FAIRVIEW TWP — Cameron Turner's teammates make fun of him for his awkward pitching delivery.

Brockway certainly isn't laughing.

Turner, a senior on the Karns City baseball team, has a motion that would make most pitching coaches cringe.

He throws sidearm and across his body. With each pitch, it looks as if his arm could snap in half.

But it works for Turner and it worked for the Gremlins (10-6) in the opening round of the District 9 Class AA playoffs as Karns City cruised to a 7-1 win over the Rovers (4-10) Tuesday.

"It's kind of a different look," Turner said. "When I throw it, there's a different spin on the ball. Everyone on the team makes fun of me for it."

But not many — teammates and coaches included — can hit it or even catch it.

Karns City coach Tom Stewart played catch with Turner two years ago, but gave up after trying to track down his throws that were like spinning tops.

Dice-K might not throw a gyro-ball, but Turner sometimes does.

"One of my coaches in Little League tried to get me to throw over the top," Turner said. "Once I reached Colt, the coaches told me to just let it go — no one is used to it."

Turner was efficient with his awkward motion, wasting very few offerings.

The plan was to be aggressive, to challenge the Brockway hitters, and let the defense take care of the rest.

That plan worked to near perfection.

"We're a whole different team when we take the game to them, instead of reacting to what they are doing," Stewart said.

Turner gave up four hits and one unearned run in seven innings. He struck out five and walked two.

Stewart said he wanted to pitch Turner for only three innings, but he couldn't yank his big starter because he was so dominant.

"We were trying to save him for Thursday," Stewart said. "But we had to get to Thursday. They were struggling against him, so our thing was let's just go to Plan B and keep attacking."

Turner helped himself with the bat, too.

His two-run single in the fifth inning broke open a 2-1 game. The Gremlins scored two more times in the frame to take a 6-1 lead.

That was plenty.

Josh Stimac singled, doubled and drove in a run, and Brett Green had an RBI double for Karns City.

Now, the focus shifts to undefeated Redbank Valley, which beat the Gremlins 7-2 in their only meeting of the season.

The game will be played at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Redbank Valley.

Brockway 000 100 0—1 4 1Karns City 011 041 x—7 8 1W: Cameron Turner 7 IP (5 K, 2 BB).

L: Nate Shaffer 4 IP (4 K, 1 BB).

Brockway (4-10): Nate Shaffer 2B, RBI; Nick Anderson 1B; Mark Shannon 1B; Ian Grecco 1B

Karns City (10-6): Josh Stimac 1B, 2B, RBI; Saxon Parker 1B; Brett Green 2B, RBI; Joe King 1B; Stefan Conto 1B, RBI; Turner 2-1B, 2-RBI

Thursday: Karns City at Redbank Valley, 5:30 p.m.