Stunner at the plate
STRATTANVILLE — The Karns City baseball team experienced the full gamut of emotions Wednesday afternoon.
Unfortunately for the Gremlins, the two lasting ones were frustration and disbelief.
KC was focused on extending the District 9 Class AA championship game to a ninth inning when Redbank Valley's Dan Buzzard led off the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at 3.
Buzzard drilled an Ethan Williams pitch to the fence in right-center and pulled up at third base with a triple.
However, the throw skipped past Gremlins third baseman Cole Rottman and Bulldogs coach Justin Merwin gave Buzzard the green light to head home.
The throw was toward the backstop, but KC catcher Zach Barney snagged it, then dove to his right in an attempt to make the tag.
Buzzard went airborne and landed on the plate after what appeared to be a clean tag by Barney, but Buzzard was called safe and the Bulldogs' dugout erupted, celebrating a 4-3 win at Clarion-Limestone.
Karns City's players, especially Barney, appeared to be in shock.
"If there's not a bad throw to third, then it doesn't come down to the call at home," said Gremlins coach Travis Twentier. "You have to make the plays. You can't allow a game to be decided by the umpires."
Merwin, who was coaching third base on the play, admits he took a gamble by sending Buzzard home.
"I thought the throw (to third base) was going to roll further than it did," he said. "I sent Dan home and, fortunately, we got the call.
"In hindsight, I probably would have held him at third, but he scored, so it doesn't matter," added Merwin.
The Bulldogs (17-2) found themselves down 3-0 when they came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth.
Up to that point, KC starting pitcher Derek Sadowski had stymied RV's lineup, allowing no runs on two hits and walking a pair while striking out seven.The Bulldogs' Curtis Bowser began the sixth with a double to right-center field.After one out, Twentier visited the mound."Derek had pitched fabulous, but he had lost some velocity on his fastball and it was pretty obvious," Twentier said. "I asked him how he felt and he said he was getting tired. I wasn't going to leave a kid out there when he admits that."After Williams came in, Bowser scored on a fielding error and Dustin Gabler later slapped a two-run single to tie the game."We couldn't touch (Sadowski) early," said Merwin. "But our hitters gained confidence as the game went on."The Gremlins missed a golden opportunity in the top of the sixth, the last inning of work for Buzzard, who started on the mound for the Bulldogs.KC's Brad Francis walked, and Brad Fuhrer and Zach Kepple reached on infield singles to load the bases.With one out, Sadowski singled to score Francis, but Fuhrer was thrown out at the plate.Rottman then grounded out to end the inning."We're going to be aggressive," said Twentier. "We like to use our speed to put pressure on teams, and every once in a while it's going to backfire on you."Karns City (12-8) got on the board with a pair of runs in the first inning.Walks to Eric McCue and Barney were sandwiched around an error that allowed Brian Best to reach base.After McCue was forced out at home, Fuhrer's flyout plated Best and Barney scored on a wild pitch for a 2-0 lead.Redbank Valley has won three straight District 9 Class AA crowns."We've got a young team and we battled until the end," said Twentier.<B>Karns City 200 001 00 — 3 6 2Redbank Valley 000 003 01 — 4 5 1W:</B> Kent Shick 2 IP (2 K, 1 BB). <B>L:</B> Ethan Williams 1 2/3 IP (0 K, 3 BB).<B>Karns City (12-8):</B> Brian Best 1B R, Zach Barney R, Brad Francis R, Brad Fuhrer 1B 2B RBI, Zach Kepple 1B, Derek Sadowski 1B RBI, Cole Rottman 1B<B>Redbank Valley (17-2):</B> Curtis Bowser 2B R, Dan Buzzard 3B R, Kent Shick 1B R, Brandon Bain R, Shiloh Buchleitner 1B, Dustin Gabler 1B 2 RBI
