Typically, a team trailing by two runs and down to it final three outs would face an uphill struggle.

The Collier Township Athletic Association Little League has a different perspective.

"They're used to scoring runs," explained Collier Township manager Russell Bruggeman about his team's mindset. "And when we don't score, we're shocked. We needed three runs (to win), and they thought 'we'll get three runs in our sleep'. They're very confident."

And with good reason. Collier had faced the exact same situation just one inning earlier, and scored twice to extend the game. They had at least one four-plus run inning in each of their state tournament contests. And earlier in the tournament, Collier Township had scored in ten of its initial eleven offensive innings, with nine different hitters on the eleven-player lineup clearing the fences.

"We haven't seen a hitting team like that, even close to that, up and down the lineup," observed South Columbia Little League manager Kirk Seesholtz, whose team was one of Collier Township's victims in those earlier barrages.

With that pedigree, a two-run deficit meant that Collier Township was well-positioned for victory.

Collier Township rapped out four consecutive hits to reverse that deficit. The last of these, a single to center field by Zack Rohaley, scored Nick Serafino from third base, and gave Collier Township a 10-9, seven inning victory over Morrisville Little League in the Pennsylvania state championship game. The win gave Collier Township its first-ever state championship in the major baseball division, and vaulted the Pittsburgh-area team into the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut.

Collier Township didn't look like it would need extra innings in the early stages of the title game, as they scored five times in the second inning and held that advantage midway through the game. Reed Bruggeman drove in the first run with an infield single, and Zach Pilossoph followed with another run-scoring single. Hunter Goran reached on an error that plated a third run, before Serafino delivered a two-run single to center field.

But the contest had several momentum swings, and Morrisville eventually worked its way into the lead. Vince Busico's two-run homer in the fourth brought the District 21 champions to within three runs, and Jack Pogyor's two-run shot narrowed the deficit in the fifth. Nick Mancuso doubled and scored on a wild pitch later in the inning, before Tyler Frake walked and eventually scored on Billy Bethel's RBI single. In the sixth, Mancuso drove in a run with a double that gave Morrisville a 7-5 advantage.

Collier leveled the score in the bottom of the frame. Rohaley drew a one-out walk, and after a strikeout pushed the eventual champions to within an out of defeat, Konnor Corchado and Greyden Piechnick also walked. After a pitching change, Bruggeman lined a first pitch single into center field that scored Rohaley and Corchado.

Morrisville reclaimed the lead in the seventh, when Alec Wilson singled in a run and later scored following an error, but Collier made one final push in the bottom of the frame. After a groundout, ninth-place hitter Hunter Gordan singled to center, and Caysen O'Keefe followed with a double. Serafino's two-run triple to right scored both runners and again tied the score, before Rohaley deposited an 0-1 pitch into center field that plated Serafino with the winning run.

Collier Township's earlier wins in the tournament had far less drama. The District 4 winners scored in every inning and homered six times in a 12-3 opening round victory over South Columbia Little League. Bruggeman, the eighth place hitter, started the fireworks with a two-run shot in the second inning, and Goran immediately followed this with a homer of his own. Bruggeman cleared the fences again in the third, a two-run blast that gave Collier Township an 8-0 lead, before O'Keefe, Piechnick, and first baseman Ian Hess added homers of their own in the late innings.

"They were a good hitting team," said Seesholtz after his team dropped into the bottom bracket. "We had to throw it where they were going to hit it, and that's what they did."

Collier was not a one-trick pony, though: the team played errorless defense and turned a pair of double plays, while five pitchers combined on a four-hitter.

The next day, Collier Township kept the pedal down, opening up a large lead against Hershey Little League before advancing in a 20-8 victory that required two days of play due to rain. Collier led 1-0 after two innings, but then collected twelve hits -- including five home runs -- and scored 19 runs over the next three innings. Eight different players had hits, nine scored runs, and seven drove in runs to help Collier muscle its way into the winner's bracket final. Corchado opened the floodgates with a two-out grand slam in the third that gave Collier Township a 6-0 advantage, and reserve David Yurchak added a three-run shot that stretched this to 11-0 in the fourth. A trio of Collier players struck in the fifth, with Pilossoph (solo shot), Stevie Alauzen (three-run homer), and O'Keefe (three run homer) all clearing the fences.

The win moved Collier Township into a winner's bracket final matchup with Morrisville, which topped Back Mountain American Little League, 5-2, in the opening round and then edged a Warwick Township Baseball Little League team that had won the Pennsylvania championship in the 9-10 and 10-11 year old age divisions the previous two summers. The contest appeared headed for extra innings after the first two Morrisville hitters were retired with the game tied in the bottom of the sixth. But a pair of four-pitch walks, a wild pitch, and Frake's infield single on a 3-2 pitch allowed Pogyor to cross the plate with the game-winning run.

Morrisville led early in their first meeting with Collier Township, but the Pittsburgh-area team rallied twice before taking the lead for good in the sixth. Alauzen's grand slam in the third erased a 3-0 Morrisville advantage, and after the Eastern Pennsylvania league reclaimed the lead with two in the fifth, Bruggeman delivered a two-run single that plated Corchado and Pilossoph with the tying and go-ahead runs.

The loss dropped Morrisville into the bottom bracket, but the District 21 winners earned their second shot at Collier Township with a 14-1 win over Hershey. Pogyor's three-run homer and Alec Wilson's grand slam to right center field in the fifth sealed the win and moved Morrisville into the state championship game for the first time since 1955. In the rematch the next day, Collier Township had just enough at the end to edge Morrisville and return the Pennsylvania championship flag to District 4 for the second time in four years.

Collier Township moved into the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament following its state championship victory. The Pennsylvania champions split their four pool contests, and reached the semifinal round before falling, 9-4, to eventual region champion Par Troy East Little League (Parsippany, New Jersey).