The magic carpet ride for Weatherly’s 12-year-old All-Stars came to a sudden stop Sunday.

Franklin Township, the defending District 18 champions, pulled off a dramatic comeback in a 13-10 extra-inning win to advance to the championship round.

Weatherly appeared to be in control, leading heading into the top of the sixth. But Franklin tied the game late, then erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh to complete the rally.

“Weatherly is a fantastic baseball team. We just found a way to get a couple of runs on the board,” Franklin manager Travis Hunsicker said, catching his breath after the back-and-forth battle. “We stayed in there, and when we were finally able to get that (winning) rally, it was clutch.”

Franklin moves on to Thursday’s championship round, where it will host the winner of Tuesday’s elimination game between Weatherly and Tamaqua. Tamaqua defeated Valley West 5-1 on Sunday and will host Weatherly in a rematch of last week’s 2-0 Weatherly win.

Franklin used the extra-inning “ghost runner” rule to spark its seventh-inning outburst, turning three hits, two walks, and two errors into five runs.

Dean Kulas started the inning at second and scored on a double from Myles Meek to break the 8-8 tie. Brady Hunsicker singled to move Meek to third, and after a walk to Jakoby Andrews, Miles Mann executed a perfect suicide squeeze to plate another run. Christian Snyder walked, and Mason Neff added an RBI hit to cap the rally.

“We answered the bell every time,” said Weatherly manager Jeremy Witner. “They kept getting put down on the mat, and we kept getting up. We had them on the ropes — we might have been down to the last strike.”

That was nearly the case.

Weatherly held an 8-6 lead entering the sixth and needed just one more out to seal it. But a missed defensive opportunity allowed Franklin to tie the game.

Franklin also led early, scoring twice in the top of the first. Weatherly matched with two runs in the bottom half, and the teams traded runs again in the third. Franklin scored two in the fourth on RBI hits from both Jake Kistner and Grant Hunter.

Weatherly’s big inning came in the fifth, when it took an 8-6 lead. Five walks, combined with a pair of RBI hits from both Silas Zink and Matt Skonieczy helped the Wreckers surge in front.

Franklin tied it in the sixth without a hit, taking advantage of two walks, a hit batter, and two Weatherly errors.

Both teams came through with clutch moments throughout the contest.

HITTERS ... At the plate, Franklin finished with 12 hits. Andrews had two hits, including a triple. Meek, Hunsicker, Mann, and Bryson Baumgard also had two hits apiece. Weatherly collected nine hits, with Robert Wiser doubling, and Zink and Colton Delauretis each notching two hits.

Franklin Twp. 201 212 5 — 13 12 1

Weatherly 201 050 2 — 10 9 3

Mann, Kistner, Andrews (5), Neff (6) and Hunsicker; Titus, Barilla (4), Gerhard (4), Delauretis (6) and Gilbert. W — Neff. L — Gerhard.