17U/16U Dirtbags WWBA Championships

What is going on with the Dirtbags? They did not make the playoffs in the 17U or 16U tournament. When was the last time the Dirtbags did not have a team reach the playoffs in the 17U or 16U WWBA tournament in the same year?

The 16U Dirtbags Black (A team) is 1-2-1 right now and has only scored 5 runs. The 16U Dirtbags Gold (B team) is 0-4 right now and has only scored 4 runs. This has to be the worst performance ever for the Dirtbags organization.

It appears the Canes are tearing through the 16U tournament again. The 17U Canes dominated in pool play but blew their 2nd round playoff game to go home. The South Charlotte Panthers 17U/16U teams seem to be very competitive again.

 

Team to beat

How about the Houston Banditos in the 16u event this week.....they are 5-0 in pool play and have not given up a RUN yet.....simply amazing!

 

A Really Bad Plan

Last year's 15u Dirtbags went undefeated in pool play at the WWBA with at least 1 no hitter and I believe they mercy ruled their opponents in most games. The kids had amazing chemistry and played well together, nearly winning an 18u tournament at ECU. This year, that team was broken up and the players dispursed to one of 3 16u teams.

The 16u Dirtbags started out the summer with 3 teams and they played that way for the first 5 tournaments. For the Impact 16u World Series and the WWBA, the players were reshuffled onto two teams. The Black team won the Impact 16u World Series. At the WWBA, the Black team had 26 players on their roster and the Gold team had 22 players. Most of you can see a potential for problems with these roster sizes. Stretchy had mentioned the Banditos Black and they have only 15 on their roster.

For an organization with a rich history of doing well in these tournaments, to have had 5 teams in the WWBA and not one makes the championship round has to be a humbling experience.

 

and THEY'VE scored a ton of runs!

 

The 16U brackets have been released. Here are the records for some of the local teams. The Canes White team dominated their pool and ended up with the #2 overall seed in the playoffs. This organization has won the last two 16U WWBA Championships. The Dirtbags had a terrible tournament and did not make the playoffs for the 1st time in recent memory. The breakdown of some of the local teams is below.

Playoff Bound

Canes White, 5-0, won pool and overall #2 seed.
Yak Baseball, 4-0-1, won pool and overall #20 seed.
Cubs Baseball, 4-1, won pool and overall #23 seed.
South Charlotte, 4-1, won pool and overall #31 seed.

Coming Home

Dirtbags Black (A team), 2-2-1, scored 10 runs the entire tournament
Dirtbags Gold (B team), 0-5, scored 4 runs the entire tournament
Heat, 2-3
All CBC teams, too many to report

An earlier post stated the Dirtbags combined 3 teams into 2 for this tournament. It appears they need to upgrade the hitting. Canes pitching must be incredible. Gave up a total of 5 runs in 5 games. Cubs pitching must be strong also. Gave up 7 runs in 5 games.

After seeing the results of the 17U and 16U WWBA tournaments it looks as if the Canes are still the premier organization in NC, SC, VA. Cubs Baseball and South Charlotte are in the next group. Yak baseball is starting to make some noise. The Dirtbags seem to be be falling fast and have some work to do to get back to being the premier organization they were in the past. The Heat and CBC are in the next tier.

I noticed the Dirtbags did not field a team in the Firecracker Classic this year either. This used to be a signature event for their organization and they did not enter a team in the tournament this year after being disqualified last year. It will be interesting to see if they can recover and get back to the top of the showcase world in NC in the near future.

 

Box Scortes?

Anywhere you can get these for this tournament?

 

CBC Blue 2-3
CBC White 1-4
CBC Orange 2-2-1(Highlight is they did beat Canes Mid Atlantic who won their pool w/ 4-1 record)

 

They only had a few guys hit over .300 and they only hit one homerun the entire tournament. Adam Pate, Alex Abbott, and Matt Vernon had great weeks hitting the ball, but the team couldn't string anything together. I agree, it will be interesting to see if the Dirtbags can recover especially with a lot of the other NC teams stepping up(the Yak in particular).

 

You can view the boxscores for every game at perfectgame.org. You need to scroll down and find the link to the 16U WWBA or the 17U WWBA.

 

Great game anticipated at 11:30 today

The Canes and Panthers are about to face each other in the 2nd round of the playoffs.