The Don’s Tournament of Champions Recap 2020

It was an exciting weekend of games, with some of the most beautiful weather of the fall season. The fields were some of the most competitive of the fall season, and teams were ready to stake claims as some of the best teams in North Carolina. Loaded fields, tight games, and popped chains. The Don's Tournament of Champions had it all this weekend. Here we recap an exciting weekend of games at the TOC.

 

8u

With 7 top 10 teams in North Carolina in the field, the competition was going to be tight all weekend. Two teams finished pool play with 2-0 records - the Pirates (SC), who defeated #9 Union County Crush and the #2 SBA Futures, and #1 West Raleigh Blue who knocked off #3 Dirtbags TR7 and #4 Area Stars Orange. The Crush and the Futures both defeated #6 GBG Carolina in their other pool play games, while the Dirtbags defeated  #8 NC Rogue and the Area Stars got a win over the SBA Nationals in their other pool play games.

In the play-in game, GBG took the win over the SBA Nationals to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, the top seeds held court with the Futures taking the win over the Area Stars, West Raleigh Blue getting past NC Rogue, the Pirates edging GBG Carolina, and Dirtbags TR7 notching a win over Union County Crush. In the semifinals, West Raleigh Blue rolled to a 10-3 win over the SBA Futures and Dirtbags TR7 scored a 14-8 win over the Pirates to set up a finals match up of our #1 and #3 teams. In the finals, it was West Raleigh who took home the chains with an 8-5 win over the Dirtbags. West Raleigh fell behind 3-1 early, but used a 6-run 4th inning to spring into the lead, and held on for the 8-5 win.

Predicted champion: West Raleigh Blue

Champion: West Raleigh Blue

 

9u

With NC's #1 team, the SBA Futures, pulling out last week, the 9u division was anyone's for the taking. The #1 team in South Carolina, the Carolina Reds, went 1-1 in pool play with a win over #11 Area Stars Orange and a loss to #6 SBA Rowan in pool play. The Area Stars defeated SBA Rowan in their other pool play game. #8 West Raleigh Blue was the lone team to finish 2-0 in pool play with wins over the Carolina Nationals and #13 Carolina Clippers.

In the play-in games on Sunday, SBA Rowan rolled to a 9-1 win over the Carolina Nationals and the Area Stars notched an 8-4 win over the Carolina Clippers. In the semifinals, SBA Rowan pulled off the upset, scoring an 11-5 win over the Carolina Reds, while West Raleigh Blue reached the finals with a 13-8 win over the Area Stars. In the finals, SBA Rowan finished off a great weekend with an exciting 13-7 win over West Raleigh. With the game tied at 3-3 after 3 innings, SBA Rowan exploded for 7 runs in the 4th and held on for the 13-7 win.

Predicted champion: SBA Futures

Champion: SBA Rowan

 

 

 

10u

The 10u field lived up to the pre-event hype with an outstanding weekend of competition and performances from multiple teams. 3 teams pulled off 2-0 records in pool play - #1 SBA Nationals, #3 SBA Futures, and #9 Dirtbags Black. The Nationals had wins over #8 Mission Baseball - Smith and #4 Spartans - Mullins, and the Futures the Dirtbags both had wins over #10 Park Sharon Nationals and #7 MARA Cobras. #5 West Raleigh Blue and #2 SBA Rowan Prospects both finished 1-0-1 in pool play, tying each other and with West Raleigh defeating #24 Five Star Carolina - Secrist and SBA Rowan defeating Union County Crush - Roadcap.

