Blog Posts - Eight & 322/Eight & 27

No game Friday, but the team still wants you to join them in celebration

10/20/2024

With one game left in the regular schedule, Titusville was ready to make a statement before heading into the District 10 Class 3A post season. Their opponent was to be Fairview, a team with a similar record and also headed to the playoffs.

Both are class 3A schools and have a strong potential of facing each other the first week of the playoffs. So, citing some banged up players and it not being a region game the Fairview Tigers decided not to play the game even though it is Titusville's senior night.

Rocket coach Mike Reynolds was trying to find a replacement, but as of Sunday afternoon he hadn't and plan B was already being hatched to honor their seniors. "I didn't see this coming," said Reynolds who was looking forward to coaching this senior class's last regular season game.

"Next year we won't schedule senior night in the last game," Reynolds said. "It's frustrating."

Reynolds said Sunday that they will plan to have a senior night celebration with the band and cheerleaders hoping the community will come out to support the team and give thanks to the talented senior class.
There will be more details to come, but as of now they are planning a 6 p.m. start.

Column: What's in a name? They deserve us getting it right that's what

10/11/2024

Adam, Alex… what’s in a name right? Well… identity for one and an individual deserving of individual respect and recognition.

I grew up knowing when I was in trouble because my mother would holler out Robert… Russell… Richard. I wasn’t in trouble often so I think it shocked my mother that it was me and not my older brothers, who she yelled at a fair amount of time for the stupid stuff they did. It's a common thing for the poor younger kids living in the shadow of the family members, both good and bad, that came before. It is hard to rise to your own name.

But Adam Reynolds is not his older brother Alex and the only thing he did wrong a couple weeks ago was not listen to his father (or worse he didn’t listen to his coach) when he fielded a short on-side kick instead of staying away from it because it would be a penalty on the other team if it didn't go ten. Adam, not Alex as reported by this reporter, took an onside kick that hadn’t gone ten yards and took it to the house. It worked out and because it did he deserves to get his name right in print.

The family was very kind and used my snafu as a chance for family fun and humor. I appreciate that, but still seek to be and do better. The real test will come in the swimming season when they both are in the same pool, and I was told possibly in the same race.

If I could be given a pass on misnaming a freshman footballer wearing a helmet, I certainly cannot be forgiven when I misspelled a Rocket gridiron legend a few weeks back. My stumbley two-finger typing and hasty read through of my story missed that I named assistant coach John Wiley, John Wylie.

Wiley is a well respected former head coach with more wins than an entire football team can count on all its fingers and toes combined. His name is everywhere in the record books and hundreds of articles. Heck, I’ve even mentioned him before in stories where I did get it right. And yet there I was writing about a play he called for in a game and lo and behold I found a way to mess it up.

If I had spelled his name Wily, in that story, I could at least make a case that it was because of his craftiness in finding plays to call that are outside the box.... but that's not what I did.

Mr. Wiley is a very nice man, he deserves the respect, as does everyone, to get his name right in the paper.
He was very kind to me when he pointed it out with a funny story about family lineage.

We make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, heck, I’m sure I’ll be reading this today printed in the News-Journal and shake my head because of something I got wrong in this column about getting things wrong, but it still bothers me. I've spelled Jaxon Covell Jackson Covel on more than one occasion and auto-correct insist Kameron Mong doesn't know how to spell his own name - and I haven't always caught it.

Every true newspaper person I know is bothered when a mistake, no matter how small, no matter whose fault it (sometimes we get rosters with names incorrectly spelled) ends up in print.

But that right there is the biggest reason we need to save print, it holds us accountable and hopefully… makes us better.

Here’s to getting things right and getting better. My apologies for when I don’t.

Rockets humbled, but still a strong contender for playoff bid

10/6/2024

Riding the winning high came to a bit of an end Friday as the Titusville Rockets fell to Hickory 56-21.

"We will be better because of tonight's game," said Rocket head coach Mike Reynolds. "There were things we started doing that we thought, 'we can do this.' We were playing against a team that is vying for a state championship."
In recent weeks the strategy for the Rockets has been to score first and set the tone.

Unfortunately Hickory won the toss Friday and elected to receive the first kickoff.

And they, like the Rockets the previous four weeks, took advantage by scoring quickly.

