Over 80 teams made the trip to the Charlotte area this past weekend for the USSSA Beast of the East Super NIT. This included 29 teams ranked in our North Carolina state rankings across the 10u-13u age groups. There were a host of matchups between ranked opponents, and nearly winner had to win one or more close games to get their title. Here we recap the Beast of the East games from this past weekend.
10u
In the Majors division, 11 teams competed in Charlotte this past weekend. This included 7 ranked teams from North Carolina, our current #1 and #2 teams from South Carolina, and National Honor Roll member, Next Level Prospects (GA). 3 teams finished pool play with 2-0 records - #2 Dirtbags Black, #3 NCABC Fungo - Piscorik, and #5 LBC Swarm. The Dirtbags had wins over Union County Crush and #18 Area Stars Orange, Fungo had wins over Union County Crush and Next Level Prospects, and the Swarm posted victories over #9 Five Star Carolina - Young and #4 Triple Crown Lookouts. This left 5 teams - Fungo - Piscorik, Dirtbags Black, the LBC Swarm, Team 24 Gamecocks - Clayton (SC), and Next Level Prospects - with the top 5 seeds for Sunday, and byes into the quarterfinals. In the opening round games, Triple Crown Lookouts rolled to a 12-5 win over the LKN Lightning, and the Carolina Cannons blasted their way to a 17-2 win over Union County Crush, and Five Star - Young notched a 9-5 win over Area Stars Orange. In the semifinals, Team 24 edged past Next Level Prospects 5-3, Fungo scored a 10-2 win over the Lookouts, Dirtbags Black slugged their way to a 17-1 win over Five Star - Young, and the LBC Swarm got up 7-3 through 3 innings and held on for a 7-6 win over the Carolina Cannons. In the semifinals, Fungo posted a strong 7-1 win over Team 24 - Clayton, while Dirtbags Black blanked LBC 8-0 to set up a contest between our #2 and #3 teams in North Carolina. In the finals, Dirtbags Black got out to a 7-0 lead through two innings, and rode their hot bats and stellar defense and pitching to a 12-5 victory over Fungo - Piscorik.
11u
The 11u Majors division featured 16 teams, including 6 teams ranked in North Carolina. #1 Park Sharon Nationals - Pirro led the way in pool play, going 2-0 with wins over MVP Athletics and the DC Rippers. Jr. Mavz Select (SC), #4 Five Star Carolina Elite, #12 LBC Thunder, and Area Stars Gray all went 2-0 in pool play. #5 Coastal Cyclones, #14 Union County Crush - Walker, #10 Carolina Rockies - Stanton, SBA - Callahan, Dirtbags Camo, and Mission Baseball - Reyer all went 1-1 in pool play. Five Star posted a nice 5-2 win over Rockies - Stanton in match up of ranked teams in pool play. The Rockies defeated Union County Crush in their other pool play game. The top four seeds - Park Sharon, Jr. Mavs Select, Five Star Elite, and the LBC Thunder - all had byes into the quarterfinals on Sunday. In the opening round of games on Sunday, the Coastal Cyclones edged Mission Baseball - Reyer 6-5, Union County Crush scored their own 1-run win with a 12-11 win over Dirtbags Camo, Area Stars Gray also scores a 1-run 7-6 win over Park Sharon - Garcia, and Carolina Rockies - Stanton rolled to a 9-1 win over SBA - Callahan. In the quarterfinals, the Coastal Cyclones took an 8-5 win over Five Star Carolina Elite, Jr. Mavz notched a 7-6 win over Union County Crush, the Area Stars blanked the LBC Thunder 4-0, and Park Sharon - Pirro scored an 8-4 win over Rockies - Stanton. In the semifinals, the Cyclones were able to outhit Jr. Mavz Select on their way to a 15-13 win after having a 15-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 3rd inning, and Park Sharon - Pirro scored a 13-6 win over Area Stars Gray. In a tightly contest finals game, Park Sharon used outstanding pitching and defense to hold off the Cyclones and notch a 5-2 win to take home the Super NIT title.
