Valley East starting pitcher Jeff Carswell proved that he is both a mentally and physically tough ballplayer.

He displayed both characteristics during Valley East's 11-12 year old winner's bracket victory against Franklin Township on Friday, 13-3.Franklin's Randy Bongiorno launched a long opposite-field homer off of Carswell to lead off the third inning.Howe did Carswell respond?He wasn't rattled and struck out the next three batters to end the frame.In fact, Carswell yielded just two hits and struck out nine batters over his three innings of work. The only out he didn't record himself was a routine ground ball that ended the second frame."I felt pretty good," Carswell said. "My curve ball was working really well. I've been working on that a lot this summer and I thought I threw it really well later in the game."He did get a bit wild in the top of the second inning, hitting a batter and walking a pair. Franklin's special-pinch-runner Aaron Miller scored on a wild pitch, but Carswell struck out two more FT hitters in the frame to minimize the damage."That was really big," Carswell said. "I knew this was a big game for us. I think we have a lot of potential and we can go really far. They're my best friends; it's awesome playing with them. Home runs have been big for us."The home run proved to be another huge factor during East's performance.Bryce Molinaro's three-run shot in the home half of the initial frame plated Mason Butash and CJ Serra, which gave East a 3-0 lead.Butash and Matt Buchman also homered during the four-inning affair, as East never trailed during the contest.Unfortunately for Franklin, the offensive end was quiet on Friday.Aside of Bongiorno's long ball, Dylan Bowman recorded FT's only other hit."Believe it or not, the bats are solid," said Franklin assistant coach Roger Crum. "Nine of our 12 guys have hit home runs, so we can hit. It was just an off-day today. We have a great group of guys that have been together for the last five years. We just played a good team."Bowman's hit that led off the fourth put Carswell's physicality to the test. His liner up the box struck the pitcher directly in the leg. He shook it off, but walked off the field without an issue.Kyle Peters relieved Carswell after Bowman's hit and struck out the side. Although a Franklin run scored on another passed ball, East tallied four runs in the bottom of the inning to end the game."We didn't bring our bats today and that's what it comes down to. The errors we can live with, but the bats weren't there," Crum said."We have to shake it off and move forward because it's in the past right now. It's all about learning from our mistakes and moving forward now. We'll be around yet; we're not going to roll over."SWING AND A MISS … Carswell and Peters combined to strike out 12 of the 18 Franklin batters. Bowman was the lone FT all-star to reach base twice in both of his at-bats.Franklin Twp. 011 1 - 3 2 3Valley East 324 4 - 13 13 0Lutz, Crum (2), Miller (3), Bongiorno and Lorenz; Carswell, Peters (4) and Palmrierie. W - Carwell. L - Lutz. HR: FT - Bongiorno (3rd, none on); Valley East - Molinaro (1st, two on), Buchman (2nd, none on), Butash (2nd, none on).