USSSA Highlights 6/27-6/28/20

There were a number of ranked teams in action at the USSSA sites across the state this past weekend, including at the 8u Beast of the East Super NIT, and the 9u Charlotte Super NIT. This lead to numerous games between top 10 and top 5 opponents. Here we review the past weekend of USSSA games across North Carolina.

 

8u

The 8u Beast of the East took place this past weekend in Charlotte and included 7 teams ranked in North Carolina as well as the #2 team from South Carolina.  Looking to build on a stellar fall and spring season, it was the #6 MARA Mavericks who stole the show in Charlotte this past weekend. The Mavericks went 2-0 in pool play, including an 8-4 win over #4 SBA Futures, and earned the #2 seed for Sunday. On Sunday, the Mavericks defeated the MARA Bolts in their opening bracket play game, followed by a 10-2 win over #1 Asheville A's in the semifinals, and an 8-6 win over the Carolina Reds in the finals. Other notable performances including #15 South Charlotte Cardinals defeating #10 Dirtbags Black and SC #2 Carolina Reds in pool play before falling in a 13-12 heart-breaker against #8 GBC Prospects in their opening bracket play game. Both the Prospects and the Asheville A's finished the weekend with 3-1 records, with the A's notching a 16-15 win over #4 SBA Futures in their opening bracket play game.

In the Jeff Young 25 NIT in Charlotte, East Rowan went 1-0-1 in pool play, and then defeated the SBA Americans 12-1 in the semifinals and the Carolina Clippers 14-11 in the finals to take home the 8u title. In Morganton, Athletes Lab - Moser went 4-0 for the weekend, highlighted by two slugfests in pool play. In the semifinals, they defeated Athletes Lab 13-12 and followed that up with a 18-14 win over the North Lincoln Destroyers in the finals.

 

9u

In the 9u Charlotte Super NIT this past weekend, 11 of the 12 teams in the field were ranked in our top 25 teams in North Carolina making this perhaps the most competitive 9u field of the year. This included 7 of the top 10 teams, and 9 of the top 15 teams. #1 SBA Futures, #3 Carolina Revolution, and #10 Mission Baseball - Smith all went 2-0 in pool play, with Mission Baseball highlighting their pool play run with a 10-5 win over Five Star Baseball - Secrist. The top 4 seeds - SBA Futures, Carolina Revolution, Mission Baseball, and Five Star - Secrist all earned byes into the quarterfinals. In the opening round games, #6 Park Sharon Nationals defeated #18 Davidson Crush 9-7, #15 MARA Cobras blanked the SBA Nationals 8-0, #7 SBA Rowan edged #23 Union County Crush - Roadcap 7-6, and #5 Dirtbags LKN scored a 1-run 13-12 win over #11 SBA Rowan Spinners. In the quarterfinals Mission - Smith got up 9-2 through 3 innings against the Park Sharon Nationals, but gave up 2 in the top of the 4th and 8 in the top of the 5th to fall behind 12-9 lead heading into bottom of the 5th. In their half inning, Mission plated 3 runs to send the game to the 6th inning tied a 12-12. Park Sharon scored 4 runs runs in the top of the 6th, but Mission - Smith battled back, scoring 5 in the home half of the inning to take a 17-16 win in walkoff fashion. In the other quarterfinals, MARA scored a 7-5 win over the Revolution, Five Star - Secrist notched a 9-7 win over SBA Rowan, and Dirtbags LKN topped the SBA Futures 10-8. Only one semifinal game was able to be complete, and it Mission - Smith scored another 1-run win with a 10-9 win over the MARA Cobras.

In Greensboro, #24 Carolina Hitmen bounced back from a 1-1 Saturday to score a 9-0 win over Proehlific Power in the semifinals and a 12-4 win over SML Sandlot in the finals. In Morganton, the Dirty Birds also rebounded from a 1-1 showing in pool play to win the crown on Sunday, notching a 6-5 win over Equip in the semifinals and a 14-6 win over GBC South Carolina Heat in the finals.

 

 

10u

In Charlotte, 5 Star Heat rolled to a 4-0 record, including a close 7-6 win over On Deck Weddington in the semifinals and a 14-1 win over Concord Athletics in the finals. In Morganton, Power Zone Aces Orange came down from Virginia and went 4-0 for the weekend, scoring a win over #24 Equip in pool play, and defeating the Hickory homeboys 7-3 in the semifinals and Athletes Lab - Vogel 11-9 in the finals on Sunday. Athletes Lab - Vogel finished the weekend with a 3-1 record.

