Franklin Township Maroon didn’t have many hits Monday in their District 18 8-10 South Division championship game.

In fact, they managed only six.

But the team scored runs ... plenty of runs.

Needing just four innings, Franklin rolled to an impressive 19-1 victory over Tamaqua to capture the division hardware and a berth opposite of North Division champion Valley West in the best-of-three championship series.

FT Maroon won its fourth straight tournament contest and will host Valley West Saturday at 2 p.m. in the opening game of a series that features two teams that can score runs in bunches.

The winners — besides scoring at will — also received a superb pitching effort from Grant “The Bomb” Birnbaum, who allowed just one earned run and struck out 12 while walking just one.

The only trouble Birnbaum had was in the first when Tamaqua tallied its lone run on back-to-back hits by Logan Dieter and Ace Schickram, the latter’s hit a triple.

That, however, only put a small dent in the Maroons lead, who put up seven runs in the top of the first. In that big frame, Franklin received singles off the bats of Noah Wentz, Cash White and Pierce Goida, and took advantage of four walks and two hit-batters.

“We have a lot of kids (up and down the) lineup that can run very fast,” said FT manager Toby Goida, who noted his team uses its speed to manufacture runs.

Certainly that showed when Lukas Croizier lofted a fly over the left fielder’s head, and in a flash he had rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run in the top of the third.

“He’s our fastest guy,” said Goida, whose team stole eight bases, three by Bekim Mohmeti and two by White.

In addition to the first-inning pileup, the Maroons scored four times in the third — keyed by Croizier’s homer — and in the fourth, as Asher Traylor’s single was key in the uprising.

FANNING AWAY … Birnbaum buttoned down the hatches after Tamaqua’s first-inning run, retiring the side in the second and third before Tamaqua’s Jakin Tamagini singled in the fourth. Birnbaum tossed 21, 17, 12 and 18 pitches in the four innings; of his 68 pitches, 51 were strikes.

WEB GEMS … Hats off to FT Maroon catcher Wentz, who took several shots off his helmet on foul tips. Ditto to Tamaqua’s Conner McCabe for a superb play on a pop-up behind second base for an out.

RUNS, RUNS, RUNS ... FT Maroon scored a total of 53 runs in the four tournament games, an average of 13.3 per contest. Valley West, who blasted Valley East on Monday to claim the North Division crown, finished its three-game North bracket with 52 runs, or 17.3 per game.

FT Maroon 724 6 - 19 6 0

Tamaqua 100 0 - 1 3 5

Birnbaum and Wentz; Hess, McCabe (1), Tamagini (3), Giuliano, (4) and Witkowski. W - Birnbaum. L - Hess.