2010 OHIO JAGUARS SUMMER SHOWCASE: Jag-ged edge

Ohio Jaguars stage annual invasion of Jefferson this weekend

By BOB ETTINGER - bettinger@starbeacon.com Staff Writer

The high school season came to its conclusion and the Women’s College World Series was decided nearly two months ago. However, there is still one event where local fans can get their fastpitch softball fix.

The Ohio Jaguars Summer Showcase is slated to begin Friday and run through Sunday.

“(Softball) is a great sport overall,” tournament director Scott “Clliff” Francis said. “The only time you see fastpitch softball is the College World Series. It seems year in and year out, it gets more popular. Around here, you have to go to the high schools to see a game. Normally, the girls who play here are the better girls from their high school teams, so you get to see a better level of competition.”

There are 36 teams set to compete in five age groups in the three-day event. The 18-and-under, 16U, 14U and 12U teams will all toil at the JAGS Complex. The 10U teams will play over at Memorial Field.

Play begins with two rounds of pool-play games Friday at 5:30 and 7 p.m. Pool play continues starting eight Saturday morning. Single-elimination play begins Sunday at eight in the morning. Tournament champions will earn a berth in the ASA Eastern Nationals in York, Pa.

There is no cost for admission, but there is a $5 parking fee. That fee is only paid once and allows admission for a car load of people all weekend. The fee is a donation to Ohio Jaguars.

“It’s like back in the day and going to the drive-in,” Francis said. “You can cram as many people in the car as you want and you don’t have to try and sneak anybody in.”

Area programs like the Ohio Jaguars and Ohio Top Guns will be joined by teams from all over Northeastern Ohio as well as Pennsylvania.

“We’ve got teams from Pittsburgh coming up here,” Francis said. “The Pittsburgh Power is a good organization. We also have teams from Erie, Cleveland and Youngstown. Why they keep coming back, I don’t know, but we’ve got ot be doing something. I don’t know what it is.

“True travel teams play a good schedule. Most teams are better teams. We’re welcoming to most teams that come in. Some teams have tournaments that you don’t play in unless you’re in their inner circle. Other teams are put off by that.”

The Showcase, however, is not one of those events. Francis and the rest of the people behind the Jaguars do their best to welcome everybody.

“The tournament draws good teams,” Francis said. “But we also take teams in that are still learning. We were there. We remember what it’s like to be a start-up team. We try and make sure they have a good time, too. Those seem to be the teams that always come back.

“A few years ago, the Erie Frost were one of those teams. Now they have some good teams and they come back every year. It paid off to be friendly when they were first starting off.”

That relationship with the Frost is exactly what the Showcase is all about.

“We want to have a tournament here that is good competition, but we also want people to walk out of here after the tournament and say the people of Jefferson and the Jaguars are good people to be around,” Francis said. “We want to teach that winning is important, but you have to do it with class, too. Trying to do both makes it a good tournament to come to.”

For the older players, the Showcase is an opportunity to show their skills to some college coaches.

“We try to do different things,” Francis said. “We never stop trying to bring coaches into it. It’s always our intent to bring coaches in. Some come in every year. We’ve had coaches here see players and that player will go to their school because they had been seen in our tournament.”

With five fields at the JAGS Complex and two more at Memorial Field, the Showcase is housed in a condensed area, making for a great opportunity for everyone to see a lot of games without traveling long distances.

“We have five fields in one place,” Francis said. “People like that. Families have more than one girl playing and having a tournament in one location, people like that idea. Some tournaments have two fields at five different places. We have five in one place.

“In the past, Jefferson Little League has been great to us. They let us use up to three fields. This year we were just able to schedule the games without using them. The people at Memorial Field have been real nice.  They have let us use both fields all year long. Our teams have been able to schedule practices without worrying about what time and place they can get on a diamond.”

The Showcase is a chance for local players to play at home, in front of their own friends and family.

“They still have the same feeling (when they play),” Francis said. “In a way, it’s more pressure because the girls like winning more because they have more family members watching. But they are a little more relaxed because they’re playing at home and sleeping in their own beds.

“The girls love that they can come out and play in front of more people cheering for them.”

And the Showcase has been a way for the Jaguars and Top Guns to develop a healthy rivalry.

“We make sure the teams play each other,” Francis said. “They know each other. They play softball together, or basketball or even other sports, in high school. Of course, they want to win, if they didn’t they wouldn’t be playing travel ball. But at the same time, they have a lot of respect for each other.”

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