Valley West was struggling mightily trying to unleash its bats.

So it turned to its legs.

Despite being held to just one hit in the game, Valley West found a way to defeat Tamaqua, 6-1, on Saturday in the District 18 10-12 year-old Little League Tournament.

The way Valley West did it was base running.

Time-and-time again, the visitors took extra bases and forced Tamaqua miscues with their aggressiveness. Valley West did that with straight steals, delayed steals, and double steals. They also took advantage of wild pitches and Tamaqua throws back to the pitcher.

“That’s what we do at Valley West,” said Manager Gregg Pavlick. “We are aggressive on the bases. We stress that constantly to our kids.

“It’s something we really believe in, and its just not during All-Stars. It’s something all the coaches in our Little League program stress during the regular season.”

While the base running proved to be a key in Valley West’s run production on Saturday, it didn’t hurt that it got outstanding pitching and defense as well.

Mason Rinker tossed a two-hitter and struck out nine for the complete-game victory on the mound, and his defense backed him with error-free ball.

Meanwhile, Tamaqua committed five errors that led to four unearned runs for Valley West.

“I thought we matched them pretty well with our pitching and hitting,” said Tamaqua manager Jeremy Eltringham. “But a combination of errors by us, and smart, aggressive base running by them was the difference.

“In baseball, it’s the little things that often decide games. A stolen base here, an extra base there, and all of a sudden they have a couple of runs without the benefit of a hit. That seemed to happen several times, and it proved to be the difference in the game.”

Valley West scored twice in the second inning to grab the lead. It used walks to Caleb Sniscak and Logan Billig, and a two-out double steal of second and third base to set the stage. A wild pitch brought home Sniscak, and when the throw from catcher Gavin Shannon got past pitcher Jaedon Viczicki, who was covering the plate, Billig also scored.

Tamaqua got its only run in the home half of the second when Ryder Holmberg ripped a double into the left-center field gap and Chayse Smith followed with an RBI single.

Valley West made it 4-1 with a pair of unearned runs in the third as it took advantage of a walk, two infield errors, and a couple of stolen bases.

Valley West got its first and only hit in the sixth inning when an error, an RBI double by Austin Roberts, and two wild pitches produced the game’s final two runs.

“Valley West is a well-coached, talented team,” said Eltringham. “It’s a program that is a juggernaut in District 18. They have had the best, or one of the best, teams at every age level in recent years.

“So I’m proud of how our kids battled. We have to clean some things up, but we aren’t finished yet. This is a double-elimination tournament and I’m confident our kids are going to bounce back from this.”

PITCHERS IN CONTROL ... Valley West’s Rinker got stronger as the game went on, retiring the final 12 batters he faced and striking out five of the last six Tamaqua hitters. Meanwhile, Vidzicki started and went four innings for Tamaqua. He struck out eight and walked five. Bryce Eltringham worked the final two innings, striking out four and walking two.

UP NEXT ... Valley West hosts Anthracite tonight at 6 p.m. Tamaqua will play a loser’s bracket game on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Valley West 022 002 - 6 1 0

Tamaqua 010 000 - 1 2 5

Rinker and Bissol; Vidzicki, Eltringham (5) and Shannon, Holmberg (3). W-Rinker. L-Vidzicki.