PETERSBURG — In control for much of the game, Jefferson County relief pitchers lost control, and the Martinsburg Little League All-Stars took advantage Tuesday night.

Martinsburg scored its first run in the fifth inning after a pair of walks and then came through with six more in the sixth inning — on just one hit — to win 7-3 to force a winner-take-all game today in the District 6 tournament at Michael Field.

Jefferson suffered its first loss, while Martinsburg improved to 6-1.

The two teams were tight for four innings as Jefferson led 1-0.

Plenty of runs came over the final two innings, however.

Martinsburg got one in the fifth inning to tie the game on Christian Alter’s looping single, but Jefferson scored a pair in the last of the fifth on Connor Smith’s ringing double to right field. Then Martinsburg scored six runs as Jefferson walked five hitters and hit a batter.

Matthew Johns managed the only hit in the sixth inning for Martinsburg.

It knocked in the tying run.

Sean Parkinson started the rally by walking, and Brett Pederson was hit by a pitch. R.J. Brown, pinch-running for Parkinson, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error. With Pederson on third base, Johns bunted down the first-base line trying to score the runner. The ball went just foul as Pederson crossed the plate.

But Johns came through with a line single over shortstop.

From there, Aiden Medina, Jamere Brown, Christian Alter and Braeden Oviedo all walk, with two runs crossing the plate to make the score 5-3. Then Ben Reisenweber’s pop fly was dropped behind first base, allowing two more runs to score.

Alter had driven in Martinsburg’s first run with a looping single over shortstop, plating R.J. Brown, who walked and advanced a pair of bases on wild pitches n the fifth inning.

Medina came on in relief in the last of the sixth and struck out two and hitting one batter, to get a save for Jamere Brown, who went the first five innings.

Brown allowed six hits, struck out five and walked two.

Jett Gross, the No. 9 hitter in Jefferson’s lineup, had two hits, as did Connor Smith.

Smith drove in all three of Jefferson’s runs.

He singled in the first inning after a two-out double by starting pitcher Ryan Kelly to give Jefferson a 1-0 lead.

That advantage held up until Martinsburg scored in the fifth.

However, an error on Tanner Luken’s grounder to first and a walk to Kelly brought Smith to the plate.

He smacked the second pitch he saw to right field, driving in two runs to give Jefferson a 3-1 lead.

Then the troubles started for Jefferson as Martinsburg won the game with a six-run sixth inning.

Kelly got a strikeout to end the first inning with the bases loaded, but he retired nine of the next 10 hitters he faced.

Oviedo, who, along with Jamere Brown, singled in the first inning, led off with a fourth-inning double. He was stranded as Kelly struck out the side.

Martinsburg managed five hits in all.

The two teams face each other again at 7 p.m. today in the championship game of the double-elimination tournament. The winner goes to the state tournament at South Charleston.