On an evening when people were buying chances to win millions of dollars, the Jim Thorpe Blue 11-12 baseball team played its own version of power ball and hit the jackpot.

Thorpe blasted two home runs and three doubles en route to a 9-6 win over Franklin Township to win the Panther Valley Tournament championshipAfter starting pitcher James Lordi pitched a scoreless first for Thorpe, coach James Lordi's team, who had been scoring runs in droves in its last three games, hit the ball hard.Garrett Leinhard doubled to the left field fence to open the inning and Jared Joyce slammed the first pitch he saw over the centerfield fence for an early 2-0 lead.In the bottom of the third, after a Joyce single, Lordi helped his cause with an opposite field home run that made it 4-0.From the mound, Lordi quieted the Franklin bats as he allowed only two singles while striking out nine in 4 1/3 innings before he had to be replaced due to a pitch count."James pitched very well," said coach Lordi. "He struggled with his control a bit in the fourth, but he got it back."Franklin rallied in the fifth for three runs. Dylan Bowman ripped a double to left. After a fielder's choice, a passed ball and Jack Lorenz's slow rolling infield hit scored a run. Another walk and a single to center by Ian Rarick drove in two and suddenly the Thorpe lead was cut to 4-3.But in the bottom half of the fifth, two catcher interference calls aided a five-run outburst that allowed Jim Thorpe Blue to ice the victory. The big hit for Blue was a two-out, two-run double by Colin Shedaker."Their two home runs didn't bother us as much as those two interference calls," said Franklin coach Ron Steigerwalt. "They probably wouldn't have that big of an inning without those calls."Falling behind by six runs with one at bat left did not deflate Franklin's determination. In the sixth. Randy Bongidrono's infield hit the loaded the bases with one out. Lorenz drilled a two-run single to make the score 9-5. Joyce, the Jim Thorpe shortstop, then made the defensive play of the game when he snagged a hard groundball and threw out the batter for the second out."That play was huge for us," said Lordi. "If Jared doesn't make that play, they get the bases loaded with only one out and who knows what happens next?"Relief pitcher, Garrett Leinhard got the final out for JT on a soft liner to third with the tying run at the plate."Our kids never quit." said Steigerwalt, whose team defeated JT Blue in the district tournament. "We knew coming in they could hit because we played them before. They just had our number this time.""Our games always go back and forth when we play Franklin," said Lordi. "Tonight our kids gave us a great team effort. Our pitchers threw well and from top to bottom in our lineup, we got some clutch hitting."For JT Blue, Joyce collected three RBIs to leads the 11-hit attack. Lorenz had three hits and two RBIs for Franklin.SPINORAMA ... Joyce's last inning rally killer was spectacular. He spun around from the seat of his pants and threw a dart to first base to get the runner by a step.FIVE FOR FIVE ... JT's five-run fifth inning proved to be the difference in the game, aided by the two catcher interference calls, both on foul ball swings.NEVER SAY NEVER ... Franklin scored all six of its runs in the final two innings with eight hits after earning only three singles in the first four innings.Franklin 000 033 - 6 9 0JT Blue 202 05x - 9 11 1Steigerwalt, Failla,(5), Bongidrono (5) and Lorenz. Lordi, Richebacher (5). Leinhard (6) and Snisky. W - Lordi. L - Steigerwalt.