Unlike a summer blockbuster, the conclusion of this trilogy didn’t need any extra hype.

Tamaqua and Valley West provided ample star-power.

And they both proved capable of producing plenty of fireworks without any additional pyrotechnics.

After splitting their first two meetings in the District 18 10-12 Year-Old Little League tournament, the rubber match between the two teams generated enough buzz all on its own.

Their saga came to an end in epic fashion Tuesday night, as Valley West prevailed in another classic, outdueling Tamaqua 4-3 to win the district title.

Tamaqua forced the winner-take-all game with a dominant 10-2 victory over Valley on Sunday. The setback had Valley West manager Russ Canzler concerned about how his squad would come out with its season on the line.

“It means a lot,” said Canzler. “I think, especially after Sunday, losing as we did, I could have easily seen us tucking our tail between our legs and coming out really flat. But they responded well.”

The catalyst for Valley West was Richie Rossi. Rossi opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the top of the first inning to score Jonas Aponick, who led off with a double to give Valley West a 1-0 lead.

Rossi snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the second. After Aponick was walked intentionally to load the bases, Rossi delivered a two-out, two-run single to score James Festa and Ella Schneider to put Valley West back in front 3-1.

Zander Coleman provided plenty of firepower for Tamaqua. Coleman belted two leadoff homers – both on the first pitch of the at-bat.

The first came in the bottom of the second to cut Tamaqua’s deficit to 3-2, and the second in the bottom of the fourth to tie it at 3-3.

“He was clutch,” said Steigerwalt. “He stayed in the moment, he picked his pitches out.”

Tamaqua had runners on first and second in the bottom of the third after Cooper Ansbach reached on a leadoff single and Brian Hinkle reached on an error with one out.

But Aponick retired the next two batters to work out of trouble.

Rossi scored what proved to be the winning run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Antonio Doganiero. After reaching on an infield single, Rossi moved to third base when Brady Mizenko reached on an error.

“We just never could get that run up on them,” said Steigerwalt. “We’d catch up, and they’d come back on top of us. That’s the one thing you don’t ever want to do in these big games, is you don’t want to fall behind.”

Coleman had a chance to go deep for the third time in the game with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the sixth inning.

But Aponick, on his 85th pitch, got Coleman to pop out to Rossi, who made a diving catch at second base to end the game.

Aponick went the distance, striking out seven while allowing just four hits. He didn’t allow a baserunner over the final two innings.

“I told our guys to go talk to the Tamaqua guys and tell them how well they played,” Canzler said.

“You always hear that about winners, but that very easily could have been us, and we could have been the team that was upset, because they’re such a good team. We couldn’t have asked for a better opponent.”

And Steigerwalt couldn’t have wanted anything more from his players.

“I’ve never been more proud of them,” Steigerwalt said of his team. “The ability to go out in front of the crowd that was here tonight, and perform the way they did ... they became a family throughout this whole process. They really do pick each other up.”

DÉJÀ VU

… Valley West also beat Tamaqua 4-3 in their first meeting of the tournament.

MOVING ON

… Valley West advances to the sectional tournament, which begins Friday.

Valley West 120 010 - 4 4 1

Tamaqua 110 100 - 3 4 3

Aponick and Doganiero; Andrews, Hinkle (2) and Kane. W - Aponick. L - Hinkle. HR: Tamaqua - Coleman 2 (2nd, none on; 4th, none on).