Friday night's District 18 11-12 year-old Little League semifinal game between Tamaqua and Valley East started off as a pitcher's duel, but it certainly didn't end as one.

Valley East scored three key runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, outlasting Tamaqua for a 6-5 victory.With the win, Valley East advances to the winner's bracket final, while Tamaqua will now have to fight its way through the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament.Both starting pitchers opened strong. Tamaqua's Nate Boyle and Valley East's Alex Amenther were dealing through the first two innings of play.Boyle allowed just one hit, striking out five through two. Amenther also surrendered just one hit, striking out five in 2 innings before being pulled.It was Valley East that struck first, picking up three runs in the third. The big hit in the inning came when Alex Kubishin hit a two-run homer scoring Amenther.Tamaqua was able to strike back, scoring a run in the fourth on a Tate Ligenza RBI single that scored Brayden Knoblauch. Tamaqua then added three more runs in the top of the fifth, giving it a 4-3 lead, heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.Valley East could've added another run in the bottom of the fourth when AJ Jordan hit a solo home run, but he was called out when he removed his helmet celebrating before reaching home plate, which by rule is an automatic out."We knew we were going to have to win this one at the plate," said East coach Ron Amenther. "Once the pitching fell off a bit we started hitting and so did they. When you have two good teams like this and one starts hitting it almost becomes contagious and that's what happened here tonight."Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth the Valley East bats came through once again, scoring the eventual winning runs.Mike Minchhoff, who came into relieve Boyle started off the inning by nipping leadoff hitter Aaron Mason. Minchhoff then got the next two batters before Gabe Colyer roped an RBI single, scoring Mason. Then came the hit of the evening as Jake Gutshall smashed a two-run homer over the centerfield fence, giving Valley East a 6-4 advantage."What a hit by that kid," said Amenther. "He battled the whole way and got the bat on the ball. He's a tough kid and it was great to see him get that one out."Tamaqua was able to add a run in the top of the sixth and actually had a man on second and third with two outs, but it couldn't convert."This is a tough one for these kids, it will sting for a little, but they'll bounce back," said Tamaqua coach Scott Hamm. "We just left too many people on base tonight, but we'll come out swinging and we'll be ready to play in our next game."Tamaqua 000 131 - 5 8 2Valley East 003 03x - 6 7 3Boyle, Minchhoff (4) and Titus; Amenther, Colyer (3), Kubishin (4) and Jordan. W-Kubishin. L-Minchhoff. HR: Valley East - Kubishin (3rd, one on); Gutshall (5th, one on).