This was the most competitive tournament in the state in the 10u age group this year. Just to make the quarterfinals was a big accomplishment. In the play-in games, the Area Stars edged the MARA Cobras, Spartans - Mullins blanked Five Star - Secrist, West Raleigh blue defeated Park Sharon, and Mission - Smith got past the Union County Crush. Almost every one of those games was a match up of ranked teams. In the quarterfinals, the Area Stars defeated Dirtbags Black 11-5, the SBA Futures notched a 7-1 win over Spartans - Mullins, SBA Rowan Prospects edged West Raleigh Blue 5-4, and the SBA Nationals rolled to a 12-2 win over Mission - Smith. The SBA Rowan-West Raleigh game was particularly exciting as these two had tied in pool play. In the bracket play game, West Raleigh took a 4-3 lead scoring 3 runs in the top of the 4th, but SBA Rowan bounced back with 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th to take the lead 5-4, which they held on to for the win. In the first semifinal, the Area Stars battled back from a 5-0 deficit after 4 innings to score 3 in the top of the 5th and 2 in the 6th to tie the game at 5 and send the game to extra innings. They plated 1 in the top half of the 7th to take a 6-5 lead, but the Futures were able to put 2 across in the bottom of the 7th to take the walk off 7-6 win. In the other semifinal, the SBA Rowan Prospects scored a 6-3 win over the SBA Nationals in a match up teams we had ranked #1 and #2. In our preview, we had discussed we thought this division would come down to the Futures and the SBA Rowan Prospects. We chose SBA Rowan to take the title, but it was the Futures who popped the chains, scoring a 4-1 win over the SBA Rowan Prospects and likely re-staking their claim as the top 10u team in North Carolina.

Predicted champion: SBA Rowan Prospects

Champion: SBA Futures

 

11u

The SBA Futures pulled out of this age group as well, which left us without our predicted champion. Nevertheless, 6 teams ranked in North Carolina remained in this competitive field. 7 teams will be in action in the 11u age group this weekend. #2 Dirtbags Black was the lone 2-0 in pool play with wins over #4 Five Star Carolina - Young and #5 LBC Swarm. #6 Rawlings Prospects NC - Piscorik earned the #2 seed with a win over #11 Carolina Rockies - Sullivan and a loss against Five Star - Young.

In a unique twist, bracket play was double-elimination in this event. In the opening bracket play games, the LBC Swarm defeated Carolina Rockies - Sullivan and Five Star - Young scored a win over West Raleigh Blue, sending the Rockies and West Raleigh to the Losers bracket. In the 2nd round games in the Winners bracket, the Swarm scored a come-from-behind 8-5 win over Rawlings and Dirtbags Black edged Five Star - Young 6-5. In the first games in the Losers Bracket, West Raleigh blanked Rawlings - Piscorik 9-0 and the Rockies scored a 7-6 win over Five Star - Young. In the Losers Bracket semifinal, West Raleigh scored an 8-1 win over the Rockies. In the Winners Bracket final, the Dirtbags notched a 10-5 win over the LBC Swarm to send them to the Losers Bracket final. In the Losers Bracket final, West Raleigh ran out of steam, falling 12-5 against the LBC Swarm, who reached the finals against Dirtbags Black. In an unbelievable finals game, Dirtbags Black fell behind 10-1 after the top half of the 4th inning. They scored 7 in the bottom of the 4th and another in the bottom of the 5th to trail 10-9 heading into the 6th and final inning. In the 6th inning, LBC added one in the top half of the inning to take an 11-9 lead. The Dirtbags, however, roared back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 12-11 win over the LBC Swarm. Going 5-0 in this field was a truly remarkable accomplishment, as the Dirtbags literally outlasted the Swarm to get the chains.

Predicted champion: SBA Futures

Champion: Dirtbags Black

 

12u

Our #1 team in NC, the SBA Futures, impressed all weekend in the 12u age group as they rolled to wins over #20 LKN Hurricanes and the DB Raptors in pool play. #16 Carolina HighSpeed finished 1-1 in pool play with a win over Team 24 Gamecocks - Wilson (SC) and a loss to SBA - Santos in pool play. In the opening bracket play play-in game, the LKN Hurricanes notched a 13-5 win over SBA Rowan Prospects. In the semifinals, Carolina HighSpeed scored a 6-3 win over the SBA Prospects and the SBA Futures blanked the Hurricanes 8-0. In the finals, the Futures finished off an impressive weekend with an 11-2 win over Carolina HighSpeed.

Predicted champion: SBA Futures

Champion: SBA Futures