Walk off keeps Oil City undefeated

For five innings Titusville's freshman pitcher Jordan Wynn seemed to be in complete control. Though she walked five, she would battle her way out of inning after inning. Oil City left seven runners stranded. 

At the end of five it was 2-0 in favor of the Rockets who had scored in the first and third innings on RBI's from Wynn and Kyra Adkins.

Around the sixth inning Oil City head coach Michelle Hoovler noticed something.

​"We felt (Wynn) was starting to struggle a little bit," Hoovler said. "She was starting to throw more balls. So we were trying to wait her out."
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​Titusville head coach Megan Green said Wynn wasn't getting the calls on the edge of the plate like she was in the beginning of the game. 

Hoovler told her players to be patient at the plate and don't chase pitches. The strategy worked.

​The first batter in the bottom of the sixth, Nysa Hanlon, drilled a line drive off the out stretched glove of Rylie McGarvie at second base.
She was then able to steal second on a pitch that got away from the Titusville catcher.

​She advanced to third on a fielder's choice ground ball to second by Shayla Hanlon. Then Abby Foley grounded to shortstop plating Hanlon.

​Oil City's freshman pitcher Sophia Garmong, who was in in relief, was mowing down Titusville in previous innings, took care of keeping the Rockets from getting insurance runs. She fielded a slap bunt for an easy out, then recorded a strike out before getting the final Rocket batter to ground out to short.
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The score was 2-1 going into the bottom half of the seventh.

Libby Arnink had a good at bat finally finding a pitch to put into left field. Shaylyn Whittemore then walked after staying alive with several fouls balls. Then Maddie "man legs" Wenner drew a walk to load the bases. Garmong was up next.

Titusville's strong armed catcher Krya Adkins then tried to make something happen with the bases jacked and tossed a laser down to third that, if handled by the third baseman would've caught the runner off the base for the first out.
​But it ended up in right field and Arnick scored to tie the game 2-2.

With the score tied and runners on second and third, it was now Garmong who focussed on the task at hand - to win the game.

"I was thinking I have to hit this, this is my time, my team is counting on me." Garmong said about what was going through her mind as she stood in the batter's box. She then lifted one to right field and watched it as she began to slowly trot toward first. "I was so scared (the right fielder) was going to catch it. I was just hoping and praying it would fall," she said. "Then I saw it hit off her glove and I was like, I'm just going - I just kept going."

It was enough to plate Whittemore for the 3-2 walk-off win. It was their second come from behind win after earlier in the season forcing overtime against Slippery Rock and then winning it in extra innings.

​"The chemistry with this team is just fantastic," Hoovler said. "They just work together really well, they fight to the end and they never give up."

Green said that Oil City has a good group of athletes right now and they are capitalizing on that. "We have a good group too, they just have to believe it," she said. "When you get to that point (late in the game) it comes down to which team wants it and (today) Oil City wanted it more."

Titusville falls to 1-2 while Oil City sits undefeated at 3-0 on the season. To put in perspective how high they are riding now. They only won three games from 2019 to the end of 2022.