It only took the Hornet's three plays to go 66-yards. They then snuffed the Rockets on their first possession forcing a punt that they then returned to the Rockets' 16-yardline. It didn't take long for them to go up 14-0.
On the Rocket’s first possession they tried three straight quarterback keepers, but the second possession looked more like Rocket ball with moving the ball around to different players.

A big fourth and a half yard conversion by Jaxon Covell kapt the eventual scoring drive alive.

Then a stunning bit of football happened.

McDonald was in the pocket and flushed out by a surging Hornet's swarm. He somehow escaped and then escaped again and even a third time before finding an opening to fire a bullet to Kameron Mong who was wide open in the endzone.

The Rockets seemed to be back in business, but on the next possession, Hickory’s quarterback Zander Telesz broke loose for an 88-yard run to go up 21-7.

Titusville again drove, but turned the ball over on downs. Three-minutes later Hickory was again in the end zone.

The Rockets again showed some mettle driving from their own 25 for another score.

Again McDonald scrambled around seemingly going to be dropped for a loss when he found some breathing room to rear back to give it everything he had to send one about 50-yards into the endzone to JJ Miller.

At this point, they were only down two scores with less than a minute in the half. But on the drive Titusville's all-time rushing leader came out after a helmet to helmet collision.

Hickory wasn’t ready to go into the locker room. Morrison ran the kickoff back for another touchdown.

With 34 seconds left Titusville tried to pass and move the ball, but Jadon Phillips intercepted, taking it back to the Rocket five.

Telesz then hit Phillips in the endzone to put the Hornets up 42-14 at the half.

In the second half both Covell and Aiden Yoder came out sans helmet and pads.

Without key players a comeback wasn’t likely.

Titusville scored once more on a four-yard McDonald run.

McDonald passed for 194 yards and ran for another 67 to lead the Rockets. "It was a tough night tonight, but I'm proud of the fight. We'll go back and talk about the things we didn't do well and we will be better because of tonight's game.

The Rockets are now 5-2 on the year and 2-1 in the region. They hit the road to face Slippery Rock next week.

This will likely be a must win against the 2-5 Slippery Rock Rockets because Titusville's final two games are against top ranked squads in Sharon and Fairview.

Rocket's have a new queen

9/22/2024

"I'm so excited. I got the crown. I'm crying. I didn't even think I was going to win," said Amaya Cloud as she was interviewed by Joe Roddy on Stream TV Friday night shortly after being crowned the 2024 Titusville homecoming queen.

Cloud said she will be going to school to become a lawyer.

Below are more photos from the halftime celebration.

Rockets "rain" down on Eagles

9/7/2024

American Legion Post 368 commander Frank Nottingham joined the Titusville Rocket’s out at midfield for the national anthem.

The Rockets were honoring our area veterans and first responders throughout their game against the undefeated Grove City Eagles.

The military theme continued into the game as general (coach) Mike Reynolds and his command staff sent their army of young men out onto the battlefield to take care of business.
And boy did they.

The Rocket offensive strikes were smashmouth and precise as they dominated right from the start in their 36-7 rain soaked and electrifying (literally) win at home.

The Rockets took the opening kickoff and proceeded to march 65 yards down the field, taking less than four minutes to score their first touchdown on an Ian McDonald 1-yard run and Max Chatham extra point to go up 7-0.

McDonald carried most of the weight of that drive gaining 40 yards and punching it in over the line.

The Rockets defense was also primed to hold the line and prevent the Eagles from taking over too much territory.

After a stop, Titusville again marched right back down to the Grove City 22-yard line, poised for another strike and capture more territory when the first of two lightning delays stopped action for about an hour.

The PIAA officials must stop games for at least 30 minutes when lightning is visible.

At 8:21 p.m.play resumed. At 8:23p.m. they were back in the end zone on a four-yard run.A fake kick had McDonald scrambling around when he saw an opening where he could dive his way in to the end-zone to put the Rockets up 15-0.

Grove City was moving the ball at the beginning of the second quarter when Brody Sellen picked off a pass setting up Titusville’s third possession at their own 20. Covell found the end-zone two plays later with a 72 yard run.

Chatham again split the uprights to take the Rockets to 22-0.
Grove City looked like they had some life in them when they took the kickoff and ran a reverse play to start their drive at midfield.

