The door kept on opening and shutting … opening and shutting … until one team finally found the key to lock it.

Eventually, it was Franklin Township’s 10-12-year-old Little League All-Stars who figured out a way to stop Tamaqua Monday evening and picked up a 9-6 victory.

The triumph keeps Franklin undefeated in two outings in the double-elimination tournament.

The winners actually came up big in the first inning when they avoided a near collapse. Tamaqua filled the sacks, but Franklin avoided major damage by allowing just one run.

Manager JC Dietz pulled the plug on his starting pitcher, sensing that Tamaqua was teeing off on Mike Geltako’s fastballs. He inserted Dylan Greene, who seemed to settle things down.

“They were able to time (Getlako’s) fastballs,” said Dietz, whose team finished with nine hits including a home run and two doubles. “They were teeing off and Dylan had the right mixture. In fact, all of our pitchers did an outstanding job.”

Tamaqua looked headed in the right direction to open the game as Noah Steigerwalt singled, which was followed by a Denny Krell run-scoring double. Two walks loaded the bases and Greene was quickly summoned to relieve.

Franklin Township responded and jumped in front when Keyden Ahner singled and Gelatko went yard with a two-run homer to dead center. It extended the lead to 4-1 in the second, using singles from Jayse Lawrence and John Light and a couple errors by Tamaqua to plate two more runs.

To be sure, Tamaqua wasn’t fading as it rallied for three runs in the third to tie the game. Mason Ligenza tripled, Declan Coleman singled and a two-run blast off the bat of Declan Frantz pulled Tamaqua even.

After Tamaqua’s answer, Franklin Township pushed across a run thanks to a Gelatko hit and an error.

In the fourth, doubles by Lawrence and Light and singles from Elliot and Keyden Ahner helped produce three tallies to push the margin to 8-5. They tacked on an unearned run in the fifth.

But Tamaqua never quit.

“Our kids just kept battling against a quality team like (Franklin),” said Tamaqua skipper Joe Ligenza. “Our effort was tremendous, but we left some on base and that hurt us somewhat. But we’ll be solid, they believe in themselves.”

The hitting of Logan Morgans and Krell in the fourth inning resulted in a run for Tamaqua, and a sixth-inning rally featured another single by Krell and an RBI Ligenza double.

Franklin Township, however, finally found the right key to turn the lock and secure the win.

HITTING AWAY … FT had nine hits; two apiece from Light, Lawrence, Ahner and Gelatko. Tamaqua’s attack featured 11 hits, led by Krell’s three. Stigerwalt and Ligenza each had two hits, while Frantz drilled his third-inning homer.

UP NEXT … Tamaqua is on the road for a 6 p.m. game at Towamensing on Wednesday. The winner stays alive in the tournament, while the loser is eliminated. Franklin Township is off until Friday, when it faces Valley West.

Tamaqua 103 101 - 6 11 6

Franklin Twp. 221 31x - 9 9 0

Ligenza, Case (4), Light (5) and Vecolitis, Krell (5); Gelatko, Greene (1), Solt (4) and Light, Gelatko (4). W - Greene. L - Ligenza.