Karns City storms back to win District 9 baseball championship in ‘dogfight’ against Brookville
DUBOIS — Colton Christie was called to the mound to settle things down for Karns City’s baseball team.
What ensued was a relief appearance that paved the way to a district championship at Dubois’ Showers Field.
A senior, Christie pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, and KC’s bats did the rest in an 8-6 come-from-behind victory over Brookville that handed the Gremlins (13-8) their second straight District 9 Class 3A crown.
“You could not have written a better script to the start of the game for us, but credit Karns City. They didn’t roll over,” Brookville coach Chad Weaver said. “We weren’t seeing (Christie’s) curveball well.”
Christie relieved starter Xavier Bartoe with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the second and the Raiders up 5-0.
An error allowed a sixth run, charged to Bartoe, to score before Christie lowered the curtain on Brookville’s offense.
He allowed five base runners the rest of the game on a pair of hits and three walks.
“I didn’t feel any pressure,” Christie said. “I just knew I had to throw strikes and try to get out of (the jam).”
Aided by three Brookville errors, KC scored six runs on five hits in the third and fourth innings to tie the game.
Christie then helped himself become the winning pitcher, leading off the top of the seventh with a base hit. He later scored on Bartoe’s fielder’s choice, and Bryce Galan singled home KC’s final run.
Brookville’s attempt to rally in the bottom of the inning brought the winning run to the plate, but Christie induced a groundout to end the Raiders’ season.
“I started a lot of hitters off with my curve or change-up, then worked my fastball in from there,” Christie said.
“I worked backwards in a lot of at-bats.”
Karns City celebrated following a game that could have turned ugly with the poor start.
“I can’t say enough about these guys,” KC coach Josh Smith said. “We have a lot of young players who have never been in a dogfight like this, but they never gave up.
“Colton and Joey (O’Donnell), our two captains, were in the dugout keeping the morale up saying: ‘Let’s chip away. We can get this.’ When you have leadership like that, it makes my job easier.”
The Gremlins’ defense committed all three of its errors with the book still open on Bartoe. Two of the runs he allowed were unearned.
“Xavier is going to throw strikes, but the defense has to make plays behind him,” Smith said. “When we start kicking the ball around, it takes him off his game.”
Camden Slater had three hits for KC, including a triple that scored the team’s first run in the top of the third inning.
The Gremlins will play in a subregional championship game at a site, time and date to be determined against the winner of Thursday’s game between District 8’s Carrick and District 5’s Bedford.
Karns City 002 400 2 — 8 11 3
Brookville 150 000 0 — 6 7 4
WP: Colton Christie 5.1 IP (4K, 3BB).
LP: Parker Kalgren 3.1 IP (3K, 2BB).
Karns City: Camden Slater 2-1B 3B R RBI, Cole Johnston 2B, Colton Christie 1B 2R, Garrett Fleming 2-1B R, Bryce Galan 2-1B 2R 2RBI
Brookville: Landen Marrara 1B 2B 2R RBI, Ladd Blake 1B RBI, Landon Smith 1B R RBI
Next: Karns City vs. Carrick/Bedford winner, PIAA Class 3A subregional championship, TBD
