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sirlurker
187 Posts |
 Posted - 09/22/2008 : 10:31:23
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| We have discussions going on about the 9U teams, 10U, 13U and 14U teams, might as well see what 11U teams ya’ll think will be strong in 2009? ECB and outside of EC as well. |
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Mike Corbin
523 Posts |
Posted - 09/24/2008 : 20:09:07
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I think that the top teams will be in no particular order:
Kennesaw Xtreme
Georgia Roadrunners
East Cobb Stars (Former Astros)
East Cobb Longhorns
Souhtern Jaguars
Academy A's
South Forsyth Renegades |
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OffSpeed
40 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 10:48:02
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Any list that long would have to include... HOBGOOD EXTREME
A team that will gell quickly, very strong coaching and practice regiment. You will not want to face them late in a tournament if you are not 6-7 deep in good pitching.
So the birdy tells me! I don't have a son playing 11U and I don't have any ties to Hobgood Park... just the buzz that I am hearing. |
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bigfan
105 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 12:39:07
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Did Hobgood have a 10U team? Did ECB change all their Astros team to Stars or will there be a 11u Astros as well? What park does the Renegades play out of? Any good Sunday only tournaments?
Full of questions |
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homerunking
110 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 15:03:22
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| Aren't they a FIRST year team??? And one of the coaches is from TEAM WILSON?? Team Wilson is the team from HOBGOOD last year as 10u and I don't think they were as strong as they were when they were 9u.We'll just have to sit back and wait to see which of the NEW teams are as good as some would hope...We'll also see how many of those listed go play in the SUPER NITs also with all the other BIG BOYS!!!! And how many end up in DISNEY in the ELITE 24 which I don't think any 10u teams from Ga entered last year. |
Edited by - homerunking on 09/26/2008 08:47:50 |
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OffSpeed
40 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 16:18:11
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Not sure what Hobgood had last year at 10U, most likely a Team Wilson.
Beginning this year 8U, 9U, 10U and 11U Teams can not use the Astros name. Apparently, this is something that Guerry has been wanting to do for some time and based on some arguments this year over the name, he had the fuel to make the change.
8U Astros -> 9U Team ECB
9U Astros -> 10U Titans (?)
10U Astros -> 11U Stars |
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Mike Corbin
523 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2008 : 17:54:38
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Since Hobgood did not field a 10u team last year then I will have to wait until I see them play. At this point I have not heard a thing about them. Not that that means anything, I just have not heard.
From what I have heard the Astros name will not be used by any teams under 13. When the EC coaches start coaching the top team they will then be the Astros again.
The Renegades will play out of the old Central Forsyth HS field. They have leased it and it is currently under renovation. |
Edited by - Mike Corbin on 09/26/2008 08:47:50 |
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bigfan
105 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2008 : 09:57:42
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| Thanks for all the good info, this season should be fun. |
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bruins1
32 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2008 : 10:45:09
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Here’s my analysis of 11U:
Top tier in no particular order:
Southern Jaguars: Played great in a number of top tournaments at the end of the year against some of the best competition in the Nation. Big strong kids. Solid hitting and pitching.
Georgia Roadrunners: I believe they picked up a few lefties to add to their rotation. Based on their on-line roster, they appear to have lost a few players from last year but expect their new additions to make them as good, if not better than the past.
ECB Stars/Astros: Apparently added 3-4 top players to an already strong team that finished very high at Cooperstown 10U week. Ranked in top 20 nationally by travelballselect. Expect them to have very strong defense and pitching depth with lots of hitters.
ECB Longhorns: Merged with the Georgia Sluggers near the end of last year to create a very good team. Strong pitching, aggressive base runners. One weakness might be defense. But expect them to go deep in most tournaments.
Next tier, all very good teams who are capable of beating anyone on any given day:
Academy A’s
SF Renegades.
Kenn. Xtreme:
Mill Creek
I am certain there are others I missed. Of course, all of this means nothing until these teams start playing each other in the spring when rosters are set, football players are focused and tournament play begins.
