There were 127 teams in the USA Softball 14-under fastpitch national tournament held in the Chattanooga area the past week.
One really had its Mojo working.
The Tennessee Mojo 2021, based in Cookeville, won all eight of their tournament games and capped a championship run with an 8-6 victory over Michigan's Finesse Fastpitch, coached by Dan Skapyak, in Sunday's final at Frost Stadium.
The Mojo's triumph over the Finesse didn't look nearly as easy as the 9-1 win they had over them in Saturday's winners-bracket final. But in keeping with their theme throughout the week, the Mojo had one home run and five doubles among their eight hits in the title matchup, and that powered the way.
"We swung it well," Mojo coach Brooks Cherry said of his team's performance in the tournament. "We put up some runs. We hit a lot of extra-base hits. We hit eight or nine home runs. We really just had a good approach at the plate."
Singles by Hannah Cady, Lauren Scibiorski and Sierra Kersten in the top of the first gave the Finesse their only lead. The Mojo answered with Aubrey Barnhart's homer and Emma Minghini's run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning.
The Finesse managed to get back to 4-4 on Kersten's RBI double in the fifth. But Jordan Key - whose two-run double ended Saturday's game against the Finesse in the sixth inning via the eight-run rule - cleared the loaded bases with a fifth-inning double to give the Mojo the lead for good.
The Finesse were down by four when they tried to rally in the seventh, starting with singles by Cady and Cassidy Brendtke. Those came off starter Elena Escobar.
After Cherry brought in Claire Woods, the winning pitcher against the Finesse on Saturday, Kersten's one-out double scored one. But a second out was recorded on the same play as Kylie Millhorn's sacrifice fly and that ended it, giving Escobar the pitching win and Woods the save.
"It was going to be their fourth time through the order," Cherry said. "I was going to give her one hitter. I actually ended up giving her two. She'd been great all week, but Claire had kept them off balance yesterday. It was a gut feeling."
Minghini ended up 2-for-2, both doubles, had two RBIs, walked twice and scored a run for the Mojo. Barnhart went 2-for-4, doubling and scoring on Key's hit. Jade Howard was 1-for-2 with a run-scoring double and two walks, and she scored three runs.
The Finesse's Scibiorski went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and also scored another run. Also going 3-for-4 were Kersten, who had three RBIs, and Cady, who scored three runs.
The bad news for the rest of the field is the majority of the Mojo players are still eligible to compete in 14U tournaments next year, too.
"We already play with that target on our backs," Cherry said. "We try to play the best competition that we can. I think that helped us this week."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.