12u
In what was perhaps the most loaded age division at the Beast of the East, 18 teams including 10 ranked teams from North Carolina, as well as several of the best teams from South Carolina and Tennessee competed for the Super NIT crown this weekend. Among the 10 ranked teams from North Carolina were 7 of the top 10 teams, and all 10 within the top 16 teams in the state. 6 teams finished pool play with 2-0 records including #7 Carolina Rockies - Culler, #4 Mission Vipers Gold, #10 CBA Copperheads Black, #13 Dirtbags East, Canes Baseball SC - Staats, and #1 Rawlings Prospects NC, however only 4 received byes into the quarterfinals on Sunday. Dirtbags East posted a 6-2 win over #6 NCDB Rivercats to highlight their Saturday. In other notable ranked matchups from Saturday, the Rivercats scored a 9-4 win over #14 MPC, and #16 Luckies Platinum tied #2 Dirtbags Black and notched an 11-4 win over #5 SBA Futures in pool play. In the opening round games on Sunday, Rawlings got past Jr. Mavz Prodigy Blue 5-3, #2 Dirtbags Black scored an 8-5 win over the SBA Futures in matchup of top 5 teams, Canes - Staats rolled to a 14-4 win over Crusaders Baseball (TN), and the NCDB Rivercats notched a 6-2 win over Luckies Platinum. In an interesting twist in the quarterfinals, the top 4 seeds all lost as Rawlings notched an 11-3 win over #3 seed Copperheads - Black, Dirtbags Black defeated Mission Vipers Gold, Canes - Staats got past #4 seed Dirtbags East 6-3, and the Rivercats rolled to a 9-3 win over top-seeded Rockies - Culler. In two tightly contested semifinal battles, the Rawlings Prospects got out to an 8-1 lead over Dirtbags Black before giving up 7 runs in the top of the 4th to tie the game at 8 heading into the bottom of the 4th. In the bottom half of the inning, with two outs, the Prospects hit double, followed by an intentional walk and a single to plate the winning run in an exciting 9-8 win. The other semifinals was just as exciting as the Rivercats got out to an early 3-0 lead, but headed into the bottom of the 6th inning tied a 4. The Canes were able to load up the bases with 1-out and plate the winning run on a single to score a 5-4 win in the second walk off victory in the 12u semifinals. In the finals, with both teams playing their fourth game of the day and 6th of the weekend, the Rawlings Prospects just had a little more gas left in the tank than Canes - Staats as they rolled to a 9-0 win over the Canes to take home their second NIT title in back-to-back weekends.
13u
12 teams, including 6 teams ranked in our top 25 in North Carolina, were in action. This included #1 Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, #3 Mission Vipers Gold, #5 Five Star Carolina Champions, #9 Dirtbags Legends, #10 Five Star WNC, and #18 LBC Attack. 6 teams went 2-0 in pool play including Mission Gold, 5 Star WNC, Canes - Simpson, Five Star Carolina Champions, Dirtbags Legends, and Team 24 Gamecocks - Black (SC). Ranked wins included Mission Gold with a 9-1 win over LBC Attack, Five Star Champions with a 5-2 win over LBC Attack, Canes - Simpson with a 5-4 win over Rawlings Stars NC Prospects 2025, and Dirtbags Legends with an 8-6 win over Rawlings Stars 2025. Only the top 4 seeds - Mission Baseball Gold, Five Star WNC, Canes - Simpson, and Five Star Star Champions - receive byes into the quarterfinals. In the opening round of bracket play, the SBA Nationals scored a 10-2 win over Canes - Simpson, Rawlings 2025 notched a 7-2 win over CS Heat (VA), Dirtbags Legends edged past Dirtbags Camo 7-5, and the LBC Attack scored a 4-3 win over the Hillsborough Hawks. In the quarterfinals, Canes - Simpson edged past the SBA Nationals with a walk off 4-3 win, Rawlings Stars NC Prospects scored a 1-run 9-8 win over Five Star WNC, Five Star Champions rolled to an 11-3 win over Dirtbags Legends, and Mission Baseball Gold notched a 12-7 win over LBC Attack. In the semifinals, Canes - Simpson blanked Rawlings 8-0 and Mission Baseball rolled to a 10-1 win over Five Star Champions to set up a finals matchup of our #1 and #3 teams in the 13u age group. In a great finals game, Mission fell behind 5-0 through 3 innings, but scored 1 run in the bottom of the 4th inning and 6 in the bottom half of the 5th and held on for a 7-6 win over Canes - Simpson.