Conyngham The District 18 11-12 year old All-Star Tournament wasn't supposed to end the way it started for the Tamaqua Blue team.

But, unfortunately, it did.It all started with a 7-4 setback to Valley East on the opening night of the tournament that dropped the locals into the loser's bracket.A little over two weeks later, Tamaqua Blue found itself riding a five-game winning streak and playing in Saturday's championship matchup against unbeaten Valley West.Unfortunately for Tamaqua Blue, its magical run through the loser's bracket of the double-elimination tournament came to an end with a 14-0 four inning setback.Despite the disappointing ending, Tamaqua Blue assistant coach Dan Coccio said he was extremely proud of the team's tournament run."We have a great team," said Coccio. "The coaching staff expected to have a successful tournament and the kids expected it."We got off to slow start, but we did what we needed to do to get back to the championship."During its five-game winning streak, Tamaqua Blue recorded impressive wins over Hazleton (9-3), Franklin Township (14-5), Freeland (32-7), Tri-County (20-6) and Valley East (12-10).But a Tamaqua Blue offense that averaged 17.4 runs a game over that stretch was silenced Saturday. Not only was Tamaqua held scoreless, but it was no hit by Valley West's Mike Kilker."Their pitcher pitched a gem," Coccio said. "He's no faster than what we have seen, but he just pitched a good game. I mean he hit his spots and we just couldn't hit him."I was the first base coach and could see the kids weren't picking it up. We had a couple hard hit balls, but they played solid defense. We just couldn't hit the grass."Despite the loss, Coccio said he expects Tamaqua Blue to bounce right back as it begins Panther Valley Tournament play this week."We won as a team and we lost as a team," said Coccio. "It's time to move on. Our kids are looking forward to the Panther Valley Tournament and they can't wait to play."We're going to light the scoreboard up. We can guarentee that."