| Once the District 10 trophy was handed to the senior stars Jaxon Covell and Brett Schmidt, it wasn’t long before they and the rest of the senior starters wanted it in the hands of the “sixth” senior, Jason Sampson. Sampson has been the team manager and player since he was in junior high. When he got that trophy in his hands, he kissed it and raised it above his head shouting “yeah” as he faced the brown and gold fans at UPMC Park in Erie Monday. It was a signature moment. “Ever since we came back from nowhere against Warren… and when we were six down against Sharon and came back and won… I knew this team was special,” Sampson said about this first ever Titusville District 10 championship team. “We never gave up and we never came down, we’re not just Titusville anymore… a team from a small town just made it huge.” Sampson is one of the many unsung heroes that make this team special. “When a player is down, I more or less come to them and pump them up and after that they get on a roll,” Sampson said of his role on the team. Coach Roy Schweitzer, who was with the Rocket program as player when it started in the mid-1980s, agrees that it takes everybody to reach the level of success that this Rocket squad has achieved. It may sound odd that the Rockets didn’t have a baseball team prior to 1985 or that they have never won a district championship, but Monday’s 8-3 win over Fairview at UPMC Park in Erie gave them their first District 10 championship crown in the brown and gold nation. “It’s been a long time coming with a lot of disappointments, but we did it. This is a very sweet day for me personally,” said Schweitzer, who has been head coach off and on since 2010 when he coached the team to three region championships but lost twice to Saegertown in the championships. He returned as head coach in 2018 but struggled to win a playoff game until last year, but then lost a tough game to Mercyhurst Prep. This year they threw that monkey off their back. “I get emotional, this is special,” he said. TheRockets have five starting seniors that have been playing together most of their high school careers. They are more than supported by underclassmen players. “We definitely have a great team bond, honestly you can’t beat it,” senior Kameron Mong said. “It is nice to have a team where everybody hits.” Schweitzer agrees. “It’s just so exciting. It’s unbelievable at this point of where we’re at and how this feels,” he said. “I can’t be prouder of these guys, everyone from seniors on down to freshmen, statisticians, coaches and boosters have been here with us through thick and thin. It is just an unbelievable feeling.” Titusville drew first blood Monday on a Hunter Obert bloop single that fell between the second baseman going out and right fielder coming in, scoring Mong. “It felt great to get a hit and then have the rest of our line up hit for us. It is nice to have a team where everybody hits," Mong said. In the second inning the Rocket’s were poised for a big inning. A series of Fairview errors found sophomore Jackson Oviatt standing on third base, junior Coleman Knapp on second and freshman Blake Schmidt on first with no outs and the top of the order coming up. Though it wasn’t the inning they hoped for, Covell did hit a sacrifice fly to deep to right-center that scored Oviatt putting them up two after two. "We were in the (batting) cage before eight this morning, before we came up here," Covell said, talking about this team's work ethic to be prepared for games. "That's how we get these wins." Fairview was also able to take advantage of an error on an infield squib that was handled, but then thrown away allowing the Tigers to score two and tie it up. The Rockets, who don’t get rattled or give up, were not deterred. They responded in the top of the third with a two out rally, started by a Blake Schmidt check swing hit into the outfield. Ian McDonald reached on an error, setting up a Covell single that scored Schmidt. Mong reached and Brett Schmidt drove in two more. The Rockets weren’t done. Obert got a ball in play and scored one and on a throwing error a second run scored putting the Rockets up 7-3 after four innings. Fairview managed one more run in the top of the fifth, but relievers Obert and Covell shut the Tigers down the rest of the way despite a seventh inning where the Tigers had a chance to score. With a runner in scoring position when one of the “stepping up when needed” Rocket underclassmen, Oviatt, corralled a long drive to left field to end the game and give the brown and gold their first ever D10 trophy. “I was just thinking I need to catch it so we can get out of here as quick as we can and move on to states,” Oviatt said about the fly ball driven in his direction. Mong was the starting pitcher, going four innings and giving up only two hits and one earned run. Obert came in relief pitching two innings and Jaxon Covell closed out the seventh. Now they are etched in Rocket history lore. |             |
This team only lost twice in the region and three times overall and have been rock solid in the playoffs.
“Now we go on to state play,” Schweitzer said. “We just battle all the time. We’ve got good pitching. We’ve got good defense. We hit the ball. These guys don’t rattle easily. We have a solid nine. These guys have earned every bit of their playing time. In practice and in the games.”
The Rockets will be playing Monday at 4:30 p.m. at Slippery Rock University against the fourth-seed Mohawk Area out of District 7.
 | Of special note: Stream TV’s Luke Ruot wondered if Kameron Mong, in a late season game had washed his #10 white uniform at all this seaso. “To be honest… no,” Mong said Monday after he and his team won the District 10 championship. And he isn’t going to wash it now. “I can’t (wash it), not before state play… no way.” Mong said. It seems to be working for him, and maybe the team. Mong is one of the senior leaders who is batting over .400. Superstition or not, if the team wins the state championship, that uniform will need to be framed and put in the hallway and never washed again. |
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