The Franklin Township 11 and 12-year old team fell a little short of reaching its goal of a District 18 Little League championship.

That disappointment could’ve caused Franklin to fold up shop, but it didn’t. Instead, it bounced back to go undefeated in the Panther Valley Tournament.

Franklin Township capped off an impressive PV Tourney campaign with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Tamaqua on Wednesday night to take home the championship.

“It’s no secret that our goal was to win a District 18 championship. We lost a tough game to Valley West in that tournament and that took a lot out of us, it took us a week or two to get out of that funk,” said Franklin head coach JC Dietz. “But these kids came into this tournament with that attitude once again — to win a championship — and they followed through on it. It just goes to show you the character they have.”

There was plenty of action throughout the contest, but it really picked up in the later innings.

With FT leading 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth Tamaqua made its move. The Tams knotted the game up at 3-3 on a big two-run single by Matt Vecolitis. The tying sequence included a bang-bang play with Declan Coleman just getting under the tag at home plate.

Battling back was the theme of the night for Tamaqua.

“I just talked to our guys and told them how proud of them I was. There were a few times in this game where they could’ve given up, but they didn’t, they came through with big hits in key situations,” said Tamaqua head coach Joe Ligenza. “It really was a great Little League game, we just came up a bit short.”

In the bottom of the fifth Franklin tried to put the Tams away, scoring two runs. After two Tamaqua batters got on base, one on a walk and one on a fielders choice, FT brought in speedy runners Carter Bellis and Zoltan Bedocs. Both Bellis and Bendocs were able to advance on the bases, each scoring on wild pitches to give FT a 5-3 lead, heading into the final inning.

Tamaqua once again battled as Scott Case led off the inning with a shot over the fence in center by to cut the deficit to one. Then, with one out and a runner on first, Mason Ligenza came to the plate after collecting three hits in his previous three atbats and stayed perfect on the night, ripping a double to the right field line.

But a spectacular relay throw from right fielder Jayce Lawrence to second baseman Aiden Solt to catcher Mike Gelatko forced the Tamaqua runner to slam on the brakes on his way to the plate. A pin point throw from Gelatko then caught the runner going back to third for the inning’s second out.

Franklin pitcher Dylan Greene was able to get the next batter to ground out to shortstop to end the ball game.

“We practice hitting the cutoff man all the time and with a team like Tamaqua with all its good hitters you’re going to have to execute that,” said Dietz. “It was a great play, a teamwork play that saved the game for us.”

LEADERS ... For FT, Aidan Albert led the way with two hits and two RBI, while Elliot Ahner added a hit and an RBI. For Tamaqua, Ligenza led the way with four hits, Jonathan Derr added a hit and an RBI, and Coleman came through with two hits.

Tamaqua 000 121 - 4 6 1

Franklin Twp. 011 12X - 5 9 1

Ligenza, Case (5) and Vecolitis; Gelatko, Dietz (2), Light (4), Greene (6) and Light and Gelatko (2). W - Light. L - Case. HR - Case (none on).