There are big innings, and then there are big innings.

Franklin Township broke open a close contest Friday in the first round of the District 18 Little League tournament by scoring 11 runs in the third.

The outburst, which included 12 straight batters reaching base safely, resulted in a 12-2 victory over Towamensing and some steam moving forward.

“Hitting is contagious,” said FT manager Ben Moyer. “When one guy gets hot, the others just follow suit.

“It’s a huge momentum boost. A win in the first round is huge. We know last year we had to come down through the loser’s bracket, and it’s a struggle. It’s a daily grind. So, if you get a first win and keep collecting wins, it’s good for the kids and it’s good for us. A win right off the bat is a huge momentum boost.”

Franklin led 1-0 heading to the bottom of the third, but the floodgates opened in a major way.

After a strikeout started the frame, Parker Cummins got the ball rolling with a single. Back-to-back errors resulted in a pair of runs, before a Carter Spotts double plated another to make it 4-0.

Owen Moyer brought home Spotts with a single to right and another Towamensing miscue upped the margin to 6-0. Jayce Hunsberger followed with an RBI single, and Roman White also reached base with a hit.

Three straight walks, two with the bases loaded, pushed the spread to 9-0. Brody Hunsicker, who led off the inning, singled to center in his second at-bat of the frame to allow the 10th run to score. A wild pitch and an error on the throw back to the plate resulted in two more runs.

“We have kids that we have confidence in, 1-through-12, to put the ball in play and they did a great job today,” said Moyer. “We knew coming in that they had great pitching, and we just had to make them make the plays and put the ball in play.

“We want to take advantage of opportunities when they’re there,” added Moyer about his team’s aggressiveness on the bases. “It’s not the regular season where you can run like a merry-go-round, but we want to take advantage. We want to make the other team get us out.”

Unfortunately for Towamensing, it didn’t make the outs it needed to to end the uprising.

“We knew coming in that Franklin is obviously a good team,” said Towamensing manager Steve Mertz. “We need to make our plays. We had four errors in that inning, and that will do you in. They’re going to hit the ball. They had some solid hits but we made four errors. That just unravels pretty quick for you.

“They put the ball in play. At the end of the day, that’s what has to happen if you’re going to win games. They put the ball in play, and we just didn’t make our plays.”

The host team, which were the visitors on the scoreboard, did get on the board in the fourth. Luke Machalik tripled and Cade Serfass followed with a home run over the left-center field fence.

“We’re going to get our hits,” said Mertz. “We believe we’ll get our hits throughout the tournament. We started to chip, unfortunately we couldn’t push it to a next inning. But we feel like we’ll get our hits through the tournament. It just didn’t fall right for us today.”

STRONG PITCHING ... Franklin’s Ethan Laible earned the win, pitching shutout ball through the first three frames. He allowed five hits and one walk while striking out four. “(Ethan) did a fantastic job,” said Moyer. “He’s been phenomenal all season. We can count on him to go out there and throw strikes. He’s consistent, and he kept his pitch count low. And he did what we needed him to do.”

DEFENSIVE GEMS .. Both teams turned in some impressive plays in the field. Franklin turned a 6-4-3 double play in the second inning, while Towamensing right fielder Derek Thomas threw out a runner at third trying to advance on a single.

OFFENSIVE SHOWING ... White had a pair of hits for the winners. All 12 players in the FT lineup had either a hit, scored a run or knocked in one.

UP AHEAD ... Franklin will face Jim Thorpe at home on Monday, while Towamensing drops to the loser’s bracket and will meet either Valley East or Freeland on Wednesday.

Towamensing 00 0 2 - 2 5 0

Franklin Twp. 10(11) x - 12 10 4

Laible, Moyer (4) and Spotts; Serfass, Zulic (3), Zelinsky (3) and C. Collins. W - Laible. L - Serfass. HR: Towamensing - Serfass (4th, one on).