Nate Krizan slowly walked to the dugout after a shocking start to the District 12 Junior Baseball championship.
It must have been a feeling of disbelief after a hit batter, single and double put Montoursville down three runs before any player registered an at-bat.
But Krizan shook off the letdown and responded by limiting East Lycoming to just one more run before being lifted in the fifth inning due to the pitch-count limit.
Krizan also added a double in the fifth, scoring two runners en route to a 13-4 win over East Lycoming to claim the District 12 Junior baseball title.
"It was tough in the first inning, but I got it back," Krizan said. "I was a little too excited and needed to figure out how I was throwing balls."
Montoursville advances to the Section 3 Tournament which begins on July 18th. The District 12 champs will open against the District 13 champions. All Section 3 games will be played at Monroe Township in District 13.
After getting tagged for three runs in the opening inning, Krizan found his control, leaving with three strikeouts and getting a 6-3 putout to open the final inning after moving to short.
The solid start by East Lycoming quickly crumbled.
Sloppy play dictated the tempo of the bottom half of the first inning. Montoursville took full advantage of two walks and two errors to respond with six runs.
"It was great to get it back," Krizan said. "It was great to get those runs."
Nick Russo led off for Montoursville, reaching first when the throw from third went sailing over the first baseman's head. Adian Plants then reached when a fastball connected with his upper back.
With runners on first and second, Montours-ville's Curtis Miller singled home Russo with a hard liner into left field. East Lycoming's second error in four batters then helped Plants and Miller score. Montoursville drew two more walks, which were followed by a series of wild pitches to score another run. Cole Karshner capped the scoring with a two-RBI single into the right-center field gap.
The runs continued to come in bunches for Montoursville, which was held without a run until a seven-run outburst in the fifth.
Montoursville opened the inning with seven of the first nine batters reaching by way of walk until Krizan cleared the bases with a two-RBI double into left field.
East Lycoming 300 001 0-4 6 2
Montoursville 600 070 X-7 4 0
Nick Yeager, Zack Fry (1), Adam Warburton (5), Logan Bower (6) and Jake Snyder. Nate Krizan, Devin Singer (5) and Curtis Miller. WP-Krizan. LP-Yeager.
Top East Lycoming hitters: Snyder 2-3, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI. Top Montoursville hitters: Krizan 1-2, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Cole Karshner 1-2, run, 2 RBI.
