Kasia Smith was baffling from the circle, and she and her Hotshots-Creed teammates hammered their way to a 9-2 win Sunday morning over the Artesia (Calif.) Punishers in the championship game of the ASA 16u Western A Nationals at Rose Mofford Softball Complex in Phoenix.

The Californians managed just five hits. They scored two unearned runs in the fourth inning off Smith, who used a dominating multi-speed change-up to keep the Punishers guessing. They hit few balls hard, waved at a lot of well-spotted fastballs and were often so out in front of Smith’s change that they would stumble at the end of their swing.

“She throws that change at two or three different speeds,” Hotshots coach Chuck Creed said. “She was very effective with it.

“We talked a lot (coming into the tournament) that if we got good pitching, we had a shot. I don’t want to sound like it’s bragging, but we felt we were one of the top five teams. It was going to come down to pitching. And we accomplished our goal and qualified for Nationals next year at either 16u or 18u.”

The pitching workhorse for the Hotshots was Kailey Regester, who beat the Punishers in the winners’ bracket final and used pinpoint control to stay ahead of hitters all week.

“Her dad told me she runs a lap at home for every walk,” Creed said, and then he smiled. “She makes sure she doesn’t have a lot of walks.”

She was warming up behind Smith in the fourth when the Hotshots, who played excellent defense the entire tournament, made two errors that led to the Punishers’ first run and had Smith in a one-out, bases-loaded jam.

Smith got an RBI groundout that made the score 4-2, then made an excellent play on a comebacker to end the inning. She was never threatened again, and the Hotshots scored five times in the bottom half of the inning to take back any momentum they had lost.

Cassandra Vela led off with a walk. Pinch runner Brittnee Aldridge stole second while Sara Goodrum put on one of the best at-bats of the game, eventually chopping a ball into the deep hole at short for a single that left runners at first and second.

Alexandra Vela followed with a perfect bunt single, loading the bases. Shelby Pacheco drove in two with a single to left, and after an out, Elizabeth Deem singled to left to make it 7-2.

Smith knocked in another run with a fielder’s choice. When the Punishers missed getting Regester, who was running for Pacheco, at the plate and threw behind Smith at first, she alertly kept going to second, giving time for Deem to scamper home with another run, and the Hotshots led 9-2.

The Hotshots finished the game with crisp defense and Smith’s change-up. Jasmine Zaker stole a hit at first in the fifth on a hard smash. In the sixth, the Hotshots turned a double play, and Goodrum made a superb catch in center for the final out. Catcher Pacheco picked off a runner, her second of the day, in the seventh, and Smith recorded her only strike out.

The Hotshots scored two runs in both the second and the third to open a 4-0 lead.

A one-out single by Smith started things off in the second. Katelyn Tripp followed with a single, and an error in the outfield put runners at second and third. Rhianna Ricciotti’s single to right scored them both.

In the second, Alexandra Vela led off with a walk, and back-to-back singles by Pacheco and Amity Tello produced a run. The second run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.