It shifted momentum in their favor and they again moved the ball.

A controversial call that resulted in a Grove City catch helped them remain in possession and a few plays later they scored their first and only touchdown of the game.

WhenTitusville got the ball back on their own 25 with 5:50 remaining they would counter-strike and move the ball back down the field.

By this time the skies opened up dumping gallon of water on the field.

The stands emptied fast.

Not deterred, the Rockets methodically marched down the field and scored on a 17-yard Covell run with 4-seconds remaining to take the Rockets into half leading 29-7.

Lightning was back and it caused a second delay at the start of the second half.

When play resumed, not much was mustered by either squad until lake in the game Grove City caught a break recovering a muffed punt snap deep in Titusville’s territory.

But they failed to capitalize giving the ball back to the Rockets.

A couple more Covell break-away runs found number 22 crossing the goal line for the fourth time on a 35-yard run to give theRockets the 36-7 win.

According to Titusville stat sheets Covell ran for 265 yards on 26 carries. Titusville had 346 yards in total offense and JJ Miller led the defense with 12 tackles.

The Rockets will face Conneaut Area next Friday night at home. CASH is 2-1 like the Rockets.

Their only loss was last night to Hickory 63-6. But they opened the year with a 61-0 win over Warren and followed that with a 33-21 victory over Iroquois.

The game is scheduled to go off at 7 p.m.

Better Scramble Than Lose

8/24/2024

NFL great Fran Tarkenton titled his biography "Better Scramble Than Lose," a phrase that can be used as a metaphor for life or a fairly accurate description of Titusville quarterback Ian McDonald during the Rockets' 28-22 loss to Corry.

McDonald made things happen, but the relentless Beavers caught him a couple of times and forced a few hurried tosses. Yet the senior quarterback nearly led his team back from behind in a terrific season opener on the road.

Below is a summation of the game originally written for the Titusville News-Journal. It has been slightly updated and published here with additional photos.

Titusville ended their winning 2023 season with a close victory over the Corry. They ran all over the Beavers with Jaxon Covell rushing for over 200 yards himself.

Now a year older and with many of the same weapons Titusville had reason to go into their opening round game with confidence.

But Corry had learned a few things from last year's game and was prepared.

They jammed up the line. The Rocket runners were often stopped in the backfield and corralled for either a loss or only a short gain.

In the end, Covell recorded only 67 yards on the ground in the 28-22 Titusville loss.

It wasn't the way coach Mike Reynolds and his Titusville Rockets wanted to begin the 2024 campaign.

"We came in with a little bit of arrogance,” Reynolds said. “I came in feeling like 'yeah we can run the ball down their throat’ and they overloaded us in a couple ways that we didn't adjust to well early enough."

Reynolds takes the blame for not getting his team prepared to take on a better Corry team than they faced last year. "Corry is a good ball team," he said. "It came down to us not providing answers for our kids soon enough for our kids to be successful... that's on us (coaches).”

Titusville struggled out of the gate, going three and out gaining a net of only two yards on three carries. They held Corry but again couldn’t get anywhere on offense and ended their second possession with a punt.

When Corry got the ball back on their own 30, they went to work putting together big plays. Nolan Carey hit Mason Savitz for a big 30 yard pass play. Then facing fourth and eight, Carey hit Blake Cook for 38 yards and the first score of the game at 7:06 in the first.

Titusville countered, finally beginning to move the ball.

Covell had two runs totaling 13 yards for the Rockets' first first down. McDonald hit JJ Miller for another 12 yards, but a penalty negated that play. But the Rockets were seeing how they could move the ball. After a sack, McDonald hit Covell for a big gain and another first down.

The drive was capped by a 17-yard scamper by Covell. It was the first of Covell’s three touchdowns on the night.

The fake kick resulted in a two-point conversion to put the Rockets up 8-7.

It looked like the Rockets had the momentum when they forced Corry to punt on the next possession. A muffed snap led to Titusville getting the ball in good field position on the Corry 28.

A couple plays later, however, the Rockets put the ball on the ground and gave it back to the Beavers.

Turnovers would plague them all night.

Corry went back to big plays and moved the ball fast down the field to score again, making it 14-8 midway through the second quarter.

