You've likely heard the term "perfect timing." But never quite like this.

Robert Adams is recovering with family by his side, after going into cardiac arrest at his granddaughter's softball game Monday afternoon.

"My nephew caught me and then all these folks came up and helped me," said Adams, 82, of McKean.

It happened right before General McLane's state playoff game. The first responders were already there when Adams collapsed. They include the team's athletic trainer, Rob Kennerknecht.

"Literally within a few seconds, the one coach started screaming 'CPR right field,'" said Kennerknecht, who is also the General McLane athletic director. "So I kinda bolted out of the dugout and there was no one in right field, but there was a lot of commotion in foul territory."

That's where Rob found Robert. He grabbed this AED, or automated external defibrillator. Soon, General McLane's assistant coach Greg Wells and a nearby fan, Brandi Salvatore, rushed over to provide CPR.

"We worked in collaboration, we sat up and she was handling airway and we started compressions," said Wells.

"And by that time, we brought the patient back and EMS pulled up. It was just perfect timing for everything," said Salvatore.

Wells is trained in CPR as an Erie firefighter; Salvatore, a cardiac nurse, both trained to react at a moment's notice.

Kennerknecht said he carries that AED with him every day, whether he's here at the field or just out and about. But that's the first time in 12 years of being an athletic trainer that he's ever had to use it."

"It was the right people with the right training and the right tools and the guy got to go home," he said.

Back at the hospital, Adams is still in some pain. But he has a message for everyone who helped save his life.

"I thank them for what they did for me," he said.