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bmoser
1633 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2008 : 13:00:10
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| I like the Collins Hill 11U team. Their record looks solid to me. |
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Mike Corbin
523 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2008 : 19:08:17
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| The Collins Hill coach and his son are now with the East Cobb Stars/Astros. Don't know what they have left but he was one of their top players. |
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homerunking
110 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2008 : 07:57:49
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| I think most of the same teams that were strong will be strong again. The Chattanooga Colonels are going to play more ball at EC, and no one really knows who picked up what for next year. The big tournaments next year in March will let us know who has what. Hopefully this year it will not get rained out like last years top 2. |
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homerunking
110 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2008 : 07:59:20
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| That the thing with ECB the top kids leave their teams behind and some go play there or go play with a stronger team. Some people just want bigger and better thing for their kids and they also want to see them play against the best in the country... |
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Learnpatience
69 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2008 : 09:36:41
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| Stars won the Triple Crown Tournament this weekend. Still only fall, but looked strong. Speed and power in the lineup. Decent pitching. Coaches seem willing to move the kids around in various fielding positions which can only be a good thing at 11 years old. |
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bruins1
32 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2008 : 10:45:50
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| Yes Learn, that is a good thing at 11U. Apparently they only gave up 4 or 5 runs the whole tournament. Says a lot about their defense. |
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homerunking
110 Posts |
Posted - 09/29/2008 : 13:16:38
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A1 East Cobb Stars Marietta, GA 3 0
A2 South Forsyth Renegades Cumming, GA 1 2
A3 Parkview Panthers Lilburn, GA 2 1
A4 Columbus Bat Breakers Columbus, GA 0 3
B1 East Cobb Colt 45's Marietta, GA 1 2
B2 Atlanta Icons Atlanta, GA 3 0
B3 Mill Creek Hawks Buford, GA 2 1
B4 Diamond Starz Titans Austell, GA 0 3
C1 CBA Cruisin Crew Baseball Columbus, GA 1 2
C2 North Georgia Blazers Cumming, GA 2 1
C3 Stephens County Indians Toccoa, GA 0 3
C4 Stixx Baseball Albany, GA 3 0
http://www.triplecrownsports.com/viewgametime.asp?tournyid=3072&sportid=1
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Edited by - homerunking on 09/30/2008 08:36:25 |
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Learnpatience
69 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2008 : 09:35:07
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Offspeed, you are right on the name changing stuff. Sounds silly doesn't it?
However, you could call the 11U Stars any name and they will continue to win a majority of their games.
Longhorns, Roadrunners, Extreme, and ECB Titans are good teams in this area. Gwinnett teams are solid as well. Icons look OK. Don't forget about the Jaguars. Should be a fun age group.
Does anyone have opinions on 11U teams playing against the 12U teams? Advantages/disadvantages? |
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C. MORTON
1051 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2008 : 10:58:10
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| As long as your playing better comp it can only make you better...I have sen teams play up that were majors and WIN and LOSE. If I'm not mistaken the 10u Longhorns of 2008 won a 11yr old tournament. A lot of the differance is where the kids BIRTHDAY falls that's IT....In my opion...My son plays football with all of his friends, but when baseball comes around they have to play different ages in travel ball. Oh they are all 6th graders with different birthdays. |
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BBall123
395 Posts |
Posted - 10/27/2008 : 14:20:15
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Hobgood 10 U last year was team wilson,they were a middle of the road team but have revamped with 5 or 6 new players. dont know how they will be in 11U but they feel they have upgraded significantly.
What about the EC 45's ? does it look like they will be in the mix this year? |
Edited by - BBall123 on 10/27/2008 20:24:06 |
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Learnpatience
69 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 17:27:09
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45's will be in the mix from what I hear. They have quite a few kids who can pitch and picked up a lefty from the 10U Astros.
The ECB Stars lost this weekend to the Mill Creek Hawks in the Triple Crown Tournament final.
The Hawks laid the wood to 'em and blew them out early . Mill Creek was #1 seeded and were consistent the whole weekend. They might be a team to look out for as well. Parity in the whole 11U division.
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greglomax
1031 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2008 : 22:40:48
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| Out of East Cobb, I would watch out for the EC Titans. Steve Vogel is one heck of a coach and I really like the way he is developing his players. I believe that work will really become apparent in the "middle to back end" of next year's season. He has put together a team, not only based on talent, but on the ability to be developed. That will pay off later in the season. |
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TravelFan
17 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2008 : 16:22:32
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Georgia teams @ 11U will be hard pressed to compete and be one of the Top 10 to 15 teams in the country. Most of the more competitive Georgia teams don't even compete in the larger regional or national tournaments (Ask teams respective managers why).
