Lauren Kelly saved at least two runs with three important defensive plays for the 12-and-under Lawrence Phenix Hamilton during Sunday’s championship game of the Patty Heitzman Memorial Softball Tournament.

Appropriately, Kelly won her team’s “Down and Dirty” award for defensive aggressiveness, and the Phenix won the championship with a 2-1 victory over the Wichita Athletics.

Kelsey Epperson of the Lawrence Phenix tags a Leavenworth runner out. The Phenix finished second to Leavenworth in the 16-and-under division of the Patty Heitzman Tournament on Sunday at Clinton Lake Softball Complex.

“We’re pretty pleased,” coach John Hamilton said. “For us to make some of the defensive plays we made is tremendous. Our infield was really solid today and we got a couple of key catches in the outfield. It was definitely a total team effort.”

The title was the first for a Lawrence team in any age group in the tournament’s 15 years.

“We’re pretty pleased,” Hamilton said. “I’ve been in the association four or five years now, and you pull for all of our teams in the organization. You always hope that everybody plays well this weekend because it’s really our only weekend we play in Lawrence.”

After a 17-5, run-rule victory in five innings over Leavenworth’s Twisters in the semifinals, defense was the key for the Phenix in the championship.

Phenix shortstop Elise Kopf started the team’s fielding accomplishments by ranging far to her left for two groundouts in the top of the second inning.

The Phenix scored two runs on a passed ball and a sacrifice in the bottom of the inning, and Kopf and third baseman Kelly combined for all three of the team’s assists in the top of the third.

In the fourth, Wichita’s first two runners reached base before Jessica Baer struck out Candice Metzinger for the first out. The next batter tried to move the runners over, but Kelly faked a throw to first and instead threw to Kopf, who was covering third, and caught the runner trying to retreat to the base.

“It can work once a ball game, if you’re lucky,” Hamilton said of the fake, “and you’ve got to do it probably when they least expect it. If you’re ahead, it’s probably a good time. Lauren did a great job selling that.”

Kelly and Kopf hooked up again on a groundout to end the fourth and once again in the fifth.

With one out and two runners on, the Athletics’ batter popped up in foul ground and Kelly slid, caught the ball just short of the fence and threw to Kopf, who tagged out the runner trying to advance to third, ending the inning.

Metzinger drove home a run in the top of the sixth with a double to deep center field, but Courtney Johnson relieved Baer and ended the Athletics’ rally with the help of Kelly’s throw home with the bases loaded.

The Athletics threatened again in the seventh with two runners on and no outs. After a strikeout and lineout, Metzinger stepped to the plate and lined a shot up the middle that Kopf snagged for the game’s final out.

“She’s got the best range of any 12-and-under shortstop that I’ve coached,” Hamilton said of Kopf. “She has really come into her own this year. I think she’s really getting a lot of confidence. I’m very happy with how she’s maturing.”

The other two U-12 Lawrence Phenix teams lost in the quarterfinals. The Phenix Rusk were eliminated by the Athletics, and the Phenix Fyler were defeated by the Twisters.

The 14-and-under Phenix Rililng beat the top-seeded Manhattan Optimist 7-6 in 10 innings in the quarterfinals, but lost 9-8 in eight innings to the Topeka Chaos in the semifinals.

The Phenix Tanner lost their game against the Twisters.

The 16-and-under Lawrence Phenix Juneau also reached the championship of their age division, but lost to the Leavenworth Twisters, who eliminated the Lawrence Hummers in the semifinals.

The Phenix dropped a 4-3 decision to the Twisters during Saturday’s pool play after leading 3-0, but couldn’t pull off a comeback of their own Sunday.

“It was a good game,” coach Ted Juneau said. “They got four on us and we came back and got half of it back but couldn’t get any more.

“Our kids played pretty well. This is our first year in 16s so we’re pleased with the progress. This is the first tournament we’ve played this year and really our first weekend together, so we’ll be all right.”

In other Lawrence action, the No. 2-seeded Vipers defeated the Lawrence Blast in their first game but lost to the eventual 18-and-under runner-up Emporia Energy.