There’s a lot to be said for a home-field advantage. Starting today, four softball teams in four age groups will set out to defend their home turf in the Ohio Jaguars Summer Showcase.
Jaguars in the 12-under, 14-under, 16-under and 18-under age groups will take to the fields at the JAGS Complex, Havens Complex and Lakeside High School to try to win championships against 50 other teams from Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“I don’t care if you’re playing for your high school or the local team, there’s a place you consider your home in any sport. You become territorial and want to do better there,” tournament director and 18-under Jaguars coach Scott "Cliff" Francis said. “The main reason we run this tournament is to give the girls a chance to play close to home.”
For the locals, it’s a chance to play close to home for maybe the first time all summer.
“It’s just nice to be home,” Jenna Lower, a member of the 18U Jaguars said. “We can invite our family and friends to come out and watch. We usually play so far away. They can come see us. And it’s nice because we have been playing together for five years and this is our last year together.”
“It’s only two minutes from my house,” Rachel Francis said, also a member of the 18U Jaguars, said. “It’s nice. I can wake up five minutes before I have to be there.”
For some, it may be the last time they ever suit up and play at a local diamond with college looming in the fall.
“It’s kind of nerve-racking,” Francis said. “I’ve grown up on these fields. It’s the last time I’m going to play on them. I want to go out and do my best.”
The Showcase begins this evening at 5:30 with games on 10 fields between the three complexes. Pool play consists of three games starting tonight with elimination play beginning at eight Sunday morning.
Spectators will be charged a one-time fee of $5 per carload to watch, which covers fans for all three days of the tournament.
“It’s just like the drive-in,” Scott Francis said. “Pack them in and come out to watch.”
The tournament provides a chance to see not only Ashtabula County’s best players in the age groups, but also the best from Pennsylvania and all over northern Ohio. With that kind of talent coming in, it’s easy to see why some fans come back each year for more.
“If you go around the tournament and talk to the people here, they show up and watch and they don’t even have a girl on one of the teams,” Scott Francis said. “A lot of people like that come year in and year out. They come to watch good fastpitch softball.”
Ettinger is a freelance writer from Ashtabula.
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