Towamensing Township still isn’t hitting the way manager Steve Mertz believes it can.

But if it continues to get the type of pitching it has gotten the last two games, it might not matter.

Towamensing used three different pitchers to keep Anthracite under wraps and got just enough offense to pull out a 5-2 victory in eighth innings on Friday night.

The victory in the loser’s bracket round of the District 18 10-12 year-old Little League Tournament allows Towamensing to stay alive in the double-elimination event. After losing its opening game, Towamensing will go after its third straight win on Sunday when it plays Hazleton.

“We feel like we have four No. 1 pitchers,” said Mertz after using three pitchers against Anthracite. “We had a plan coming in as far as what we wanted to do with our pitchers and their pitch counts. Even though the game was close the entire way, we stuck with the plan - and I thought all three of our kids did a nice job.

“They had to because we still aren’t hitting the ball like I feel we can. We’ve played three games and we are still waiting to get our bats untracked. Fortunately, we were able to win our last two games despite not really hitting yet. But I feel like the bats are going to come.”

Neither team was able to do anything offensively for most of the game as pitchers Cooper Lynn of Anthracite, and Cody Serfass and Luke Machalik of Towamensing combined to keep the game scoreless through five innings.

That finally changed in the top of the sixth when Towamensing’s Cole Collins tripled into the gap in leftcenter to open the inning and scored when Derek Thomas followed with a single. Towamensing got an insurance run when Anthracite committed an error on an attempted pickoff of Thomas at second base and he came all the way around to score on the play.

It looked like that would be enough as Zack Zelinsky - Towamensing’s third pitcher of the night - retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth. But Connor Jones worked a walk and Lynn reached on an error before Jake Seitz delivered a clutch two-out, two-run double off the rightcenter field fence to tie the game.

“That was a big hit by Jake,” said Anthracite manager Andrew Lynn. “It was probably about three feet short of walking it off. But give Towamensing credit, they regrouped and eventually pulled it out.

“I’m proud of our kids. I thought that was the best we’ve played. It was a really nice game by both teams. Great pitching, some clutch at bats, nice defensive plays ... both teams did a lot of really good things out there.”

After both teams failed to score in the seventh, the international tie-breaking rule went into effect in the eighth.

Towamensing took advantage of that and some untimely Anthracite miscues to put up three runs. Towamensing had just one hit in the frame - an RBI single by Dillion Welsh - but took advantage of three errors.

“In both of our scoring innings, the bottom of our order picked us up,” said Mertz. “We have confidence in all 12 of our batters and those kids at the bottom of the lineup really stepped up for us tonight. They hit some balls hard and kept putting the ball in play and good things happen when you do that.

“I thought overall it was a great game. Both teams got outstanding pitching and for most of the game, the teams played really good defense.”

THROWING DARTS ... Lynn went the first six innings for Anthracite, allowing seven hits and one earned run. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter. For Towamensing, Serfass worked two and two-thirds innings, allowing one hit, no runs and striking out six. Machalik worked two and one-third innings allowing no hits, no runs, and striking out four.

HITTERS ... Welsh had two hits and an RBI for Towamensing, which got hits from 10 of the 12 batters in its lineup. For Anthracite, Sietz had the big double and both RBIs.

WEB GEMS ... Anthracite turned a huge 5-2-3 double play to get out of the seventh inning after Towamensing loaded the bases with one out. Seitz started the play by fielding a ground ball and throwing to catcher Kale Koerbler who then fired a strike to first baseman Brian McLaughlin. Towamensing made a game-saving play of its own in the sixth when rightfielder Thomas scooped up a hit and fired a strike to shortstop Nicholas Zulic to nail an Anthracite runner trying to stretch it into a double.

Towamensing 000 002 03 - 5 11 1

Anthracite 000 002 00 - 2 4 3

Serfass, Machalik (3), Zelinsky (6) and Ivancich; Lynn, Jones (7) and Koerbler. W-Zelinsky. L-Jones.