McDonald showed his scrambling ability to elude the Beavers' blitzes and find ways to get positive yardage.

Titusville again put the ball on the ground, but, were fortunate it rolled out of bounds on the six-yard line. Three plays later they punched it over the line with a one-yard touchdown by Covell.

McDonald played escape artist on the two-point conversion to eventually find Kam Mong in the back of the end zone, putting them up 16-14 with 4:05 left in the half. It was enough time for Corry to strike again.

It only took Carey and crew five plays in two-minutes to go 67-yards to take back the lead 21-16.

Titusville had another chance to score, but a sack put them on their heels. A long pass attempt resulted in an interception to end their drive and the half.

Corry ate up a lot of the clock to start the second half but Titusville eventually stopped the Beavers and got the ball back.

Again Titusville moved the ball, mostly through the air on short passes and runs.

An apparent touchdown pass by a scrambling McDonald was called back as an illegal forward pass thrown past the line of scrimmage. On a third and 17 McDonald was intercepted in the end-zone.

Then Corry took the ball 80 yards including an untouched 35-yard run by Nicholas Lesher with 10:08 to go in the game.

In their next possession, Titusville started in good field position and managed one first down before turning it over on downs with just over six minutes remaining.

Up two scores, Corry decided to employ clock management and eat up as much time as they could by running the ball.

A key first down forced Titusville to start using its timeouts with three and a half minutes remaining. It worked and Corry was forced to punt, pinning Titusville back on their own 17 with 3:18 left.
Needing two scores, the Rockets went to work in a hurry.
Aided by a personal foul at the end of a long pass play to Mong, Titusville found themselves on the Corry 36 in quick fashion.

At 2:21 remaining, Covell ran 25 yards to score off a short pass from McDonald and bring them to within six at 28-22.

Corry got the ball back after a failed onside kick attempt and ate out the game, ending on a punt with no return.

In the end, McDonald had 161 yards in the air and 183 total yards. Covell ran for 67 and added anther 78. Mong added 36 and Miller caught four passes for 44 yards. Miller had 11 of the teams 39 tackles on defense.

"There were a few things we needed to take advantage of and we didn't. We really just weren't patient, and that's on me," Reynolds said. "We were really trying to push the ball in the end zone when we really just needed to settle down.

"In a game like this, if we took the time in the second quarter to put the ball in the end zone, the end of this game is totally different."

Titusville hits the road again next week to take on Girard

8/23 Corry 28-Titusville 22
8/31 at Girard, 7 p.m.
9/6 Grove City, 7 p.m. Carter Field
9/13 Conneaut, 7 p.m.
9/20 Warren Homecoming, 7 p.m.
9/27 at North East, 7 p.m.
10/4 Hickory, 7 p.m. Carter Field
10/11 at Slippery Rock, 7 p.m.
10/18 at Sharon, 7 p.m.
10/25 Fairview, 7 p.m. Carter Field

Rockets set to kickoff with playoff goal in mind

8/20/2024

This is a variation of the football preview story we wrote for the Titusville News-Journal.

That very distinctive sound heard around the corner from Pasquale's Pizza is music to football lovers like head coach Mike Reynolds - it the crack of good shoulder pads coming together with force and determination.

It's the echo off the historic concrete Carter Field football stadium of whistles, grunts from hard working players and the occasional up-level voice of a coach teaching passionately about the disciple and stray of being a football player on a football team.

A lot of learning takes place between the conditioning and drills.

The brown and gold are poised for a pretty solid 2024 campaign with a talented senior class that saw the school’s first winning season since 2016 last year as juniors.

A couple weeks of practice, a couple scrimmage games and now that are looking forward to their season opener on the road up in Corry on Friday.

This season was supposed to be their breakout season with a playoff berth in the end. The region they had been playing in with Oil City, Franklin, Warren, Conneaut and Meadville was definitely getable for the Rockets. Oil City will be without their offensive machine Ethen Knox for the first time in four years and other than Meadville, Titusville was looking at teams they had beaten last year.

However, they won't know how they'd fare because in the off-season District 10 said, wait a minute, we’re going to try to lump a bunch of AAA teams into two regions. So Titusville and CASH were moved into a region with Mercer County powerhouses Grove City, Hickory, Sharon and Slippery Rock. They make up the new Region 4. The district also created a second all AAA region with Fairview, Fort LeBoeuf, Girard, North East, Harbor Creek and Corry.

