Lady Warriors knock out Apache, 11-5
Okarche eliminated one team from its Class A softball regional.
It will need to do the same to two more on Friday in order to advance to the state fast-pitch tournament.
After suffering an 11-3 loss to fourth-ranked host Arapaho-Butler, Okarche came back Thursday evening to knock out Apache 11-5.
The victory put Okarche into another elimination game at noon Friday (after press time) against No. 13 Drummond.
Drummond was defeated 3-2 by Arapaho- Butler in Thursday night’s winner’s bracket game.
The Okarche-Drummond winner advances to the regional championship against the host team, but will need two victories to advance.
Facing elimination Okarche pounded out 11 hits and had 11 RBIs against Apache.
Katie Parham delivered 4 RBIs, including a two-run double in the second inning as Okarche started to open up the game.
Parham’s two-bagger was preceded by Lawson Geheb’s RBI double to give Okarche a 3-2 lead.
But Apache closed it back up and tied the game at 5-5 in the fourth before Okarche took command for good.
Praham’s single in the fourth pushed home two more runs and Callie Cramer followed with a two-run triple for a 9-5 advantage.
The Lady Warriors got two more insurance runs in the sixth on Bella Hufnagel’s single that scored two.
Chloe Rother, Geheb, Parham and Cramer - the first four in Okarche’s lineup - all had two hits apiece.
They accounted for eight RBIs.
Geheb went all seven innings in the circle.
She gave up six hits and five runs, though only one was earned.
She shutout Apache over the final three frames and finished the game with nine strikeouts.
Against Arapaho, Cramer singled home a run in the bottom of the first to pull Okarche within 2-1.
It stayed there until the third when the hosts erupted for four runs. Okarche didn’t score again until the fifth inning.
Geheb and Cramer combined for four of Okarche’s six hits.
Cramer drove in two while Parham also had an RBI.
Six of the Lady Indians’ 11 runs were earned against Geheb, who gave up 11 hits and struck out two.