DRUMS ­- Tamaqua found itself in a situation that very few teams survive.

A loss in its opening game of the District 18 double-elimination Little League Tournament instantly put its hopes of playing for a championship on life support.

It meant more games, more innings for its pitching staff, and no margin for error.

But Tamaqua overcame all those obstacles, winning four games in the span of just nine days.

The run started with an extra-inning victory over Anthracite on July 1 and was capped with a 5-3 victory over Valley East on Saturday in the loser’s bracket final of the 10-12-year-old tournament - a game that stretched over two days because of a storm that forced a suspension of play a day earlier.

“I’m so proud of these kids,” Tamaqua coach Brian Yenser said. “After we lost our opening game to Valley West, we talked to the kids about earning a shot to possibly play them again.

“It wasn’t easy. We had to beat some amazing teams to do it. But we have 14 kids who worked hard and believed in themselves. Everyone on this team had to contribute for us to get to this point.”

The contributions that Yenser talked about were on display against Valley East. Tamaqua needed three pitchers to survive the two-day battle and got offensive production up and down the lineup.

Leading 5-0 after two-and-a-half innings of play when storms forced the suspension of play on Friday, Tamaqua spent Saturday holding off a hard-hitting Valley East team.

After getting two perfect innings on the mound from Brayden Witkowski on Friday, Tamaqua turned to Lucas Franco to start the third inning. Franco had three strong innings, striking out four and allowing just a single run.

But Franco ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth as the first four Valley East batters reached base. That left the bases loaded with no out and Tamaqua’s lead cut to 5-2.

Yenser made the decision to bring on Gavan Hess to pitch at that point and Hess delivered in the pressure packed situation, getting a fielders choice and two strikeouts to earn the save.

“Gavan did a great job in a really difficult situation,” said Yenser. “But I’m also thrilled with the pitching we got from Brayden and Lucas. We don’t have an ace on this pitching staff.

“We have a number of really good pitchers and I have confidence in all of them. To come through the loser’s bracket like we did, you need a lot of kids who can contribute on the mound and we’ve been getting that throughout the tournament - and you saw a great example of that in this game.”

Tamaqua built its early lead on a run-scoring single by Jake Yenser in the first; RBIs from Quinn Coleman and Logan Deiter in the second: and some alert base running in the third that saw Hess and Yenser score runs.

“I thought we had played well against a really good Valley West team in our opening game of the tournament,” said coach Yenser. “I think most people expected Valley West to be the team to beat so I don’t think anyone is surprised that they are playing for the championship. But I don’t think a lot of people expected Tamaqua to be the other team to reach the final.

“We told our kids that if we take it one pitch, one inning, and one game at a time, we could earn another shot at Valley West - and that’s exactly what we have done.”

NEED TWO ... Tamaqua must now defeat unbeaten Valley West twice to win the District 18 title. The two teams will meet Sunday at 6 p.m. at Valley West. If Tamaqua wins, the same two teams will meet in Tamaqua on either Monday or Tuesday to decide the champion.

UNUSUAL ENDING ... The final out on Saturday came when the Valley East batter had a 1-2 count on him and was hit by the pitch. The battler was called out, however, because the umpire ruled he was standing on the plate when the ball hit him. It was officially recorded as a strike out.

HITTING STARS ... Yenser had two hits, a run scored, and an RBI for Tamaqua. Deiter added a hit and an RBI, while Hess, Paul Jazowski and Brody Schlier all had a hit and a run scored. Damian Jazowski added a double.

Tamaqua 122 000 - 5 7 1

Valley East 000 012 - 3 6 2

Witkowski, Franco (3), Hess (6) and Dieter; Quinn, Mooney (4), Ventra (4) and Mooney, Wiliams (4). W - Franco. L - Quinn.