WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- When it comes to a home run derby, every swing counts.

Aubrey Clark proved that on Saturday at the inaugural T-Mobile Little League Softball Home Run Derby at BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. It took two tiebreakers, a couple of upsets and a barrage of last-swing homers, but it ended with a title for Clark.

Clark, a member of the Johnston (Iowa) Little League squad, hit a last-chance homer with her third swing of the championship tiebreaker to beat Jeylene Joza, the East Regional champion out of Jersey City, N.J.

The win required every ounce of effort from Clark, who was a runner-up in the West Regional held at T-Mobile Field in Seattle. She struggled to find her barrel early in the first round, but broke through with less than 30 seconds to put one on the board.

But with stiff competition around her, one homer didn’t feel safe. Clark knew what the other batters had done at regional competition, and all she could do was watch from the dugout and hope.

“When we were in Seattle, I didn’t hit any in the first round,” Clark said. “So when I only got one this time, I was really scared. I knew Valarie [Scott] and a bunch of the girls from the East could hit it really far. I was just nervous that I wasn’t going to make it past the first round and get a second chance.”

Thankfully for her, all of the contestants had to work into grooves in the first round of competition. None of the batters hit a homer in the first minute of their respective two-minute time frames, but Scott and Joza bookended the round with two homers each. One by Joza flew over the flags representing the boundary for the baseball competition.

Joza -- a Mets fan whose favorite player is Yankees slugger Aaron Judge -- went on a tear to hit a softball derby-best seven dingers in the second round after Clark put up five, including another in her final swing, to move into the championship spots.

The championship round wasn’t enough to decide the victor, though. Both Clark and Joza hit five home runs, and the New Jersey native was a fly ball away from taking the trophy for herself.

“When she had the regionals in the East, she got nine home runs and I only got four at regionals,” Clark said of Joza. “So I was really nervous.”

But behind the nerves was an intense focus.

“I felt really nervous, but at the same time, I felt like I’ve got to wait for my pitch…” Clark said. “I’ve just got to wait for it and drive it.”

Drive it she did, and her most clutch blast of all -- of course -- was her final one, giving her a 2-1 win in the championship tiebreaker.

Clark, a Cubs fan whose favorite player is Anthony Rizzo, won’t be able to attend the Little League Classic presented by GEICO featuring her home team on Sunday due to her flight back home. But she channeled some of their energy, as the Cubs beat the Pirates, 2-0, while the derby was underway.

And Clark is excited about the Field of Dreams Game coming to Iowa in 2020, already looking into how to get there: “We’re thinking about it.”

For now, Clark will settle for the first-of-its-kind hardware: the Little League Home Run Derby trophy.

RESULTS

First round
Jeylene Joza (Washington Park Little League in Jersey City, N.J.): 2
Valarie Scott (Flowing Wells Continental LL in Arizona): 2
Ciana Gaines (Elmer, N.J.): 1
Aubrey Clark (Johnston, Iowa): 1
Angelee Calderon (Ponytail Little League in Ariz.): 1
Keira Cook (East Greenbush LL, Castleton on Hudson, N.Y.): 0
Kendall Becker (North Kitsap National LL in Washington): 0
Michelle Britt (Tinton Falls, N.J.): 0

Tiebreaker
Clark: 1
Gaines: 1
Calderon: 0

Second round
Joza: 7 (9 total)
Clark: 5 (6 total)
Gaines: 1 (2 total)
Scott: 0 (2 total)

Championship round
Clark: 5
Joza: 5

Tiebreaker
Clark: 2
Joza: 1