Valley East head coach Doug Palmieri was hoping starting pitcher AJ Collevechio would give him a few innings Sunday in a potential elimination game against Franklin in the District 18 8-10-year-old Little League championship series.

Palmieri got a little more than that from his starter.Collevechio threw five solid innings in his first start of the tournament to lift Valley East to an 8-2 win over Franklin."We gave him the game ball," Palmieri said of Collevechio. "We were hoping for a couple of innings and maybe move on to Shea (Higgins), who has kind of turned into our closer, and he (Collevechio) gave us much, much more."The victory came a day after Franklin handed Valley East a 17-6 setback in the opener in the three-game series."My first thought was to not overreact," Palmieri said of the loss. "They beat us pretty good … they outplayed us."But I didn't want to go in with the mindset that we had to panic and maybe make decisions that wouldn't be in the best interest of our kids. And they bailed me out. The kids came up big time and bailed me out. I'm just really, really proud of them."Valley East put four runs on the board before Collevechio even threw a pitch. Higgins, Collevechio and Sam Miller all drove in runs in the top of the first, while an error allowed Collevechio, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, to score to give Valley East a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning."I think it was big in that it gave him some confidence, and some room to breathe," Palmieri said of the early advantage. "He knew he didn't have to be perfect. And, quite honestly, just as a lefty, and them not seeing him before, I think it threw them off a little bit."As Valley East padded its lead, adding two runs in the second and one in the third and fourth innings to build an 8-0 advantage, Collevechio cruised, allowing just three hits through four."He had our hitters off balance from the start of the game to the end," said Franklin head coach JC Dietz.Franklin got to Collevechio in the bottom of the fifth, when John Light delivered a two-out hit that scored Keyden Ahner to make it 8-1. Cole Dietz then reached on an error that allowed Light to score to cut Valley East's lead to 8-2.But Franklin couldn't get any closer, stranding runners on the corners as Collevechio worked out of the jam.Franklin also threatened in the bottom of the second when Dylan Greene opened the inning with a single. Jake Lewis connected for a one-out double, but Greene was thrown out trying to score.Valley East scored two in the top half of the inning on a double from Chris Peters that scored Tommy Horvat. Peters scored on a Noah Higgins groundout to make it 6-0.Horvat singled in the top of the third to score Cole Kuehn to make it 7-0. Valley East added another run in the fourth when Peters scored on a bases-loaded walk issued to Luke Palmieri.Higgins closed the door with a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning to seal the win."I knew this was going to be a series. It's Valley East," said Dietz. "I told the kids before yesterday, it's the game of baseball. Yesterday, all of our balls hit the gaps. And today, the pitcher kept them in play. They made nice plays … they played a fundamental game. They played a fantastic game. All the credit goes to their kids, how well they played."SHUT DOWN… Franklin had scored 96 runs in the tournament prior to Sunday's game.WINNER-TAKE-ALL… The decisive third game in the series between South champ Franklin and North champ Valley East will be Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Towamensing.Valley East 421 100 - 8 10 1Franklin 000 020 - 2 6 3Collevechio, Higgins (6) and Peters; Light, Gelatko (3), Albert (6) and Lewis. W - Collevechio. L - Light.Saturday's GameFranklin Twp.-Vy. EastIn the opening game of the best-of-three series on Saturday, Franklin defeated Valley East, 17-6.Dylan Greene and Jake Lewis had four hits apiece for Franklin. Cole Dietz and Jayse Lawrence each collected three hits.