MEADVILLE — Slippery Rock players thrust their arms skyward and joyful bellows rose into the unseasonable chill of the air.

The Rockets had upset defending state 4A softball champion Mount Pleasant.

Or had they?

Ayslyn Duffy touched the plate with what appeared to be the winning run for Slippery Rock in the bottom of the seventh inning Monday afternoon at Allegheny College.

But 180 feet away at second base, Mount Pleasant's Alyssa Keslar had alertly tagged out Hannah Wilson, who had come off the bag, before Duffy had scored.

And the two teams played on.

And on.

And on.

By the time shadows had stretched like spindly fingers across the field, Mount Pleasant survived with a 4-2, 11-inning marathon win over the Rockets in the first round of the PIAA 4A playoffs.

The two teams battled with the Vikings taking a short-lived 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th, only to have the Rockets rally to tie it at 2-2 in bottom of the inning as the international tiebreaking rule of placing a runner at second base to begin an inning triggered.

Finally, Mt. Pleasant scored a pair of runs in the top of the 11th without a hit and reliever Carolyn Alincic shut the door to preserve the wild win.

“We stayed in it,” said Slippery Rock coach Dan Hindman. “I was very pleased with that, especially after what happened in the bottom of the seventh. That was very emotional and going another four (innings) after that speaks volumes about their desire and how they play the game.”

Read more about the game in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.