The Tamaqua 12-year-old All-Stars finally erupted the way many expected.

Unfortunately for Jim Thorpe, the Olympians were on the receiving end.

Backed by a 12-hit attack and a strong pitching performance from Brady Bartczak, Tamaqua rolled to an 11-1, four-inning win to capture the Panther Valley Tournament championship in dominant fashion.

“This was the way I expected this team to play and hit,” said Tamaqua manager Mark Bartczak. “Before the (District 18) tournament, I felt that we had hitting, pitching and defense. Today we showed that — we were at the top of our game, and you can see what the results were.”

Jim Thorpe looked strong early behind pitcher Jaxon O’Shura, who breezed through the first inning 1-2-3 and retired the first two batters of the second. But Tamaqua broke through with two runs, starting when Adam Balliet was hit by a pitch, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Kroy Tirpak’s RBI single. Joshua Setlock followed with another run-scoring hit to make it 2-0.

The Raiders blew it open in the third, as Tamaqua erupted for eight runs on nine hits, getting big blows from Jackson Faust and Drake Miller — who each doubled, with Faust driving in two — and a towering triple by Jakson Perez. Gavin Lutz, Bartczak, Evan Shannon and Balliet all added hits during the rally, which also featured a textbook sacrifice bunt from Miller.

“Boy, they really came at us hard in that inning,” said Jim Thorpe manager Derick Reis. “You know the saying, ‘when it rains, it pours’ — and it really poured down on us.”

Jim Thorpe scored its lone run in the fourth when after Jackson Engelbert reached on an infield single and moved up on an error, came home when O’Shura lined a 1-1 pitch into center for an RBI single.

But Tamaqua quickly answered as Miller doubled and later scored on Lutz’s RBI groundout to put the finishing touches on the victory.

“This was the type of game that I knew our team was capable of having,” said Mark Bartczak. “We finally came out and hit the ball — hard just about everywhere.”

DIAMOND CUTS ... There were standout defensive plays on both sides. Tamaqua pitcher Bartczak snagged a hard-hit comebacker off the bat of Carter Reis in the fourth. Right fielder Evan Shannon, third baseman Jacob Baddick and infielder Gavin Lutz also flashed the leather. For Jim Thorpe, second baseman Bradyen Schultz made a pair of nice stops early that drew reaction from the crowd.

AT THE PLATE ... O’Shura had two of Jim Thorpe’s four hits. Both Engelbert and Dan Off also singled.

Jim Thorpe 000 1 – 1 4 5

Tamaqua 028 1 – 11 12 1

O’Shura, Puddu (3) and Montefour; Bartczak and Tirpak. W – Bartczak L – O’Shura