U Rank 'Em!

Oh my god....

My secret is out
I was the skinny CF in drag......

knew I should have destroyed those pics!!!

 

Oh My !!

Add These:
Carolina Curve
Catawba Valley Storm

 

Some forgotten teams

Hi Freak! You're a daring dude, gotta tell you!

I am not going to rank these teams but will say some things bout them.

You cannot talk about teams in these age divisions without remembering several not listed here:

16U Plemmons Attitude. I have watched this team in a bunch of tournaments now, and they are a hot team on the rise, that will dominate at 18u by the time they reach there.

16U Carolina Wildcats. Showed what they have at the ASA States in 2008 and rumor has it they will play at 16u level for states and nationals again this year. The have more speed on the base paths and have added a couple of top notch players to their already loaded team. Watch out!

18U Carolina Rattlers. Consistently rank in 1st place, with a few 2nd scattered throughout. This team from what I have heard is undergoing some serious off season training and have picked up a couple more seriously talented players this fall. Might want to keep an eye out for them.

18U Carolina Cobras, dominated throughout 2008 and I anticipate will throughout 2009 as well.

18U Lady Stretchlon Stars are stacked with talent and speed. Braswell can sling a serious ball. If they play 18u ASA States, watch out, they could take the national bid.

And you can't forget the Lady Blues, Magic (Charlotte), Hurricanes or the Rockers! And their is a little 16u team that plays out of the USFA quite a bit that mows teams down. This is just a few of the teams off the top of my head.

At least 4 of the teams mentioned at first above struggled during 2008 with the 16u level teams and two others at the 18u level. I saw them play in numerous tournaments/showcases last season, and they didn't manage to beat teams people most call "B" rated teams. Several faced losing players to other programs, and are in the rebuilding process.

The 16u Fuquay Bombs headed by Coleman aren't round anymore since they broke up last summer. This is the team that dominated at the 16u level. An old 14U team returned at 16U are struggling with player retention and turn over. They looked promising when they started in early fall, but since the loss of some serious players, they are struggling.

Transitioning is tough for us all.

The old 14u Rally Katz that moved up to the 16u will be a well known team at the 16u level, at least from what I have seen on the field the few times I have seen them play.

Saw a new team bout 2 months ago called the Carolina Bombs (16u). Tough, young team. They have bats and speed, even more important, determination. Was impressed watching them. They definitely showed a never say die attitude. Pitching was on the weak side, but they had the field to back it up. Not sure where they came out of, but if they keep rolling like this, they are going to be on that list very soon.

 

lets not forget all the alexander based teams!

 

The pool is growing. With the number of teams who have been named by people who understand what a good team is.....I think it is safe to say the talent within the state has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years.

 

18U Carolina Cobras, dominated throughout 2008 and I anticipate will throughout 2009 as well(QUOTE)


Not the same bunch as last year but watch out they are going to be tough !!!!!!
They got some GREAT Pitching and loaded with talent !!!!!!!!!

 

WOW!! Excellent!! Your post deserves its own thread (in place of this one). That's a lot better information than just trying to rank them! Seriously, you need a thread to keep us up to date on those teams.

Is there anyone else that can post similar evaluations about other teams? Those of us that don't make the tournaments can definitely become more familiar with the teams this way.

Again, excellent post!!

 

I would be afraid to rank them. Your going to piss some people off.

 

seedings

Just wondering how tournament officals go about seeding these showcase tourneys, it seems that there is some kind of rating system in place although it may be sub-consciously, but I feel that certaint teams always play against the same teams at many of the tourneys in the ASA 18U divison. It may be just coinidence or is there something else going into the descision making progress. We played all the same tourneys that the teams you talk about do and we only played a few of those teams while the more notable teams consistanly played against each other in the most atractive brackets and venues. There is some kind of system in place and it seems to me that it is based on the level of talent each team has, wether it is reputation or expectation is really the question. As for ranking these teams, that is a mute point, what does it prove, if you are a member of one of these teams than you are in the elite group. The teams not in this group would benifit from playing these teams as much as possible so as to gauge their progress up the ladder, and I know that it does nobody any good to play in a onesided affair that gets out of hand but even the best teams have bad games and get blown-out sometimes.

 

Kind of answered your own question Hammerdog. The more established teams have been around a while and thus normally get the "pick of the litter" when it comes to who their playing. Any team worth their grain of salt wants to play the best out there so they usually are playing against each other. Most of the big name teams get these spots (which is where the coaches will go to first, along w/ the prime fields and times) but occasionly a team earns their way in (i.e. the Cobras, the Sundevils, etc. over the years). Kind of hard to give a prime spot to a team that just showed up last year and will be gone in a year or two. Big names put their money in every year for dozens of yrs. and the other just 2 or 3. Challengers, Cards, Blues, Storm, etc. etc. have paid their dues time after time. Same thing happens everywhere. Lady Blues had to EARN their way into Boulder. That being said i know the Cards try to involve a couple of smaller teams in the prime pools every showcase. Saw the Wildcats playing against the Cards, Blues, Cobras last yr. Name and reputation carry alot of weight in our little corner of the world.