Connecticut, Colorado, and Texas among many other states.
Ripken Baseball Week Long Experiences (June, July, August 2019)
The Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach is one of the most unique youth baseball facilities on the East Coast. Ripken Baseball has 8 different week-long events taking place from June through August. The High Tide Experience kicks things off from June 9th-14th, followed by the Summer Slam Experience (6/16-6/21/19), the Beach Blast Experience (6/23-6/29/19), the Tidal Wave Experience (6/30-7/5/19), the Surf's Up Experience (7/7-7/12/19), the Big Kahuna Experience (7/14-7/19/19), the Ocean Breeze Experience (7/21-7/26/19), and the Wave Rider Experience (7/28-8/2/19). Many of these events sell out quickly, and much like the Triple Crown Summer Nationals, the week-long events at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach generally attract teams from all over the United States.