Having lost the first three games at the Little League World Series' Mid-Atlantic Regional, Butler Township was hoping to salvage a win in its final game on Thursday.

As it turned out, it just missed having its ticket punched to the semifinals.

Thanks to three RBI by David Tompkins, including a home run, and a 14-strikeout performance by Dalton Koebler, Butler Township (a.k.a. Pennsylvania) dispatched the District of Columbia 3-2 in Bristol, Conn.

Of the six teams at the regional, four advance to the semifinals. Butler Township tied Delaware with a 1-3 record for fourth place, but Delaware won the tiebreaker by virtue of a 4-2 win over Butler Township on Monday.

"It's quite an accomplishment, but, obviously, we're disappointed with the end result," said Baranchak. "I think we were the second-best team there (behind New Jersey).

"Pennsylvania is one of the toughest states to get through. It's the third-biggest state in terms of Little League participation. There's 650-plus teams in the state and some have to go through 30 teams.

"Obviously, we felt coming off the state title, we were riding some momentum and we'd be a team to contend with ... We made a good showing,"Baranchak added.

Tompkins blasted a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to give Butler Township a 1-0 lead.

"That was a tape-measure shot," said Baranchak. "It was a bomb."

In the third inning, Spencer Murray had a leadoff single and Alex Ziegler and Koebler also singled but Murray was thrown out at home plate.

Tompkins then added a two-run triple for a 3-0 lead.

D.C., which had qualified for the Mid-Atlantic Regional nine of the past 10 years, had a run-scoring single in the fourth inning and had a chance to take the lead in the sixth inning before Koebler slammed the door.

A leadoff double was followed by an RBI single to make it 3-2. Then, with one out and runners at second and third, Koebler fanned the next two batters to end the game.

"Dalton did a fantastic job," said Baranchak. "He had the cutter working for him and kept them off-balanced the whole game.

Butler Township had a very tough draw, including a Sunday night game to open the tournament, followed by a Monday morning game. They also faced three top-flight pitchers right off the bat.

Coaches and organizers understood the unfortunate luck of the draw, but came away impressed with the players' demeanor.

"I had coaches coming up and telling us what a great group of kids we had, on and off the field," said Baranchak.

"This was definitely a great experience for these kids. They learned a lot of life lessons."

Notes: Butler had lost to New Jersey 10-3, Delaware 4-2 and Maryland 4-1. Baranchak predicts New Jersey to be the Mid-Atlantic Regional champion and advance to Williamsport. The championship game will be carried on ESPN at 8 p.m. Sunday.

D.C. 000 101 —2 4 0PA (Butler Twp.) 012 00x —3 8 0WP: Dalton Koebler (6 IP) 14 strikeouts, 4 walks.

LP: Mark Ossolinski (5 IP) 9 strikeouts, 1 walk