There was nothing overpowering or dominating about Stroudsburg’s 8-10 Little League All-Star team on Tuesday.

All it did was take care of the little things, parlaying single runs in the second, third and fourth innings into a 3-2 victory over Tamaqua in the opening game of the best-of-three District 18 8-10 West-East championship series. The winner of the series advances to the Section 6 tournament.

The loss leaves West champion Tamaqua needing to win the final two games to keep its season alive.

“That was a grind-it-out, old-school type of win,” Stroudsburg manager Ryan McClelland said. “My starter (Bryce McClelland) did a great job. They got a couple of early hits, but he shut them down pretty much so.”

Neither team generated much offense, as Tamaqua finished with five hits to Stroudsburg’s four, but the East champions capitalized on opportunities.

“You know they really didn’t hit the ball that much, but we were uncharacteristic in the field,” Tamaqua manager Mike Brennan said. “We made a couple errors and walked in a run. Lucas (Brennan) almost pitched out of it when he came in with runners at second and third.”

Although Tamaqua grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning, it couldn’t add to it.

“This was kind of like the Franklin (Township) game, where we didn’t play our best game,” Brennan said, referring to Tamaqua’s opening-round loss before rebounding to win two straight games and eventually capture the West Division title.

The Raiders collected all five of their hits over the first four innings. Luke Tuckett finished 2-for-2, while Hunter Hill, Lucas Brennan and Max Field each added a hit.

Hill singled to open the second, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on Brennan’s RBI single. Two outs later, Field lined an RBI double to left, scoring Brennan for a 2-0 advantage.

“I knew we would get some runs,” McClelland said. “What we did was play smart and patient when we came to the plate.”

Stroudsburg answered in the bottom of the inning. Francis Nothstein doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Tobias Carroll’s groundout to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The East champions tied the game in the third.

Connor Bittenbender walked, before River Kerr reached on a fielder’s choice. After Max Field relieved starter Braxton Barrett, Carter Pluvoise grounded into a force play for the second out. Bryce McClelland then reached on an error, allowing Kerr to score the tying run. Tamaqua prevented further damage when Barrett and catcher Luke Tuckett teamed up to catch McClelland trying to steal home to end the inning.

“Our kids stayed with every pitch,” McClelland said. “They put the ball in play when we had a runner in scoring position.”

Stroudsburg took the lead for good in the fourth.

Costa Casagrande singled to start the inning before a pair of walks loaded the bases. Lucas Brennan entered in relief and recorded two outs, but Stroudsburg worked a bases-loaded walk to force home Casagrande with what proved to be the winning run.

McClelland settled in after Tamaqua’s second inning.

He retired five straight batters at one point, and allowed only two baserunners over his final four-plus innings before reaching the 75-pitch limit in the sixth.

With one out in the fifth, McClelland walked Brennan before Kaden Fink lined into a 3-6-3 double play, with first baseman Costa Casagrande making the catch and starting the inning-ending twin killing.

“They made some great plays, hats off to them,” Brennan said of Stroudsburg’s defense.

McClelland recorded the first out of the sixth before reaching the pitch limit. Carter P. came on in relief, struck out Field and retired Sylis Setlock on a grounder to second to close out the victory.

“You saw two different styles,” Brennan said. “They threw their ace. We played for the series knowing it was going to be that way. We feel good where we are at.”

UP NEXT ... Game 2 of the championship series is scheduled for Thursday at Jim Thorpe.

YOU GOT IT ... Tamaqua second baseman Kaden Fink turned in several outstanding defensive plays despite being charged with an error. Hunter Hill made a nice play in left field, Camdyn Lux came up with a defensive gem in right, while Stroudsburg shortstop Carter Pluvoise and first baseman Casagrande anchored several key defensive plays. Carroll also was solid behind the plate for the winners.

Tamaqua 020 000 — 2 5 1

Stroudsburg 011 10x — 3 4 2

Barrett, Field (3), Brennan (4) and Tuckett; McClelland, Carter P. (6) and Carroll.

W — McClelland. L — Field.