Top of the heap
Matt Yough leaned in for the sign, gripped the baseball tightly and went into his windup.
It was perhaps the most important pitch of the game and of the season for the Karns City baseball team.
When Yough let it go and the pitch whistled into the catcher's mitt for a swinging strike three, the sophomore pitcher for the Gremlins let out a sigh of relief.
Yough got the next Moniteau hitter to ground out weakly to short and the Gremlins had escaped what could have been a disastrous inning already trailing 3-1.
That Houdini act allowed Karns City to catch its breath and rally for a 7-4 win in the District 9 Class AA championship game at Pullman Park Wednesday afternoon.
“They were hitting me pretty good there that inning,” Yough said. “I just had to keep battling.”
Karns City coach Randy Collins admired Yough for his tenacity after he got into serious trouble.
“He may have thought it wasn't his best performance because he was getting hit around a little bit,” Collins said. “But that inning in and of itself was the best I have ever seen him. That was huge for us.”
Moniteau, which just a few weeks ago had just two wins and was heading nowhere, was aggressive at the plate against Yough.
Moniteau scored a run in the top of the first inning on a RBI single by Zack Jewart and then tacked on two more run in the second inning to take a 3-1 lead.
The Warriors (7-10) banged out seven hits in the first three innings, but also stranded seven runners in those three frames, including the bases loaded in the first and third.
“A couple of little details hurt us,” said Moniteau coach Ross Martin. “It's been the same thing throughout the season. We haven't been able to get that one clutch, big hit.”
Karns City (19-1) was able to get the timely hit, however.Tyler Kepple led off the bottom of the third inning with an inside-the-park home run that breathed life into the Gremlins, who came out flat against a fired up group of Moniteau players who had little to lose.“You could tell they brought more energy at the beginning than we did,” Collins said. “Kepple came out and hit that home run and it sparked us.”Moniteau managed just one run and one hit in the final four innings.That one run did tie the score at 4-4 in the top of the fifth inning after Karns City had wrested the lead back from the Warriors.By that point neither starting pitcher — Trent Young for Moniteau and Yough for Karns City — were still in the game.Young yielded to Colton Cumberland, who helped the Warriors wiggle out of their own jam in the fourth inning. Yough left the mound to start the sixth, handing the ball to Kepple.“He shut them down,” Collins said of Kepple. “He did exactly what we needed done. Tyler has been that guy for us. I was definitely happy with the way both pitchers performed.”Kepple picked up the win, pitching two hitless, scoreless innings.He got the victory thanks to a clutch two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning against Cumberland.Nathan Weckerly picked up his third hit of the game to get things going. Kepple followed with a single and both runners moved up on a wild pitch.Zach Moore then hit a roller up the middle for an infield single that scored Weckerly with the go-ahead run.“I was trying to poke it somewhere, into the outfield or a ground ball into a gap somewhere,” Moore said. “When I was running down the line, I was just thinking I have to beat this out. I have to beat this out.”Moore did, hitting the bag before the throw from Young, who made a diving stop on the grounder.Yough followed with a two run single to give Karns City plenty of breathing room.“We were talking, 'We don't need a big hit. We just need to string a couple together,'” Collins said. “And we did that (in the sixth). And we used our speed again.”It's the second district title for Karns City in the last three seasons. Last year, the Gremlins lost in the championship game to Brookville.“We talked about winning the KSAC, district and then states,” Collins said. “That was the stair-step we were talking about.”Karns City won't play again for 12 days. The PIAA Class AA playoffs begin June 3.For Moniteau, just getting to the district final was a big turnaround from the first three-quarters of the season.“It was all about confidence and coming together as a team,” Martin said. “At one point, we didn't have that confidence, that togetherness, but we found it. I think the kids now understand, in a team sport, everyone has to be accountable and help each other out. I'm very proud of the way they battled, each and every one of them.”Moniteau 120 010 0 — 4 8 2Karns City 101 203 x — 7 11 1W: Tyler Kepple 2IP (0K, 1BB). L: Colton Cumberland 2.2IP (3K, 1BB).Moniteau (7-10): Josh McBride 2-1B RBI, Austin Blauser RBI, Kaleb Eshenbaugh 1B, Jake McBride 1B, Zack Jewart 2-1B RBI, Trent Young 2-1B RBIKarns City (19-1): Nathan Weckerly 3-1B, Kepple HR 1B RBI 3-R, Zach Moore 3B 1B 2-RBI, Matt Yough 1B 2-RBI, Nick Ganter 3B, Scott Kiser 1B RBI, Wyatt Everetts RBI, Holden Martin 1BJune 3: Karns City in PIAA Class AA playoffs
