It was a long — and lively — night at the ballpark, filled with momentum swings, clutch plays and plenty of emotion.

In the end, Franklin Township’s bid to keep its season alive came up just short in a hard-fought 6-4 loss to Newtown in the Section 6 12-year-old Little League All-Star tournament Monday at Tamaqua’s Billy Angst Baseball Field.

District 30 champion Newtown appeared to be in control early behind the strong pitching of Nate Seiler and a quick four-run outburst. But Franklin Township, the District 18 champion, battled back to tie the game before a pivotal call — and a late surge by Newtown — ultimately decided the outcome.

The loss ends a memorable postseason run for Franklin, which had already faced some of the state’s top competition. Pennridge, a favorite to contend for the Pennsylvania state title, remains in the winner’s bracket and will face Newtown again this evening.

“That is a pretty darn good baseball team,” Newtown manager Tom Darcy said of Franklin. “They had a lot of tough outs. Their pitcher (Miles Mann) is a quality player. He made us earn every run that we scored. But we’re a resilient bunch, as you can see.”

Franklin trailed 4-1 entering the top of the fifth before stringing together a three-run rally to tie the game.

Jakoby Andrews started the comeback with a base hit — only the second surrendered by Seiler, who had earlier allowed an RBI double to Myles Meek in the fourth that drove in Dean Kuhns, who walked to lead off the inning.

Andrews moved to second on a walk to Mann. When Jake Kistner’s grounder was mishandled, Andrews came around to score, making it 4-2. Grant Hunter followed with a single to center to bring home Mann, and Parker Cummins then reached on a two-base error that allowed Kistner to score and tie the game 4-4.

With Hunter on third and one out, Christian Snyder hit a fly ball to center. Hunter tagged and appeared to score the go-ahead run — but was ruled out for leaving the base early. The call sparked a heated protest from the Franklin bench, resulting in the ejection of two coaches.

Newtown responded in the bottom of the inning with two runs, taking advantage of a defensive miscue, an RBI double by Mateo Uilcer and a sacrifice fly from Max Martin to close out the scoring.

“We really weren’t fazed by the way they came back,” Darcy said. “We’re a bunch of battlers. The bottom of the lineup sparked us for the first four runs.”

Newtown’s early rally in the third inning came after Franklin committed two errors. Hits by Seiler and Kyle Darcy helped plate four unearned runs and give Newtown a 4-0 advantage.

“We have a lot of respect for that team, but we never got shaky,” Darcy added. “We just kept battling.”

SCARCE HITS ... There were just eight total hits in the game. Newtown was led by Seiler’s two singles. Uilcer added a double, while Santino Longo and Darcy each had a single. Franklin’s Mann doubled, while Hunter and Andrews each had a single.

QUICK CLEANUP ... First pitch was delayed until 8:10 p.m. due to a heavy summer storm. Thanks to Tamaqua Little League’s tarp — which covers about 60 percent of the field — the grounds crew had the field ready in under an hour. Organizers have discussed installing artificial turf on the infield at a cost of $60,000. Donations welcome.

DEFENSIVE HIGHLIGHTS ... Both teams turned in several standout plays in the field, flashing leather to keep scoring chances in check.

Franklin Twp. 000 130 - 4 3 3

Newtown 004 02x - 6 5 2

Mann, Kistner (5) and Hunsicker; Seiler, Kinsel (5) and Sanpietno and Roberts (4). W - Kinsel. L - Kistner.