EAST BUTLER — East Butler’s Colin McKee rang up 14 strikeouts in Monday’s Butler County American Legion championship final against Saxonburg

In the end, he would need every one of them.

McKee fanned the first seven batters of the game and recorded the first 10 outs by strikeout, but used his final one against Luke Kroneberg following a two-run triple by Mac Megahan to preserve a 4-3 victory at Speed-O Field.

“I knew if I filled the zone, their kids would have trouble putting the ball in play,” said McKee. “I can throw pretty hard. The curveball was working and the umpire was giving me the outside corner.

“I felt good early on. My arm felt great when I was warming up,” McKee added.

“Colin’s such a great player,” said East Butler manager Rob Armahizer. “Any time he’s on the mound. I feel real confident.”

McKee did walk two batters in the third inning, but escaped damage with a strikeout of Nate Sarnese to close out the frame.

“Colin had a great game,” Saxonburg manager Scott Shearer said. “We’ve seen him all year and he kept us off balance. He did a great job.”

Equal to the task was Megahan, who allowed just one hit over the first three innings, including a two-out groundout off the bat of Dustin Kepple with runners at first and second.

Saxonburg stranded two more runners in the fourth inning after Kroneberg and Drew Holben had one-out singles, but a fielder’s choice and a strikeout closed out the inning.

In the home half of the fourth inning, East Butler broke through and received all the runs it would need.

With one out, McKee singled and Ryan McCrea walked and both advanced on a wild pitch. An error on a fielder’s choice plated one run before Chris Pettit and Jordan Rodgers hit consecutive run-scoring singles and an ensuing error on the play brought home Pettit for a 4-0 lead.

“That was huge,” said Armahizer. “Any time you can score a bunch of runs on Saxonburg, you take it. We knew they’d come back. They did it two days ago. They’re a good team.”

“We said before the game we wanted to keep one player from beating us,” Shearer said. “A combination of Colin and ourselves kind of hurt us.”

Saxonburg did score a run in the sixth inning as Megahan opened with a single, stole second, broke for third on a play to first and scored when an error on the throw back to third base went down the left-field line.

Saxonburg made one last push in the seventh when Josh Sheppeck and Hunter Balliet drew one-out walks. Sarnese hit a hard liner, but was caught by Kepple in center field. Megahan then launched his two-run triple into the gap.

“Mac’s got track speed. I was almost thinking he could make it an inside-the-park home run,” Shearer said. “But, it was smart to stay on third base. He’s a real leader. He has been all year.”

Pettit and Rodgers each finished with two hits and an RBI and McKee added a pair of singles, while Megahan had two of Saxonburg’s four hits.

East Butler won the regular-season crown and was the No. 1 seed entering the playoffs. After a second-round loss, the team needed to win four consecutive games to win the title.

“This is definitely the one you want,” McKee said. “The regular season is nice to have. We’ve had a couple of great performances the past two games with hitting, defense, pitching.”

“The kids did great,” Armahizer said. “We put a team together with a great group of kids. This was a nice accomplishment for the kids.

“My hat’s off to Scott and Saxonburg. They’re a great team. We just got the breaks.”

Saxonburg 000 001 2 — 3 4 2East Butler 000 400 x — 4 8 2W: Colin McKee 7 IP (14K, 5BB). L: Mac Megahan 6 IP (5K, 3BB).Saxonburg: Mac Megahan 1B, 3B, 2 RBI; Luke Kroneberg 1B; Drew Holben 1BEast Butler: Dustin Kepple 1B; Tanner Gilliland 1B; Colin McKee 2-1B; Chris Cotton RBI; Chris Pettit 2-1B, RBI; Jordan Rodgers 2-1B, RBI