Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

Okarche carried a tworun lead all the way into the bottom of the fourth inning against Caddo in the quarterfinals of the Class A state softball tournament.

The Lady Warriors were supposed to just be happy to be there as nobody associated with the program had witnessed the purple and gold at state.

The second-ranked Lady Bruins, meanwhile, were there for the seventh straight season and weren’t too far removed from a string of four straight titles from 2021-24.

So it made sense when Gage Vaughn blasted a two-run home run over the scoreboard in left field to give her team a 4-3 lead in that fourth inning.

Caddo was about to take command.

Or…maybe it was meant to be.

In the very next half-inning, Chloe Rother and Katie Parham led off with singles.

Two batters later, Kinley Pruett announced that Okarche was, in fact, meant to be.

The sophomore belted her own homer over the scoreboard, this one of the three-run variety, to give Okarche a lead it wouldn’t lose.

It was the highlight of a four-run inning and the eighth-ranked Lady Warriors continued to pile on for what turned out to be a 10-4 victory at Firelake Fields in Shawnee.

That wasn’t the only upset of the day.

No. 7 Wister knocked off third-ranked Cheyenne/ Reydon 4-3 while sixthranked Drummond beat No. 4 Canute 5-3.

The only game that went according to form was No. 1 Arapaho-Butler taking care of business with a 12-2 win against Pioneer.

Okarche matched up with Wister in Friday morning’s semifinal, which finished after this edition went to press.

It was actually Caddo that struck first with a run in the bottom of the first.

But Okarche wasted no time in striking back.

Callie Cramer and Emma Roby had back-to-back walks to start the inning.

Cramer got to third and scored on Avery Treece’s fielder’s choice bunt.

Kenzie Harper laid down a sacrifice bunt and Roby was able to score on an error for a 2-1 lead.

Parham singled in the third and also scored on an error to give her team the 3-1 lead.

Lawson Geheb cruised through the second and third innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth - even before the homer.

Brylee Daniel doubled and then scored on Kiersyn Powell’s single.

Vaughn’s home run was Caddo’s third straight hit of the inning.

But Geheb settled in and got two straight groundouts to get out of the inning.

She didn’t allow another run and only allowed one more base runner until the seventh inning.

By then, the game was well in hand.

After Pruett’s home run, the Lady Warriors got backto- back doubles from Roby and Treece. The latter scored the former to give Okarche a 7-4 lead. Rother walked in the sixth and later scored on yet another Caddo error for a four-run cushion. Harper singled in the seventh and two runs ended up scoring on that play. It was feast or famine for Daniel in the circle. Shestruckout11Okarche batters, but also walked four and surrendered six timely hits. Geheb remained steady and gave up five hits, struck out five and walked two in her complete-game effort. Pruett was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a run while Parham, the team’s leadoff, finished 2 for 4 and scored twice. Roby was 1 for 3 and crossed home three times while Treece drove in two runs. Rother also scored twice. Okarche went into the semis with a 29-9 record. Wister was 27-9.