Ask most athletes, coaches and fans the importance of a quick start in a championship game and the unanimous answer will be: "very."

Thursday night in the championship finals of the Keystone Senior Babe Ruth tournament, Towamensing utilized timely hitting with stifling defense to jump out to a commanding lead over rival Panther Valley before staving off a comeback for the title, 10-4."Out of the gates, with Jake Taschler coming up with the big home run, really kind of deflated any kind of momentum that (Panther Valley) thought they could have brought into this game," assistant Towamensing coach Cody Peters said. "From there on, I thought we kind of just put our foot down on the gas, and it just seemed to be too much."The winners pounded out 12 hits in the contest, including a two-run homer from Taschler, which proved to be difficult for the opposition to match."Towamensing is a good ball club," Panther Valley head coach Rich Evanko said. "Every game that we've played against each other this year has been a close game. Starting off, down 10-0 didn't help. But after that fifth, we matched them and even outscored them. But that start was big."After Taschler's early blast put Towamensing on top, it tacked on insurance runs in the ensuing three frames to erect their 10-run lead.Towamensing then relied on its pitching and defense to secure the championship."Our starting pitcher, Zach Silfies, had a nice rest coming into the game, and he just gutted it out, and with our defense making plays behind him," Peters said. "He made it tough for Panther Valley to come back."The Towamensing defense came up time and time again in the late stages of the outing, and along with Silfies doing strong work from the hill, the winners cruised to the victory."When I was talking to my brother early on, I told him, 'If we get an early lead, you shut them down, and we'll be fine," Ian Silfies said."It felt great to win. I was just trying to locate my fast ball low, because if you lift it up, this team would kill it," Zach Silfies said. "I knew we could hit, but in the past, we've had slow starts. But tonight, we came out strong and I knew if I just put the ball in the zone, my defense would back me and we would be alright."BROTHERLY LOVE ... Ian and Zach Silfies came up huge in the win for Towamensing, as Ian finished 4-for-4 at the plate while Zach earned the win.DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER .. For the Black Diamonds, Anthony Micholik led the way at the plate with two hits. Matt Hudicka added an RBI-double.Panther Valley 000 040 0 - 4 8 0Towamensing 214 300 x - 10 12 0D. Goida, Collevechio (4), Kokinda (5), Stanko (6) and M. Goida; Z. Silfies and Kralik. W - Z. Silfies, L - D. Goida. HR: T - Taschler (1st, one on).