Darren Lauer threw a three-hitter and Greg Guers capped a five-run fourth inning rally with a grand slam home run as Council Rock Newtown Little League defeated Tamaqua Little League, 6-0, in the Pennsylvania state championship game at the Pennridge Little League Complex in Perkasie.

With the win, Council Rock Newtown re-claimed the state title that the core of its players had won in the in the 11-year-old division the previous year, and advanced to the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut. Council Rock Newtown won all fourteen of its games in the Pennsylvania portion of the international tournament, outscoring opposing teams by a 142-23 margin along the way.

"We lost to the best team in the state, no doubt," said Tamaqua manager Mark Streisel.

Lauer led the way for Council Rock in the championship game, striking out twelve batters walking only one. The right-hander allowed only two baserunners to reach third base in a complete game effort.

"That team (Tamaqua) hits fastballs very hard," said Council Rock coach Rob Lauer. "So early on, we tried to highlight (Darren Lauer's) curveball ... the only way to keep them in check is to mix it up."

While Tamaqua's offense struggled, Council Rock scored all of its runs with two outs. The District 30 champions opened the scoring when David Pine sprinted home from third base after Ryan Hartley intentionally forced a first-and-third rundown in the bottom of the third inning. In the fourth, Hartley battled through an eight pitch at-bat before lashing a double to the left-field fence that scored Keith Terry from first base. Pine reached on a fielder's choice and Blaise Lezynski reached on an error to load the bases, then Guers launched a two-strike pitch over the left field fence that put the game out of reach.

"They have an extremely good hitting team," said Streisel. "They waited on the junk, and their leadoff hitter (Hartley) is the best I've seen all year."

Tamaqua averaged more than nine runs per game in its ten tournament victories, and only once scored fewer than seven runs in those wins. But the Schylkill County team managed only five runs over the course of two games against Council Rock Newtown, all of which came in an inning where Council Rock committed four errors.

Tamaqua's five run rally in the top of the fifth inning during the teams' first meeting erased a 4-0 deficit, but Newtown responded with nine runs in the bottom of the inning and moved into the championship game with a 13-5 victory.

"I told them 'this shows what kind of character you have ... this is where you've got to dig deep,'" said Council Rock Newtown manager Bill Hartley after three hits, a fielding error, and three errant throws sparked Tamaqua's comeback.

Prior to Council Rock's defensive breakdown, Terry's pitching had dominated the potent Tamaqua offense. The powerful right-hander -- who struck out fourteen batters and threw a two-hitter against Moon Township Little League earlier in the tournament -- again struck out fourteen, including ten of twelve batters during one stretch. Tamaqua carried a .421 team batting average into the game, but the District 18 champions produced only five hits against Terry.

"What makes (Terry) so good is that his curve looked just like his fastball," said Streisel.

"He's the best pitcher we've seen all year."

"This was the first time that we trailed late in a game," noted Bill Hartley. "And our kids really responded. We hadn't hit the ball well the last few games, but in that inning, our bats came alive."

Pine started Council Rock's fifth inning outburst with a one out bunt single. Lezynski slammed a double off the left field wall, then Guers' single scored special pinch runner Mike Festa and Lesynski to pull Council Rock Newtown back into the lead.

After Benn Parker reached on an error, right fielder Dan Denton drove a three run home run into a group of cars parked well beyond the center field fence. The blow broke the game open, and Newtown went on to add four more runs before Tamaqua finally escaped the inning.

"I gave (Pine) the bunt sign," explained Bill Hartley of the hit that sparked the inning. "He's a pretty good bunter, and I thought we needed something to start turning the momentum around.

"It was a huge turning point because if Dave doesn't get that hit, we have two out and nobody on base ... who knows how things would have turned out."

Tamaqua rebounded from the loss, its first of the international tournament, and earned a rematch with an 8-5 win the next evening over West Chester's East Side American Little League. The teams were tied 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning when East Side intentionally walked Grif Griffiths to load the bases with two outs. The strategy backfired when Mike Streisel followed with a bases-clearing triple to the center field fence. Spencer Bennett added an RBI double, then pitcher Mark Turner sealed the win in the bottom of the inning.

"That was probably the biggest hit he's ever had," said Mark Streisel of his son's triple.

Turner, pressed into pitching duty for the first time in the international tournament, scattered eight hits and struck out three batters. Tamaqua manager Mark Streisel handed the ball to Turner rather than staff workhorse Ryan Palsgrove because of Palsgrove's high pitch count in a 7-1 win over East Side two days earlier.

"I told him 'whatever you could do'," said the Tamaqua manager. "'I know you're going to try hard. Just keep the ball low.'"

"He did everything we asked of him," added Mark Streisel.

Griffiths was one of three Tamaqua players to homer against East Side American in the teams' earlier meeting, when the District 18 champions registered their first-ever win at the state level with a 7-1 win. Palsgrove struck out eleven batters on the mound, and opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning before later homering. Spencer Bennett also homered for Tamaqua, while Toby Rosen lifted his international tournament batting average to .645 with three hits on the afternoon.

The win placed Tamaqua on a collision course with Council Rock Newtown, which followed Terry's gem against Moon Township with a 4-1 victory over Greencastle. Council Rock scored all of its runs in the fourth inning, and Lauer scattered six hits in a complete game win.

"Give credit to (Lauer)," said Greencastle manager Joe Scaflarski. "He was a good pitcher with a nice curve."

Three days later, Lauer's curveball was again center stage, and Council Rock Newtown followed the path of the league's 1986 all-star team, which also won the state championship. While the earlier team bowed out in the quarterfinal round of the then-single elimination Eastern Region tournament, Council Rock's 2005 edition had bigger ideas.

"You dreamed about this and thought about this," Bill Hartley told his team during a celebration following the state championship win. "Now, let's take the next step. You worked so hard to get here, now let's keep going."

Newtown's players knew where the next step was: the team had gathered countless times at Lezynski's residence to watch tapes from his collection of past Little League World Series games. Soon, Council Rock Newtown was part of the collection. The Pennsylvania champions ran their record to 20-0 with six consecutive wins at the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament, and a come-from-behind, 4-3 win over Toms River American (New Jersey) Little League in the championship game sent the Lower Bucks County team to a bigger stage: the Little League World Series.

For Bill Hartley, the path to the pinnacle of youth baseball tournaments was the highlight of the summer.

"It's about the journey that got us here," said the Newtown manager after his team completed its tournament run with a 1-2 mark in pool competition in South Williamsport.

"That's the most important thing for these kids. I couldn't be prouder of them."