It wasn’t quite the history Okarche was hoping for, but it proved to be historic nonetheless. 

The Lady Warrior softball team captured the imagination of the community by making a run all the way to the Class A state championship game last weekend. 

Ultimately, Okarche took home the runner-up trophy after a 4-0 defeat Saturday to No. 1 Arapaho-Butler at the FireLake Ball Fields in Shawnee. 

“I’m just extremely proud of this group of girls,” said coach Scott Tahah. “Obviously when you get that close, you want to finish it with a championship, but I don’t want that to take away from what they accomplished. 

“They helped take this program somewhere it had never been before and that’s something they should be proud of.” 

The program had never sniffed the finals or even the semifinals, but the latter was taken care of last Thursday when No. 8 Okarche pulled away from No. 2 Caddo, 10-4. 

That set up a Friday showdown with seventh- ranked Wister in the semifinals. 

It turned out to be an instant classic. 

In a pitcher’s duel of colossal proportions, Lawson Geheb proved the most epic. 

The junior threw 10 straight shutout innings and her offense eventually gave her the run support she needed in a 4-2 win in 11 innings. 

Wister led off the bottom of the first with a single and then two errors on the next play saw the Wildcats plate two runs. 

Geheb got the runs back in the top of the third as Chloe Rother walked and Katie Parham reached on an error. 

Geheb’s double scored them both to tie the game. 

And the game was truly tied. 

Neither team could notch another run in regulation innings…or the first extra frame..or the second…or the third. 

Geheb and Wister’s Adi Higdon went toe-to-toe in the circle, both refusing to budge. 

Each team had chances, but both pitchers found a way to get out of their respective jams. 

Finally, in the top of the 11th, Okarche found a way. 

Callie Cramer led off the inning with a single, only the fifth hit of the game for the Lady Warriors. 

Emma Roby followed with a walk and Avery Treece’s groundout advanced both runners. 

On the very next pitch, Cramer scored on a passed ball. 

As Higdon was collecting herself on the walk back to the mound, Roby rounded third, got the nod from Tahah and kept running toward home. 

Wister couldn’t react fast enough and Okarche turned it into a two-run play and a 4-2 lead. 

Geheb only needed the one. 

She got a strikeout, groundout and popout in the bottom of the inning to finally give her right arm some rest. 

Geheb threw 161 pitches. 

She surrendered five hits and walked six batters, but also struck out 13 and didn't allow a run over the final 10 frames. 

Higdon was very similar. 

She delivered 166 pitches, gave up five hits and six walks and struck out 12. 

The two pitchers combined to give up one earned run in their 22 innings of work.

Cramer was 2 for 5 in the game and scored a run. She was the only Lady Warrior with multiple hits.

That set up a showdown with Arapaho-Butler, the team that knocked Okarche out in the regionals in 2025 en route to winning the title.

A-B had won its first two state tournament games via the run-rule by a combined 23-3.

An early Okarche error, a sacrifice bunt and a groundout allowed the Lady Indians to strike first in the top of the first.

But Geheb wasn’t willing to budge much.

Despite pitching nearly the equivalent of two games the day before - not to mention seven full innings on Thursday - she didn’t give up another run until the third.

That, too, came without A-B collecting a hit in the inning.

But Okarche never could find its offensive groove against Lady Indian ace Lauryn McHenry.

Geheb and Cramer walked in the bottom of the first, but McHenry worked around it.

She didn’t surrender another free base the rest of the game and Okarche didn’t have another base runner until Kenzie Harper got her team’s first hit with a single in the fifth.

By that time, the Lady Indians had tacked on two more runs.

Geheb gave Okarche its only other hit with a single in the sixth inning.

McHenry finished with six strikeouts in the shutout as A-B completed the repeat and a 36-5 season.

Geheb took the loss, but valiantly.

She surrendered only three hits, two earned runs, walked four and struck out three.

“What Lawson did was pretty remarkable,” said Tahah, detailing her threegame stretch “It says a lot about her toughness and competitiveness, especially when you look at what A-B was able to do offensively in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“The thing that impressed me most wasn’t just her ability to pitch, but her composure. She never seemed overwhelmed by the situation. She trusted her defense, competed on every pitch and gave us a chance to win.”

In fact, said Tahah, his whole team stepped up in similar fashion, not just at state, but through the entirety of the playoffs.

“I think the biggest thing was how well we played together as a team,” he said. “We knew pitching was going to be important, but we also understood that we had to make plays defensively, execute offensively and take advantage of opportunities.

“Our girls really bought into doing whatever it took to help the team win. We had players contribute in different ways throughout the tournament and that’s what it takes to make a run like that. We weren’t relying on just one person to get the job done.”

With the regionals and state tournament come a lot of pressure-filled moments.

“I think our girls handled the pressure really well,” Tahah said. “They didn’t get caught up in the moment. They just continued to compete and play for each other.”

Whether it was Geheb’s unwillingness to back down, a monster home run in the quarters by Kinley Pruett or heads-up base running by Roby, any number of Lady Warriors found a way to get it done this year.

It produced a 30-10 record and the history of a state runner-up finish.

Girls basketball has been synonymous with success in Okarche.

Now softball has made its mark.

“They helped take this program somewhere it had never been before and that’s something they should be proud of,” Tahah said. “Hopefully, this run showed our younger girls what’s possible and helped set a new standard for Okarche softball.”

And, added the coach, they likely created a core memory.

“To see the excitement build throughout the season and watch the community rally behind these girls was pretty special. I think what made it even better was knowing how much work these girls had put in to get to that point,” Tahah said. “They believed in each other and they believed they could compete with anybody.

“As a coach, you want your players to experience something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives and I think this was one of those experiences.”