JEFFERSON — Softball, like any other sport, is very much about making adjustments.

The Ohio Jaguars 16-and-under team knew entering the championship game of the division against the Valley Sting that it had to make changes, especially after suffering a 4-2 loss to the Sting on Saturday, and especially in pitching approach.

Obviously, the correct moves were made, offensively and defensively, as the Jaguars earned a convincing 6-1 victory Sunday at the Jefferson Area Girls Softball Complex. successfully defending the title they won on their home dirt a year ago.

The biggest adjustment had to be made by pitcher Sarah Urchek, who had been on the losing end of Saturday’s game. The alterations in approach made by Urchek and her father, manager Steve “Skipper” Urchek, were followed to the letter as she limited the Sting to just four hits and kept its offense off balance for most of the game, striking out two while walking just one and coaxing the opponents into either popping the ball up or hitting weak grounders.

“We had lost to them Saturday and we hadn’t played very well,” Sarah Urchek said. “We tried to work on making their slap hitters pop the ball up and throwing mainly screwballs to the right-handed batters to throw them off. I felt like I was really on today.”

“I think the way we pitched to them had a lot to do with how we won the game today,” Steve Urchek said. “Yesterday, they were right up at the front of the (batter’s) box, so we tried to take that away. I thought Sarah and (catcher) Katie (Holmes) did a real nice job.”

Valley Sting head coach Tony Gorvet applauded Urchek’s approach in Sunday’s game, too.

“(Urchek) made the pitches when she had to,” he said.

He also bemoaned his team’s lack of offensive punch.

“They hit the ball and we didn’t,” Gorvet said. “We were 5-0 in the tournament up until this game, but we just didn’t hit when we had the opportunities in this game.”

Sarah Urchek also rose to the occasion in virtually every pressure situation. The toughest was in the second inning when Sarah Vrabel and Somer McCoy reached base on errors with one out. She responded by forcing a grounder to shortstop Rachel Francis, who cut down Vrabel at third. Then she enduced another groundout to the vacuum cleaner Francis to end the inning.

Then the Jaguars’ offense, which had knocked on the door in the first two innings, stranding Jenna Lower at third in the first and Amanda Tennant and Kara Barnes were forced out at third and Nikki Gale was stranded at second in the second inning, broke through in the top of the third.

It appeared the Jaguars were on the way to wasting their opportunity in the top of the third, too, after Lower led off with a bunt single and was sacrificed to second by Urchek. But cleanup hitter and center fielder Emily Hicks didn’t miss her chance, crushing an inside fastball deep over the fence in dead center.

Tennant followed with another blast over the fence in left-center. It was all the support Urchek needed.

“I just wanted to make contact,” Hicks said. “I knew I’d hit it far.”

Tennant was a bit surprised by her homer.

“Usually after Emily hits a home run, and she’s hit a bunch this year, I get overexcited and strike out,” Tennant said. “I had a 2-0 count and the next pitch came right down the middle. I didn’t think it was far enough when I first hit it.”

“I think that helped Sarah relax,” Steve Urchek said.

Sarah Urchek certainly wasn’t complaining.

“I got a lot of help defensively, and we also had some timely hitting,” she said. “We made the plays when we needed to.”

That included Urchek on offense. She led off the fifth with a double, then scampered home on Francis’ opposite-field triple to right. Hicks added her third RBI with a line shot that almost tore off the shortstop’s glove.

The Sting scored their lone run in the bottom of the fifth when Erika Nites led off with a walk and eventually scored on Kim Lane’s second hit of the game, a single.

Again, Urchek had an answer, leading off the top of the seventh with a single, moving to second on Francis’ sacrifice bunt and scoring on Tennant’s third hit and second RBI of the game.

Tennant is hoping to carry the momentum from the win Sunday into the next event for the Jaguars 16s, the ASA Eastern Nationals in York, Pa. the first week in August.

“We’ve ended most tournaments in the semifinals this year, so it felt real good to win today,” she said. “Now, I’m pumped about nationals.”

So is Steve Urchek.

“Hopefully, we can carry this kind of play into nationals,” the Skipper said.



The path

In their first game of the day, the Jaguars downed Xplosion, 10-2.

Urchek fanned five, walked one and allowed two hits over five innings for the win.

Nikki Gale slapped three hits, Hicks homered among two hits and drove in two and Lower and Michealia Skleres each had two hits.

In the semifinal, Kara Barnes drove in the game-winner as the Jaguars completed a comeback from a 2-0 deficit for a 4-2 victory over Blast.

Emily Lemin allowed six hits, walked one and whiffed one in five innings for the victory.

Barnes doubled among two hits and Lower had a pair of hits.