WHEN Christa Tremblin took her boyfriend to a baseball game, little did she know he would propose to her in front of thousands.

But that is exactly what 25-year-old Darren Brown did to his childhood sweetheart after months of secretive planning with Christa’s American relatives for the Independence Day surprise.

The match was in Indiana, before more than 9,000 fans at the clash between the Fort Wayne Tincaps and the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Christa, 24, said: “I was on a six month trip to America and Darren came out to spend the last three weeks with me. We had talked about getting married before but he’d said it was too obvious to propose while we were in America.

“The company my uncle works for can get tickets to baseball matches and in the past when we’ve gone we haven’t known for sure until the last minute.

“It was only the week before that they told me that we even had tickets to the game on the 4th of July, and then my uncle said it was his company’s turn for someone to do a first pitch. I said Darren should do it because it was his first time in America.

“When we actually got there, I heard one of the people say into his radio that Darren and Christa had arrived, and I remember thinking at the time it was a bit odd that he’d mentioned my name as well. But I have a habit of over thinking things and I just put it to the back of my mind.

“Then Darren said he was feeling a bit nervous about bowling in front of so many people so I said I’d come with him since I’m not bothered about the crowds.

“He did the pitch, and then the announcer said that Darren had one more thing to ask me, and I saw my name on the big screen and when I turned back to Darren he was on one knee on the ground.

“I was so shocked, I was so surprised.

“It was the most surreal few minutes and we both said we couldn’t hear anyone cheering at all so we were so shocked when we watched the video and heard how noisy it was.”

The couple first met and started dating when they were just 13 years old at Highworth Warneford School, but after they broke up eight years ago they drifted apart.

In November last year Christa and Darren, who works as a groundsman, reconnected, months before Christa’s six-month trip to the USA, where she spent three months in Vail, Colarado and three months with her relatives in Indiana.

Christa said: “We just started talking again and decided to give it another go.

“We are so excited to get this second chance to share our lives with each other. It might sound weird but we are grateful for the time we spent apart as it has really made us appreciate what we have and how lucky we are when it is so easy to just take everything for granted and not truly appreciate what you have in life.”

The couple, who live in Highworth, are now planning for a wedding this October before saving up to travel the world.

Christa said: “We just know we want to spend the rest of our lives together.

“Originally we were going to save up and do the big wedding thing but we realised that actually we’d rather spend the money on going travelling, so we’re just going to do something small.”