Despite the change, Reynolds remains enthusiastic and the goal remains the same. “This is a great opportunity,” he noted with a schedule that also includes Warren, Corry, Girard, Fairview and North East.
It will be a good indication who the top 3A teams will be at season’s end.

Reynolds said they are moving forward with the only goal they've ever had in mind - build Rocket football to compete against whatever opponent is in front of them.

“It’s really about the team and building this program." Reynolds said. "And the guys really understand that everyday we’re working toward our vision of what a team looks like in terms of honoring our family and our community of student athletes, building lasting relationships and competing for a District 10 championship,”
Reynolds, standing on the sidelines of Carter Field, was looking over practice with 40 someo dd players and coaches broken up into groups for drills. “We really love the chemistry of this group.”

Reynolds conducts practice almost like a symphony. He has many parts moving at once in many areas of the sport’s complex. Over a half dozen coaches are doing their part to teach the program, including one donning a blocking pad being knocked on his derriere by a kid stronger than the coach realized. “That’s good, good hit” said the coach as he gingerly got back up and found his sunglasses about six feet away on the turf.

“It’s really exciting having a new year in front of us and working through our system and all the fundamentals necessary to help us be successful,” Reynolds said smiling optimistically.

And why wouldn't he be optimistic? Last year’s talented junior class included incredible offensive outputs from its three top weapons, Jaxon Covell, Kam Mong and Ian McDonald. The trio combined for over 4,000 yards of total offense. Covell had over 2,000 yards himself including 1,353 on the ground. Reynolds knows having three explosive weapons keeps opposing defenses off-balance.

“Last year, our offensive output was great. We’re going to still continue to work and score points,” he said. “But we struggled defensively for about three weeks at the beginning of the season. Our coaching staff and our kids did a really great job coming together to improve on the things we didn’t do well and this year, defense is a big focus for us.”

Reynolds also noted some key errors on special teams cost them a couple games they maybe could have won.

“The big focus for us is, we’ve got to get better every week. We need to be better today than we were yesterday and just keep pounding those fundamentals, execute quickly, protect the ball and play good defense, he said. “One of the things I’m really proud of is that our seniors understand the need to teach the lessons they’ve learned to the juniors, the sophomores and the freshmen. It has been stated as a goal that we want to pass down what we’ve learned and that is a really important component of being successful and building that culture we love so much.”

8/23 at Corry, 7 p.m.
8/31 at Girard, 7 p.m.
9/6 Grove City, 7 p.m. Carter Field
9/13 Conneaut, 7 p.m.
9/20 Warren Homecoming, 7 p.m.
9/27 at North East, 7 p.m.
10/4 Hickory, 7 p.m. Carter Field
10/11 at Slippery Rock, 7 p.m.
10/18 at Sharon, 7 p.m.
10/25 Fairview, 7 p.m. Carter Field

They will get to work out some things hosting Saegertown and Mercyhurst Prep for back to back scrimmages on August 17 before their first regular season game on the road. They have their home opener in the third week of the season on September 6 against Grove City.

“We’re very confident that we have a mature group of kids that can go out and compete for a District 10 championship and that is ultimately what we want to do day in and day out.”

Extra, extra read all about it

7/12/2024

TMC to face Indiana again in the finals, hope to continue picture-perfect season

The Titusville/Mid-East/Cochranton Junior League all-stars are sure getting their money's worth out of the Pennsylvania State Championships. Regulation can't hold them. They have reached the championship finals in the double-elimination bracket after two consecutive extra inning victories.

On Tuesday they took a very talented Indiana team to eight innings before they won 8-6 and stopping a bottom of the inning comeback. (See that story here www.8and322.com/eight--27/holy-cow-what-a-start-for-tmc).

The following night they squeaked out a ninth inning walk-off victory over Corry 5-4.

This puts TMC in the driver's seat as they now prepare Indiana who defeated Springfield 15-0 and Corry 8-1 on Wednesday. They square off today at 5 p.m. TMC has a little cushion since Indiana must beat them twice for the championship.

