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Tinkey, Hughes, Youngs are Valley’s regional queens
Area stars master district finals in multiple sports
By Tom Williams
Some gifted athletes in team sports finish their varsity careers never tasting regional competition.
And then there are the regional queens, athletes blessed with an overabundance of success in district title games. This week, several players with plenty of regional experience will be working hard to try to secure the Mahoning Valley’s first softball appearance at the state tournament since 2012.
Among the multi-sport seniors finishing their varsity careers with a coveted road trip are Canfield shortstop Rachel Tinkey (two regionals each in softball and basketball), Western Reserve pitcher Aleah Hughes (three in softball and two in basketball) and South Range center fielder Jordan Youngs (six, two each in softball, basketball and volleyball).
“Six — that’s awesome,” said Tinkey who will be playing on Thursday in Canfield’s second Division II regional semifinal in three seasons. “She’s a great player and obviously a multi-talented athlete playing three sports.”
Tinkey was the Canfield basketball team’s point guard for four seasons and played in the Division II regional as a freshman and sophomore.
Youngs is playing in her second straight Division III softball regional. Her basketball team qualified for regional in her junior and senior seasons. Her volleyball team qualified when she was a sophomore and junior.
“I am super excited for her, she plays on my [travel] volleyball team,” Hughes said of Youngs. “South Range has good sports programs [so] it’s not surprising that they won that many [district titles].
“But she works hard.”
Youngs’ Raiders (21-6, winners of the Inter Tri-County League Tier One) will play Elyria Catholic (15-14) on Thursday at Massillon High School. Also that day, Western Reserve will play Mathews at Kent State University.
Hughes downplays the first of her five regionals. As a freshman at Poland High School, she was a junior varsity pitcher then one of the players added to the varsity softball team’s postseason roster.
“I don’t remember getting in; if I did, it was something little,” Hughes said of the Division II regional in 2012. “We had a very strong senior class that year.”
Hughes is a master of understatement. In 2012, Poland’s pitchers were Erin Gabriel (Tennessee) and Jenna Modic (Pittsburgh). The first baseman, then sophomore Taylor Miokovic (Eastern Illinois), was a summer ball pitcher. The Bulldogs qualified for state for the third straight season, losing to Keystone, 4-0, in the state semifinal.
Hughes said then-Poland coach Reid Lamport added so many JV players to the roster that “we had to take turns and rotate.” The state semifinal game was her turn to not dress.
Hughes (10-4) will be on the mound for the Division IV regional semifinal against Mathews. She’ll face Mustangs ace Cheyenne Eggens (South Florida) for the first time at the varsity level.
“We scrimmaged in a gym,” Hughes recalled of state week in 2012 when the Mustangs also qualified for state and their coaches got creative with practice.
Hughes and Eggens have played against each other in travel ball.
“She’s very good,” Hughes said of Eggens. “It’s going to come down to hitting. I’m excited and nervous. I don’t know what to expect.”
Nervous? “Once the game starts, I’m fine,” Hughes said.
She’s not the only Blue Devil with plenty of regional experience. Teammates Tory White and Sydney Miller also were starters on the basketball team that finished in Massillon the past two years.
Hughes transferred to Western Reserve before her junior year and has been a three-sport athlete for the Blue Devils. Her volleyball teams finished district runners-up twice, losing both times to St. Thomas Aquinas. In softball, Western Reserve won both of their district titles by defeating Aquinas.
In the fall, Tinkey will play basketball for the University of Mount Union. Hughes will be a walk-on volleyball player at Youngstown State University. Youngs also will play volleyball, at Division III Muskingum.
“It’s been up-in-the-air between volleyball and softball for the longest time,” Youngs said of her decision of what sport she’ll pursue. “I love basketball, but volleyball and softball are my two favorite sports.
“Volleyball has always been something special.”
The South Range-Elyria Catholic winner will advance to Saturday’s regional final against today’s winner of the Champion (24-6)-Apple Creek Waydale (24-3) semifinal.
After five regional trips, Youngs, the Raiders’ cleanup hitter, wants a chance to play for a state berth before graduating.
“It’s our last chance to take one step farther into the regionals,” Youngs said of the Raiders’ other seniors (first baseman Taylor Helon, shortstop Sarah Moretti and Jessica Skripac). “This is our last shot. “We [want] to make a statement that we deserve to be there.
“We have to keep pushing, we can’t give up,” Youngs said. “It would be such an accomplishment.”
Outfielder Morgan Czopur (four regionals) was teammates with Youngs on the Raiders basketball team. Skripac was her teammate on the volleyball team to give her four.
“She’s great, she pushes us,” Czopur said of Youngs. “She’s just amazing, a great leader — we all watch her, try to take after her.
“She just goes from sport to sport, and she never takes a break,” said Czopur, a junior. “She’s such a hard worker.”
Unlike the Mahoning Valley’s other regional teams, Canfield (23-7) has first-hand knowledge of its regional opponent, Jefferson (24-3). On May 8 in Liberty, the Falcons edged the Cardinals, 1-0, in the Mahoning Valley Invitational.
“We played well defensively, Kayla Troxil pitched a great game for us,” Tinkey said. “Their pitcher [Alyssa Irons] was phenomenal. We just couldn’t hit the ball.”
Tinkey can’t wait for Thursday’s trip to Akron.
“I think its going to be a really good game,” Tinkey said. “They have a very talented pitcher with good movement.
“We’ve just got to put the ball in play to give ourselves a chance.”
Hughes is not surprised that five teams have emerged as district champions.
“We have a very high level of softball,” she said.