Kennesaw Xtreme is probably the best and most consistent returning 11U team. At 10U in 2008 the only regional/national tournaments they entered were Border Wars which was rained out and Cooperstown in June. They ran into the hands down best team @ 10U - Leons Medical Center, and were knocked out @ Cooperstown. Expect them to be better as they seem to have coaches committed to developing players. Players on this team play multiple positions and coaches don't promote their boys. They've added a solid top of the line up guy from the ECB Stallions with lots of speed. Expect them to remain near the top but don't know how many competitive tournaments they'll do. Their pattern seems to be play a huge National event to end the season, and do local up to that point.
The Georgia Roadrunners have the strongest and most experienced coaching staff and probably the most resources of any Georgia team. Looks like their roster has changed some, so we'll see how they gel. But this group get's it. They know what travel ball is about (as much as anyone club in the country at any age) and they're committed to developing players. They're also one of only a handful of Georgia teams that play in strong regional/national events. They've played the Atlanta Super NIT the last two years. (Kennesaw Xtreme and ECB Longhorns never have) And in '07 they won NABF Nationals and in '08 they placed 2nd in the AAYBA World Series. Point is they leave Georgia and when strong teams come to Georgia they're in.
Expect the Southern Jaguars to be strong again. They played 3 of the country's best 5 clubs in '08 (Tomateros, Oklahoma Elite, Knoxville Stars. So they have a better gague than any other team of where their team really is. Plus played all of Georgia's key players Xtreme, Longhorns, Astros (Stars), Roadrunners, with a winning record. They're bringing back basically the same team. One of the physically biggest at this age.
The Longhorns will also be really good again. But who will they play? Their biggest win of the year was beating the Knoxville Stars in pool play of an Atlanta tourney. Other than that they played only locals. Not what the best teams do.
The Stars will probably be only as good as last year at best. Everyone drinks the Astros (Stars) Kool-Aid, but they lost several players. Their only lefty, to ECB 45's, who hit for the most power and was of their few true athletes. They lost their most versatile infielder, who was the only one to hit safely in every game they were shut out in @ Cooperstown (Virginia Wolfpack, San Diego Stars and Las Vegas Baseball). He also got the game tieing hit with two outs in the last inning against West Pine Nike Cobras in their highlight win of the season. They also lost their hardest throwing right hander. They also lost their toughest minded player, now playing down @ 10U (643 I think). So it's hard to imagine they've improved. May be the same but can't see them being better.
But again unless all these teams start or continue to seek out competition outside the area, they'll level off more than they know.
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bruins1
32 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2008 : 12:22:24
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I’ve watched this age group for a few years now and watched both of the triple crown tournaments this fall. I stand by my earlier post that the top teams will be, in no particular order, Roadrunners, ECB Longhorns, ECB Stars and Southern Jaguars. Gotta put Mill Creek up there too. They played the tournament of their lives this weekend when they held on to beat the Stars in the Triple Crown championship, although the Stars almost came back and took it.
Regarding the Colt .45s, they played in the earlier fall Triple Crown tournament , and didn’t advance to Sunday’s bracket play. But I still think they will be pretty good, but certainly not in the caliber of the teams mentioned above. I like their coaches. They all seem like nice guys who take it all in stride.
Regarding Roadrunners and Jaguars: See my earlier post. They are not playing in the fall, but expect them to be tough. The roadrunners did lose one of their better pitchers who is now with the North Georgia Blazers. But the Roadrunners’ new recruits will make up for this loss in my view. All in all, great team.
Regarding the Stars, travelfan, I’d have to respectfully disagree with your analysis. I’ve seen them play a bunch. They were excellent last year, but clearly improved this year from the games I saw. This year they picked up the #1 players from the EC Stallions, Kennesaw Xtreme, Collins Hill Eagles and an 11U talent who dropped back. That’s one heck of a recruiting class. Big time upgrade over who they did not return (with the exception of the kid who dropped back to 6-4-3 10U who is a very good player). None of the other kids who weren’t returned went to top teams, but they were decent players. One kid made the Colt .45s roster. One, I think is playing soccer or lacrosse instead. They had one parent last year that went ballistic in the stands if his kid wasn’t batting in the right spot, was asked to bunt or was playing a position he didn't like. I think that problem was moved on as well, which you'd have to consider an upgrade. I believe one or two formed an allstar/rec-type team out of Dekalb that was trying to play 12U this fall in some ECB tournaments but struggling.
From what I saw this fall, the Stars core players are back. Their top pitchers, and most of their top hitters were back on the field for them. They have the most advanced infield I have seen on any team and I understand the pitchers that carried them very deep at Cooperstown all returned. They already beat Kennesaw Xtreme, South Forsyth Renegades, Parkview, Icons, North Georgia Blazers and some 12U teams which leads me to believe that they will be better than last year. No doubt, they’ll lose their share of games, and they did not play well against Mill Creek, but tough to knock anyone for one loss in the fall.
