A handful of highly-rated North Carolina teams went down to Lexington this past weekend to test themselves against some of the best competition in the Southeast. Although none of the NC teams came away with a title, several made the finals and many put up some outstanding performances. Here we recap the games from an exciting Jay Criscione Super NIT.
9u
SBA Premier went 2-0 in pool play on Saturday with a 14-4 win over Klay Katz (SC) and a 6-0 win over the Hartsville Hurricanes (SC). They earned the top seed for bracket play. The WNC Braves went 0-2 in pool play with a 15-11 loss against the Lake Murray Bombers (SC) and a 9-5 loss against the Greenville Titans (SC), which put them in the bracket play play-in game on Sunday. In the bracket play play-in game, the WNC Braves fell 8-6 against Klay Katz. In the quarterfinals, the Lake Murray Bombers scored an 8-6 win over the Local Boys (SC), the Greenville Titans notched a 9-7 win over the Palmetto Storm (SC), SBA Premier blanked Klay Katz 15-0, and Line Drive Black (GA) blasted their way to a 16-1 win over Gameday Shockwave. In the semifinals, the Bombers scored a 12-8 win over the Titans and SBA Premier fell 14-11 against Line Drive Black. Line Drive Black won in the finals, scoring a 16-3 win over the Lake Murray Bombers.
10u
SBA Premier - Simmons went 1-0 in pool play, blanking the Ninth Inning Dodgers (GA) 12-0. SBA Premier - Pitts went 0-2 in pool play on Saturday, falling 7-5 against Gameday Shockwave (SC) and 6-1 against Line Drive Black (GA). In the bracket play play-in games, SBA Premier - Pitts fell 9-6 against the East Cobb Astros Navy and the Carolina Yarddawgs (SC) scored a 6-0 win over the Ninth Inning Dodgers. In the quarterfinals, the Beehive Stars Scout (AL) edged Gameday Shockwave 7-6, the Knoxville Stars (TN) scored a 10-7 win over East Cobb Astros Navy, Line Drive Black scored a 1-run 7-6 win over the Carolina Yarddawgs, and SBA Premier - Simmons rolled to a 7-1 win over Rawlings Cobb (GA). In the semifinals, the Beehive Stars scored a 5-1 win over the Knoxville Stars, and SBA Premier - Simmons fell 5-4 against Line Drive Black. In the finals, Line Drive Black scored a 7-6 win over the Beehive Stars to take home the 10u title.
11u
SBA Premier was impressive on day 1, going 2-0 with an 8-2 win over East Cobb Astros Orange (GA) and an 8-0 win over Dirtbags Black. The Dirtbags fell 5-0 against East Cobb Astros Orange in their other pool play game on Saturday. The Carolina Havoc went 1-1 in pool play with a 4-3 win over the Carolina Titans (SC) and a 16-5 loss against the Charleston Revolution (SC) in their other pool play game.
In the first round of bracket play, Dirtbags Black topped Showcase Baseball Howze 11-4, SBA Premier blanked Gameday Shockwave 4-0, and the Carolina Havoc fell 12-4 against the Greenville Titans (SC). In the quarterfinals, SBA Premier scored a 9-1 win over the Snipers - Clark (SC), Dirtbags Black notched a 7-4 win over Pro Select (SC), FCA Blueclaws - Hannah (FL) edged past the Charleston Revolution 8-7, and Crusaders Baseball (TN) rolled to a 9-1 win over the Greenville Titans. In the semifinals, Dirtbags Black fell 7-2 against the FCA Blueclaws and SBA Premier advanced to the finals with a 7-1 win over the Crusaders. In the finals, the FCA Blueclaws - Hannah took the lead in the third inning and didn't look back, notching a 10-4 win over SBA Premier.
12u
In the 12u Majors division, Canes Baseball NC - Simpson went 1-1 on Saturday with a 7-2 win over Dirtbags Black and a 9-2 loss against Talon Baseball (SC). Dirtbags Black also fell 6-3 against the Rawlings Stars SC West to finish 0-2 in pool play. SBA Premier also went 1-1, scoring an 11-3 win over Outkast (GA) but falling 14-7 against Five Star DeMarini Elite (FL). Dirtbags Charlotte went 0-2 in pool play, falling 19-2 against Five Star DeMarini and 14-6 against Outkast, which placed them in the bracket play play-in game on Sunday.
In the bracket play play-in game, Dirtbags Charlotte scored a 9-2 win over the Hartsville Heat (SC). In the quarterfinals, SBA Premier scored a 5-2 win over Canes Baseball NC - Simpson, Dirtbags Charlotte topped the Rawlings Stars SC West 9-1, Five Star DeMarini Elite rolled to an 11-3 win over Outkast, and Talon Baseball topped Dirtbags Black 8-2. In the semifinals, Five Star DeMarini Elite blasted their way to a 13-4 win over Talon Baseball and Dirtbags Charlotte scored a 6-4 win over SBA Premier to reach the finals after an 0-2 showing in pool play. In the finals, Five Star DeMarini Elite completed an undefeated weekend with a 6-3 win over Dirtbags Charlotte.
13u
In a loaded 13u Majors field, Carolina Rockies - Wilson went 1-1 in pool play with a 13-6 win over SBA Premier and a 5-4 loss against Team 24 Gamecocks - Brown (SC). SBA Premier fell 4-3 against the Carolina Bruins (SC). Dirtbags MVP also went 1-1 in pool play with a 12-1 win over SBA American and a 12-9 loss against Cellblock Baseball (GA). SBA American scored a 9-5 win over CB Elite in their other pool play game, while CB Elite fell 21-1 against Cellblock Baseball in their other pool play game on Saturday. Canes Baseball Charlotte went 1-1 in pool play as well with a 15-2 win over Chain Gang National (GA) and an 11-1 loss against Canes SCBA.
In the bracket play play-in games, Dirtbags MVP scored a 4-3 win over Chain Gang National, Canes Charlotte defeated the Carolina Bruins 8-7, SBA Premier fell 8-2 against Canes SC, Carolina Rockies - Wilson scored an 18-3 win over CB Elite, and SBA American topped Southeast Baseball Academy 8-7. In the quarterfinals, Dirtbags MVP topped the Charleston Revolution (SC) 8-3, Canes Charlotte edged Cellblock 4-3, Canes SCBA topped the Carolina Rockies 8-5, and Team 24 Gamecocks - Brown scored a 8-0 win over SBA American. In the semifinals, Canes Charlotte scored a 6-4 win over Dirtbags MVP and Canes SCBA rolled into the finals with a 14-6 win over Team 24. In the finals, Canes Charlotte took an 8-5 lead into the bottom of the 6th inning. They gave up 1 run in the 6th and scored two in the top over the 7th to take a 10-6 lead into the bottom of the last inning. Unfortunately, they gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to lose 11-10 against Canes SCBA.