TMC's run has been impressive. Mary Herman's pitching has been outstanding in relief. Her ability to double down under pressure. "Mary's a special kid. She has worked hard over the years and has really built her game up to where nothing really phases her on that mound," Head coach Matt Crocker said.

He called on her early in the Indiana game when it looked like TMC wasn't going to stop the Indiana freight train that earlier in the day beat Danville 20-0. But Herman took it the rest of the way through eight innings getting out of jams and only giving up one run. "She just keeps trusting her stuff and as a credit to her, she trusts the defense behind her."

This trust lets her know she can utilize her different pitches with confidence. "She has great speed, really good off-speed pitches," he said noting that the movement and changing rhythm of pitches makes her that much harder to hit. "She definitely has ice in her veins, she's doing a great job for us .

On Wednesday, she was called upon again after Corry scored a run in the seventh inning and still had two runners on base with no outs. She quickly recorded an out, but the next batter hit what normally would've been a routine play ended in an infield error scoring a run. After striking out the next batter and infield hit resulted in a tie game, but Herman's ice water veins again shut down the rally with the game tied.

TMC wasn't able to make anything happen in the bottom of the seventh sending the game to extra innings.

Corry again got a runner in scoring position, but between Herman's pitching and some good behind the plate work by catcher Payton Phillips to stop some wild pitches, they left a runner stranded at third.

Again TMC couldn't get anything happening in the bottom of the eighth.

Little rules for extra innings starts the ninth off with a runner at second. A muffed bunt resulted in two runners on and they both ended in scoring position. Herman again buckled down and struck out the next two batters and the final out was recorded on a ground ball to second where Kylie Crocker, an absolute vacuum second baseman, rounded it up and tossed to Sam Bernoski at first to end the scoring threat.

Crocker basically set up an unpentratable wall between first and second all game all game. One inning recording all three outs agains Corry.

"I taught her a long time ago that the ball has strings on it and wherever that ball goes it pulls you in that direction," her dad/coach said. "I'm awful proud of her, obviously I have a little extra with that one as her dad. I'm proud of all these girls."

In the bottom of the ninth TMC also started with a runner at second.

They got another runner on when Kylie Crocker drew a walk. Kennedy Baker laid down a decent bunt but a heads up play by the Corry pitcher recorded a force out at third. With only one out they still had two runners on.

Sam Bernoski steps up and drills a grounder up the middle. Coach Crocker on third base gave player Crocker the old windmill sign sending her home knowing it was going to be a close play. Kylie Crocker slid in just before the tag to win the nine inning game and send them into the finals.

"After those two games you know, I think they need a little break," Coach Crocker said about the practice schedule the next day. He said they had hoped to take a trip to watch the Titusville Majors play their first game of the Pennsylvania state championships in that bracket.

Titusville softball still has three teams still alive in post-season. The Majors team dropped the first round in a 1-0 pitchers dual but are playing in the losers bracket today. The 8-10 year old minors squad begins their section tournament Saturday in Union City. They are hoping to become the third area team to advance to the state championships.

Nora Lesko pitched six solid innings only giving up one run Wednesday. TMC has five very good pitchers according to coach Crocker. We've got Mary (Herman) who comes in big. We've got Abby (Mawhinney) does a great job. Nora did a great job tonight keeping Corry off balance. And we still have Karmyn Reese and Kylie Crocker who we haven't really gotten a chance to pitch much because they are essential to us (at shortstop and second base). They are our rocks in the middle infield."

That infield defense is key. They make few mistakes mentally or physically. "We really have two shortstops up the middle and that's huge. Karmyn is just fantastic at short and has been making great plays for us. I just feel really good with those two in those positions.

"I'm a big believer that wins are a product of preparation and living each moment. If you start thinking about a win, it's the fursthest thing in front of you, so if you stay in the moment and trust your skill, trust the work you've put in all these years and trust those skills are going to come through when you need them. Good things happen if you just stay in the moment."

The championship game is set to begin at 5 p.m. today at the American Legion ball field in Union City. The if necessary game will follow at 7 p.m.

See more photos from their run at https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p174677279

Holy cow, what a start for TMC

7/10/2024

Editor's note, we misspelled Zayda Lojek's name in our story. Our apologies to Zayda and her family.

Mary Herman came in to pitch in the third inning of Titusville/Mid-East/Cochranton's state tournament opener against a very good team from Indiana. It was the first time all day that Indiana was shut down.