Kennesaw Xtreme appear to be the biggest surprise. They did not win a single game in the tournament this past weekend and got beat soundly by the Stars and North Georgia Blazers. I used to love that team a few years ago. I am worried that they are not the same team they once were.
All in all, good travel ball at this age. Clearly a transformation taking place though where the cream is rising to the top and talent is consolidating. Happens around this age every year I guess. At the end of the day, Matchups on the field will tell the story.
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Edited by - bruins1 on 10/30/2008 14:54:45 |
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Hoyas Baseball
20 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2008 : 14:24:07
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In response to Bruins1 last post, I manage the Atlanta Hoyas, the team referred to as Rec/All-Star. It is accurate that two players from the 2008 10U ECB Astros are on our roster, one being my son. It is totally inaccurate that we're a Rec/All-Star team. We have no park, facility or church organization ties. We're a newly formed independent team with not many "known players" in this age division. My decision for us to play with 12U for the Fall was becasue there not many of the "top-tier" 11U teams were playing a full fall schedule. Also I wanted to push our team, force us execute more consistently to win. It paid off to me we had a better than 500 record this fall against many competitive 12U teams on this sites list for Cooperstown 2009. In those loses we got hammered a few times, but that's part of it. How competitive we'll be in the Spring, I don't know and am only as concerned as need to be for everyone involved to see solid progress and growth. I've managed teams that we're Nationally recognized and placed outstanding in State and national events,(Rock Chapel Park Tar Heels check this site's home page under state & national results) it's bigger than that though. These boys are closer to going to high school than many of us realize. Hopefully our practice regimen and game schedule will get us where we need to be in three or four years.
We plan on competing in several local tournaments in the Spring. We'll continue to play 12U but will also play 11U events. Will we win any?? I hope but don't think we'll be dominant. No one in Georgia looks like they're on the way to winning National Titles @ 11U. I personally think the Roadrunners, Jaguars and Xtreme will be strongest right now. But who knows, you gotta play the games.
I gotta say that the Mill Creek Hawks are also a solid team, real good defensively. They play with confidence too. Probably a step below the other three because they play a little under the radar as far as tournament choices. Maybe it'll be different this year. But the GGBL league is very solid. They're not all tournament prepped teams though.
I also expect the North Georgia Blazers to continue to improve. They have always been very competitive, they have an extremely athletic group.
As for the Stars, after being with the team for all 80+ games in 2008, I think I know as much as any outsider. They'll be competitive, but I do think they lost a lot. And I don't think all their returning players are as good as the several new pick ups. So that puts them about the same to me. Have friends on the Atlanta Icons, some of roster memebers were on the Tar Heels team I had. They played the Stars a couple of times and say they weren't impressed. They thought the Mill Creek team was the best team they played this fall. The Icons beat Mill Creek in a Triple Crown event. Mill Creek also beat the Stars in a different Triple Crown event. So who knows? We're looking forward to playing all these teams in 2009. |
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Learnpatience
69 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2008 : 16:42:50
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What matters is how well the kids are coached. At 11 years old, making progress and enjoying the game should be tantamount. Perhaps, as parents, we lose sight of why our kids play the game? To develop goal oriented kids. To help expose them to a team environment (which means understanding everyone's strengths and weaknesses on the team), and to instill responsibility. Making travel team practices, games, and outside baseball activities is a sacrifice.
The coaches play a role in shaping our kids personalities. Win or lose, it is important to find coaches that actually teach and are willing to leave their agendas at home. The 11U division in this area have plenty of coaches in both camps.
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bruins1
32 Posts |
Posted - 11/11/2008 : 20:14:16
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Hoyas/Travelfan: I certainly apologize for referring to your team as a rec/all star type team. What I meant was I believed the team was comprised mostly of players from recent rec/all star backgrounds or were generally of that level. I saw a few of those recent beatings you referred to in your post versus 11U (run rules by Team Wilson, Mill Creek, South Forsyth) and versus 12U (run rules by Rockdale, Wills Park). That may have influenced my thought also. Again my apology.
Let's see where we are on April 1 and then again later in the year to see if the predictions hold true or not. |
Edited by - bruins1 on 11/12/2008 09:05:10 |
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11U - 2009 Competition