 

11u
#24 Five Star Heat - Carter was dominant this past weekend on their way to a 4-0 run in Morganton.

At the Jeff Young 25 NIT in Charlotte, 6 teams competed in the 11u age group. The LKN Hurricanes finished the weekend 4-0 to take home the title. This included a 6-5 win over the Kernersville Cyclones in the semifinals and an 8-2 win over the Carolina Combat in the finals. In Greensboro, Diamond Deacons - Maness went 4-0 for the weekend outscoring their 4 opponents a combined 57-12 overall for the weekend. The #24 team in North Carolina, 5 Star Heat - Carter, went 4-0 this past weekend in Morganton. For the weekend, 5 Star Heat - Carter gave up a total of 6 runs in 4 games, including 5 in the first game. In their final 3 games, they outscored their opponents a combined 30-1.

The #2 SBA Futures, #3 SBA Nationals, and #7 SBA Americans all played up in the 12u age group in Charlotte this past weekend. The Futures and Nationals met up in pool play with the Futures rolling to a 13-1 win. The Futures finished pool play 2-0, while the Nationals would finish with a 1-1 record. In the opening round of bracket play, the Nationals defeated 12u #16 MPC 14-2 to set up a semifinal rematch against the Futures. In the semifinals, the Futures got down 5-1 after the top of the second inning, but couldn't battle all the way back, eventually falling 6-5. The Nationals went on to the finals, but ran into a buzzsaw in the MARA Cobras, falling 17-2. The Americans earned the #1 seed for Sunday in the White bracket, going 2-0 in pool play, but fell in the semifinals 14-6 against the 12u SBA Americans.

 

 

12u

At the Jeff Young 25 NIT in Charlotte, the MARA Cobras finished pool play with a 2-0 record in the Red bracket. North Carolina #16 MPC went 1-1 on Saturday, falling 10-4 to #24 Randolph Regulators, who went 2-0 in pool play, but played in the White bracket on Sunday. In the Red bracket, MPC fell 14-2 against 11u #2 SBA Nationals in their opening game. In the semifinals, the MARA Cobras defeated Concord Athletics Red 13-5 and the 11u SBA Nationals defeated the 11u SBA Futures 6-5. In the finals, the Cobras scored 16 runs in the 2nd inning including 7 home runs, and went on to defeat the Nationals by the score of 17-2. In the White bracket, the Randolph Regulators defeated the Carolina Reds (SC) 15-4 in their opening round game, before falling to SBA Rowan by the score of 8-4. It appears the White bracket finals between SBA Rowan and the SBA Americans did not get completed.

In Greensboro, the Forest Rangers (VA) bounced back from a 1-1 Saturday that included a 24-3 loss against Sandhills Stingrays - Norris to go 3-0 on Sunday and win the 12u title. This included a 17-0 win over the Triad Cardinals in their opening round game, a 14-8 win over Proehlific Power in the semifinals, and a 12-11 win over the Alamance Patriots in the finals. In Morganton, the Carolina Predators finished the weekend with a 4-0 record, outscoring opponents a combined 42-13 across 4 games. This included a 9-4 win over WCW Baseball in the finals.

 

13u

In Charlotte, our #6 team in North Carolina, Five Star Carolina - Queler, went 2-0 on Saturday, as did #9 Dirtbags Legends. The SBA Nationals finished Saturday with a 1-0-1 record to score the #3 seed for Sunday. In the opening round of bracket play, the SBA Nationals defeated SBA - Moffitt 7-3 and On Deck Orange scored a 12-7 win over On Deck White. In the semifinals, the SBA Nationals blanked the Dirtbags Legends 13-0 and Five Star - Queler scored a 9-0 win over On Deck Orange. In the finals, the SBA Nationals rolled to a big 10-2 win over Five Star - Queler to take home the 13u title.

In the Battle of the Bats in Charlotte, Carolina Rockies Gold went 2-0 on Saturday, but was unable to complete any games on Sunday. CBA Copperheads Black was able to get in 3 games for the weekend, going 2-0-1 overall, while the Charlotte Colts completed 4 games, finishing the weekend 3-1. In Greensboro, the Hill City Sliders (VA) went 4-0 for the weekend, including a 7-1 win over GBC and an 11-4 win over the Greensboro Nationals 2025 in the finals. In Morganton, Diamond Mine went 4-0 this past weekend, highlighted by a 7-6 win over WCW Red in the finals, in which Diamond Mine got out to a 6-0 lead before holding on late for the win.