Three sites were in action this past weekend for Top Gun, including Goldsboro, Greensboro, and Charlotte. There were dozens of ranked teams from North Carolina as well as ranked teams from Virginia and South Carolina. Here we recap the games from the Top Gun sites across North Carolina from this past weekend.
8u
In Goldsboro, our #13 (Carolina Thunder) and #15 (Wilmington Seahawks) teams in North Carolina were in the field of 5 teams that played a single round-robin format event. The Thunder ended up as the eventual champion by the "runs against" criteria as 3 teams - Carolina Thunder, EC Diamondbacks, and the Lugnuts - all went 3-1. The Thunder gave up a total of 31 runs, compared to 36 and 37, respectively, for the Diamondbacks and Lugnuts. The Thunder's only loss came in a 13-5 contest against the Diamondbacks.
In Charlotte, #8 MARA Mavericks and #11 CBA Copperheads Black were both in the field of 9 teams. The Mavericks ended up with the #2 seed for Sunday after going 2-0 in pool play including a 12-6 win over Copperheads Black. The Copperheads ended up with the 5th and final seed in the Gold bracket after finishing 1-1 in pool play. They defeated the LBC Lions 20-6 in the #4/5 play-in game, and then CBA Copperheads Red by the score of 20-3 in the semifinals. They were met in the finals by MARA who notched a 21-3 win over the DB Raptors in the semifinals. In the finals, the Mavericks finished off a 4-0 weekend by scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to take a 9-6 win over CBA Copperheads Black.
In Greensboro, #6 GBC Prospects dominated all weekend, posting a 17-7 win over the Summerfield Stars and a 21-8 win over Rogue - Smith in pool play. They followed that up with a 17-2 win over Summerfield in the semifinals and a 19-4 win over Cage 2 Stage in the finals.
9u
6 teams were in the 9u field in Goldsboro this weekend, including 4 ranked teams in #3 Dirtbags Black, #5 Dirtbags East, #15 NCDB Rivercats, and #22 Carolina Titans - Ricks. It was the NCDB Rivercats and Carolina Titans who were the standouts this weekend. The Titans earned the #1 seed for Sunday with a win over GBI Express and a 5-4 win over Dirtbags Black in pool play. The Rivercats went 1-0-1 in pool play, including a win over Dirtbags East and a tie against the East Carolina Bombers. In the semifinals, the Titans blanked GBI Express 15-0 while the Rivercats scored a 16-7 win over Dirtbags East. In the finals, the Rivercats fell behind 5-4 through 2 innings, but plated a run in the top of the 3rd and another in the top of the 5th and held on for a 6-5 win over the Titans.
In Charlotte, the Carolina Revolution (formerly South Charlotte Cardinals) were the big standout as they went 4-0 for the weekend. They scored a 15-0 win over WCWAA Wildcats and a 12-0 win over the Stanly County Titans in pool play. They followed that up with a 14-3 win over Team Warstic Bear Clan in the semifinals and a come-from-behind 12-11 win over #9 LKN Hurricanes in which the Revolution scored 4 in the bottom of the 5th and 2 in the bottom of the 6th to get the walk-off win.
There were two 9u divisions in Greensboro this weekend (New Market and Pleasant Garden). In New Market, #8 Carolina Naturals rolled to a 4-0 weekend highlighted by a 10-2 win over the Triad Warriors and a in the semifinals and an 8-5 win over New Market Baseball in the finals. In Pleasant Garden, it was the Sleepers who took home the title posting a 4-0 weekend of their own. This included an 11-8 win over Spartans - Eno River in the semifinals and a 10-0 win over C35 in the finals.
10u
4 teams competed in the D1 division in Goldsboro this past weekend. All 4 teams are ranked in our top 25 in North Carolina, including #6 Canes Baseball NC - Harris, #19 NCDB Rivercats, #21 Dirtbags East, and #22 Area Stars Orange. The Rivercats scored the top seed with a 3-0 win over the Area Stars and a 13-3 win over Canes - Harris on Saturday. The Area Stars scored a 7-4 win over Dirtbags East in their other pool play game. In the semifinals on Sunday, the Area Stars scored an 8-4 win over the Canes and the Rivercats notched a 4-2 win over Dirtbags East. In the finals, the Area Stars avenged their pool play loss with a 6-3 win over the Rivercats.
In Charlotte, 15 teams competed in the 10u division, including the #2 team in Virginia, RBA West VA Seminoles - Everett, but it was the LKN Lightning who stole the show. The Lightning earned the #2 seed for Sunday after a 6-1 win over the Lenoir Ravens and an 8-5 win over the Charlotte Colts. On Sunday, the Lightning scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to notched a 12-11 win over Seminoles - Everett in the semifinals. In the finals, the Lightning notched an 8-7 win over Coul Oak Diesel to take the title in Charlotte.
In Greensboro, NC #9 HPT HiToms went 4-0 for the weekend scoring a 6-5 win over NC Rogue and an 11-10 win over the Sandhills Scrappers. They followed that up with an 11-4 win over Rogue in the semifinals, and a 5-3 in over our #1 team in Virginia, Canes Baseball 757 - Ruberti, in the finals.