JEFFERSON — They started playing Friday night at the JAGS Complex, the Havens Baseball Complex and at Memorial Field. Teams from all over the area, including western Pennsylvania, converged on Jefferson to play softball in five age groups with the idea of winning titles at an event called the 2011 Ohio Jaguars Summer Showcase.

When the dust had started to settle at all three venues, the top teams had gone through pool competitions to determine seedings for today's grand finale in a single elimination format for each age group. The competition was very hot and also quite heavy in some instances, but the seeding process for the tourney has been set.

For the 10U groupings, the main battle will commence this morning with a showdown between the Explosion and the Hurricanes. The winner of that contest will have the task of taking on the top seeded host team, the Ohio Jaguars, coached by Dan Gaul. In just their first season of softball at this level, Gaul said his team will be trying to win its second travel ball title of the season after going undefeated through four tough games on Saturday. They won a trio and tied one game leaving Gaul feeling good about his team's chances.

"For a first year team, we're doing really well, and I'm especially pleased that our girls have improved all season hitting the ball," he said. "Today was without a doubt the best day we've had hitting, and having a chance to win  a second title is really something the girls can be proud of for many years to come, if we do it."

The four top seeds in the 12U division are the Green Bulldogs, the Cyclones, the Explosive Fast Pitch squad, and again, a team from the Ohio Jaguars. This team is managed by Lisa Sack and coached by Will Irons.

They made it to the final seedings by riding the arm of Alyssa Irons and some timely hitting.

"We've done a good job hitting the ball most of the year," Irons said. "We haven't been quite as hot in this tournament, but our pitching, with Alyssa on the mound, has been sharp. It's obviously our strength. She fanned 17 today in our last game in six innings. She's done a nice job throwing strikes, and with the hitting, we will just try to get back to the basics and let the girls play."

Some of the most intense action during this great weekend in Jefferson has come from the 16U division, and the finale will be something any softball purist will want to see. Top seedings went to the Valley Extreme Heverly, Ohio Hurricanes-Black,  The Cyclones, and the Lady Hurricanes, who knocked off the Ohio Jaguar group in this division yesterday with a come from behind win capped by a Cerena Anderson homer. They then took the measure of the Mentor Red Dogs in their last action Saturday evening. That win was earned with solid hitting throughout, according to manager Jostalynn Klosky.

"We were really sharp hitting the ball today, and tomorrow should be a good day for us if we can keep it up," she said.

The 16U Jaguar team also has a good shot at taking the title in this division. Manager Tammy McTrusty saw her girls take a 7-3 win Saturday keyed by terrific defensive action and an offense that took advantage of everything the Lady Diamondbacks gave them. The key to the contest may have come in the fourth inning. Nursing a 4-0 lead, a bases loaded walk in the top of the fourth gave them a 5-0 lead, and their only lapse in the field in the fifth didn't crush their spirit. A pair of throwing errors on the infield led to a trio of runs by the Lady Diamondbacks, but Lydia Coccitto killed the final chance for the home team when she dove to her right and snared a line drive that was headed for left field for the third out. Two more runs just before the time limit occurred closed out the win.

"We did it today with good pitching and good defense, along with some big hits, although we didn't hit quite as well as we did yesterday," McTrusty said. "We didn't open up the game with our bats like we have before, especially yesterday, but we got it done. I might have done a couple things differently yesterday, but as long as the girls are making aggressive mistakes, you can't fault them if things go wrong. Mental errors are a different thing, when you can talk to them about it, but physical mistakes happen."

The four top seeds in the 18U division are all solid teams whose strengths have taken them to the tourney finals. The Willowick Wizards, the Cyclones, Chain Reaction, and the Hurricanes-Black appear to be the favorites, with the Wizards having won every game so far. It won't be a cakewalk for them, though. All four teams appear evenly matched, and the Jaguar team of tournament director and manager Scott Francis can't be counted out just yet, either.

They've won just once so far in the tourney, a triumph in their late game Friday night when Rachel Francis drilled a bases loaded triple to gain an 11-10 win. They had dropped a tight contest to the Wizards by a 4-2 score as the batters left seven runners in scoring position in a contest in which they outhit the winners. In their last contest Saturday, they dropped a 4-1 decision.

"Yesterday we didn't get the runners in after they got into scoring position," Francis said. "Today, we just didn't get them into scoring position, we made a couple mistakes, and that was it. We played hard, but just didn't get it done."

Running a tournament of this magnitude had kept Francis and his staff on the move throughout the weekend. The effort to put on a top-notch production has been huge, and while a glitch has cropped up from time to time, especially in the eyes of some parental units who are keyed up in their kids winning or losing, it all has come down to the last day today.

With the Indians out of town, and the urge for some top-notch diamond action, come out to Jefferson and see some talented players going at it in the 2011 Ohio Jaguars Summer Showcase.

Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.