Indiana opened the day with 20-0 four inning route of Danville in the first game of the Junior League State Championships at the American Legion fields in Union City.

They were getting their groove going again in the nightcap scoring five runs in two and a third innings.

Herman was brilliant on the mound digging deep when she needed to to get out of jams including a one out bases loaded hole in the seventh inning. She got a batter to pop up to her at pitcher before striking out the final batter sending it to extra innings.

TMC scored three in the top of the eighth with Addison Cherry reaching on a leadoff single. She advanced on a good sac bunt by Zayda Lojek. Nora Lesko singled driving in Cherry to break the tie. Payton Phillips bunted again and beat out the throw. Lesko bolted toward third on the play and forced a throw across the diamond which wasn't handled, allowing Lesko to score and Phillips to end up on second.

They weren't done. Karmyn Reese dropped a blooper about a foot inside the right field line between three Indiana players that couldn't reach it. The hit scored Phillips.

Indiana came up in the do or die bottom of the eighth down 8-5. Back to back doubles scored the first run on Herman and brought coach Matt Crocker out of the dugout for a team conference. Sticking with Herman, the coach rolled the dice his ace could bear down one more time and finish off the surging Indiana team.

Two infield pop ups later the celebration began and TMC moves on to play Corry later today at 7 p.m.

Corry easily handled Springfield earlier in the day.

To see even more photos from this and other TMC games please visit: sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p174677279

To see even more photos from this and other TMC games please visit: sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p174677279

To see even more photos from this and other TMC games please visit: sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p174677279

To see even more photos from this and other TMC games please visit: sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p174677279

Walk-off send Titusville Majors to states

7/8/2024

Photographs are from Titusville District 1 finals.

The District 1 representatives in the Pennsylvania Section 1 Junior league tournament showed grit and capitalized on good fortune en route to a 5-4 win over Punxsutawney for a chance to play for a state championship.

In the seventh-inning with the score four to four, Mallory Beers was on second base when Evelyn Lesko ripped a liner to left center scoring Beers. “It was tight, but she tip-toed around (the catcher) and got in,” said head coach Jack Roberts.

The run capped off a comeback for Ttitusville who began the tournament with a 4-1 loss to Punxsy. They rebounded with a 15-5 win over Clarion and a 9-6 victory over Corry before the rematch with Punxsy.

Titusville had to beat them twice.
In the first game Mallory Beers pitched a great game to keep Punxsy scoreless while Titusville strung together three runs to force the if necessary showdown.

“First game was tight for awhile and we scored a couple runs. We started playing some small ball and they started making mistakes throwing the ball around and we were able to just close the door on that one, Roberts said.

“I told the girls in between games, ‘hey, we got the first one, we got them rattled lets just out there and play our game and take it to them,’ and they did.”

But at the end of the third inning they found themselves down 4-1. “I just kept telling them one run at a time, one run at a time and then we just started slowly pecking away at it, inning by inning we got a run and another.

Giselle Gibbons got a big ground ball sacrifice that advanced Baleigh Greer to third base. This proved huge as the next pitch was wild allowing Greer, who is speedy, to score the tying run in the fifth inning.

In the sixth fortune really smiled on Titusville when the Punxsy lead-off batter clobbered on into the outfield for a stand up triple, but when the runner rounded third thinking about heading home because the throw from the outfield sailed over third base Mackenzie Yochum’s head.

But the ball took a good bounce for Titusville and bad one for Punxsy. Coming right back into Yochum’s glove she turned and lunged for the Punxsy player who was also diving back to third.
“She caught her mid-air,” Roberts said.

“That would’ve been a huge momentum swing, but we were able to stop that.”

Then catcher Addison Roberts made another lunging catch on a short pop up for another out.

That set up the dramatic walk-off extra inning.

Titusville will now travels to Wellsboro where they will face the section 4 champion in the eight team bracket at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Titusville 11-12 year old team consists of Octavia Popescu, Addison Roberts, Mallory Beers, Harper Wolfkiel, Baleigh Greer, Evelyn Lesko, Draya Sibble, Giselle Gibbons, Mackenzie Yochum, Kennedy Schmader, Hannah Ringer and Madilyn Wice.