The Winter National Championships were an exciting end to the fall Top Gun tournament series. There were a number of teams from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia in the fields that made for an excellent tournament. See our recap of the weekend’s events.
8u
#6 Lake Norman Vipers were the top ranked North Carolina team in the 8u field. They went 2-0 in pool play with a 5-4 win over the Carolina Titans and a 12-4 win over the Carrabus Bandits. Team 24 Gamecocks – Clayton (SC) earned the #2 seed going 2-0 in pool play with an 11-10 win over the Carolina Titans and an 18-11 win over Cherryville Baseball. Cherryville finished 1-1 in pool play, and earned the #3 seed with a 10-3 win over North Charleston Superfortress in addition to their loss to the Titans. In bracket play, the #4 seed Carrabus Bandits topped the #5 seed Carolina Titans 5-2, while Cherryville Baseball edged North Charleston Superfortress 6-4. In the semifinals, the Lake Norman Vipers rolled over the Carrbus Bandits 14-3, while Team 24 Gamecocks – Clayton beat Cherryville Baseball 13-9 to reach the finals. In the finals, Lake Noman Vipers continued their hot play with a 13-8 win over the Gamecocks to take the 8u Winter National Championship title.
9u
The 9u division featured #11 Mount Holly Lightning and #16 Lake Norman Thunder. The Lightning rolled through pool play in dominating fashion, going 2-0 with a 12-6 win over Copperheads – Sigler and a 10-0 win over Elite 9u (SC), and earned the #2 seed for bracket play. The Lake Norman Thunder also went 2-0 with a 10-2 win over the Carolina Titans (SC) and an 18-12 win over Team 24 Gamecocks (SC), and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. Copperheads – Sigler earned the #4 seed, going 1-1 in pool play with a 10-2 win over Elite 9u in addition to their loss to the Mount Holly Lightning. In bracket play, the Carolina Bruins (SC) beat Copperheads – Sigler and the Lake Norman Thunder edged the Carolina Titans 7-6 to reach the semifinals. In semifinals, Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley SC sneaked past the Carolina Bruins 6-5 while the Lake Norman Thunder blasted the Mount Holly Lightning 13-4. In the finals, Team 24 Gamecocks – Ashley was too much for the Thunder and came out on top by the score of 15-4.
10u
#8 Rawlings Stars NC Prospects was the highest ranked NC team in the 10u field. They went 2-0 in pool play with an 11-8 win over CSA-Carrabus Chargers and an 8-7 win over an excellent Carolina Titans (SC) team and earned the #3 seed for bracket play. Rock Solid Red went 1-1 in pool play with a 2-0 loss to the SC Jets and a 13-3 win over Stealth Elite Orioles (SC). The SC Jets also beat Stealth Elite Orioles 17-7 in pool play and secured the top seed for bracket play. In bracket play, #4 seed Rock Solid Red adged the Carolina Titans 5-4, #2 seed Team 24 Gamecocks (SC) beat #7 seed Stealth Elite Orioles 13-8, and #3 seed Rawlings Stars again beat the CSA-Carrabus Chargers, this time by the score of 10-6. In the semifinals, the top seeded SC Jets beat Rock Solid Red 11-9 while the Rawlings Stars edged Team 24 Gamecocks 10-8. In the finals, the Rawlings Stars NC Prospects were able to cap off a 5-0 weekend with a 15-3 win over the SC Jets to take home the Top Gun Winter National Championship.
11u
D1
Three teams from North Carolina were in the D1 division this past weekend. #7 Team Ghost started pool play with a 12-8 win over a top-level Carolina Bruins (SC) squad, but dropped to 1-1 in pool play with a 12-4 loss to the Rawlings Stars NC Prospects and earned the #4 seed in bracket play. The Rawlings Stars went 2-0 in pool play with a 15-2 win over SC Jets Black in addition to their win over Team Ghost, and earned the #1 as well as a first round bye for bracket play. In bracket play, #4 seed Team Ghost topped #5 seed SC Jets Black 12-3 to earn a shot at the Rawlings Stars, while #3 seed LKN Attack was blanked by #2 seed Carolina Bruins 10-0. In their semifinal match up, Team Ghost beat the Rawlings Stars 8-4 in a rematch of their pool play game. In the finals, the Carolina Bruins blasted Team Ghost 12-1 to avenge their pool play loss and take home the D1 title.
12u
D1
#7 Sanford Cobras started pool play with an 8-4 loss to Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown (SC), but rebounded to score a 13-1 win over the Burgaw Nationals, and earn the #3 seed for bracket play. #14 Sandhills Heat went 2-0 in pool play with an 8-4 win over Warriors (SC) and a 7-3 win over the Wilmington Pirates and earned the #1 seed for bracket play. The Wilmington Pirates finished 1-1 in pool play with an 8-4 win over the Burgaw Nationals in addition to their loss to the Heat. In bracket play, #4 seed Wilmington Pirates topped the Warriors 7-2, while #3 seed Sanford Cobras beat the Burgaw Nationals 6-2. In the semifinals, the Sandhills Heat again got the best of the Wilmington Pirates, this time by the score of 9-1, while Team 24 Gamecocks – Brown edged past the Sanford Cobras 8-7 to reach the finals. In the finals, the Sandhills Heat capped off an impressive 4-0 weekend with a 7-4 win over an excellent Team 24 Gamecocks team.
13u
54/80
#16 Carolina Titans – Ambrose went 1-1 in pool play with a 14-8 win over Hartsville Fire (SC) and a 11-4 loss to the Walk Off Warriors, and earned the #5 seed for bracket play. The Walk Off Warriors also beat GBI Express Black – Gardner 3-2 to earn the #2 seed for bracket play. Warriors (SC) earned the top seed for bracket play with a 9-3 win over Akadema Blue and a 7-2 win over the Five Star Wildcats. In bracket play, #1 seed Warriors topped #8 seed Akadema Blue 9-4, #2 seed Walk Off Warriors edged #7 seed GBI Express Black – Gardner 8-5, #3 seed Five Star Wildcats were beaten by #6 seed Darlington Devils (SC), and #4 seed Hartsville Fire beat Carolina Titans – Ambrose 8-6. In the semifinals, it was the Walk Off Warriors over the Devils 11-1 and the Warriors over the Fire 7-2 to set up and all-Warriors final. In the finals, the alk Off Warriors beat the Warriors 8-3 to finish 5-0 for the weekend and take home the 13u 54/80 championship.
13u
60/90
#4 Charlotte Nationals had a rough weekend, going 1-1 in pool play with a 7-6 loss to the Rawlings Stars NC Prospects and a 12-1 win over Team 24 Gamecocks – Douglas (SC), and earned the #4 seed for bracket play. The Prospects also went 1-1 in pool play with a 11-3 loss to Stealth Elite Pelicans, in addition to their win over the Nationals, and earned the #5 seed for bracket play. Team24 Gamecocks (SC) earned the #1 seed with a 12-2 win over Holly Springs Rage Black – Ferreira and a 14-0 win over Elite 13u. The Holly Springs Rage finished 1-1 with a 12-7 win over Fury Baseball in addition to their loss to Team24 Gamecocks. In bracket play, #5 seed Rawlings Stars NC Prospects topped the Charlotte Nationals 5-0 to set up a match up against #1 seed Team24 Gamecocks. In the semifinals, #3 seed Bluechip Athletes edged #2 seed Stealth Elite Pelicans while the Rawlings Stars beat Team24 Gamecocks 7-3 to reach the finals. In the finals, the Rawlings Stars topped Bluechip Athletes 8-5 to take the 13u 60/90 title.