— OKLAHOMA CITY – Morris kept Sequoyah from a fastpitch state title in the fall. Morris also kept Sequoyah from a slowpitch regional crown last week.

Morris, however, couldn’t kept Sequoyah from the state championship.

The Class 5A No. 9 Lady Indians extracted a bit of revenge against the second-ranked Lady Eagles at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, needing only six hits to post a 5-1 victory over Morris to become the Class 5A slowpitch champions.

“We was out for revenge,” Sequoyah rover Saharra Henson said.

Henson was the catalyst on offense for Sequoyah, going 2 for 3, including a two-run double that put the Lady Indians in front for good in the fourth inning.

“Just keep your head up and focus on hitting,” Henson said of her approach at the plate in the fourth.

Henson’s double was to straight away center field, scoring Keisha Jones and Kelsey Leach. Henson would later score on an error in the fourth.

“That fly ball looked like it was going to be caught until it got up in that jet stream,” Sequoyah coach Larry Grigg said of Henson’s double. “It just kept going. And she’s been our best hitter all year.”

Sequoyah added to its lead in the sixth when Megan Towie dropped a two-run single into left. She even did it going against Grigg’s advice.

“I actually told her to take a pitch,” said Grigg, whose team finished the year 27-11. “She hit the first pitch she saw; maybe that relaxed her.”

For Grigg, winning a championship – of any kind – is something he’s been wanting to cross off his list for a while now.

“I’ll be honest, for me, I’ve had three state basketball finalist runner-ups,” said Grigg, whose team finished as the slowpitch runner-up in 2007. “So I was trying to get off the snide.”

Save for Kara Linch’s error to begin the game for Sequoyah, the Lady Indians turned in yet another defensive gem.

“Our kids play really good defense,” Grigg said.

Morris’ lone run came in the first inning on Macy McLaughlin’s RBI single to right field, which scored Megan Milroy.

Morris had only three base runners the rest of the way. In the final frame, Morris went down in order, including Baylee Osborn’s ground out to end the game.

“Honestly, it hasn’t even hit me yet,” Henson said of winning the crown. “I’m like still in shock. I feel like running seven miles right now.”

In the fall, Morris dispatched of Sequoyah in the fastpitch semifinals, 3-1. Then, last week Morris topped Sequoyah 2-1 in the regional finals.

But the Lady Indians finally found a way to ground the Lady Eagles.

“We were bound to be here,” Henson, a Northeastern State signee in fastpitch, said of making the finals. “...Was just a matter of time.”



Sequoyah 9, Washington 3

In the quarterfinals and one of the tournament’s first games Tuesday morning, Henson was 2-for-3 with two runs driven in, including one in the four-run fourth inning that ultimately made the difference. Mariah Hooper was also 2-for-3 and drove in a run.  Jones and Courtney Jones also drove in a pair of runs in one-hit games.

Sequoyah had 13 hits.

No. 3 Washington (24-7) hurt itself by stranding 12 baserunners, including the bases loaded in a scoreless sixth. Sequoyah answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to put it out of reach, two coming on RBI singles courtesy of Jones and Jones.



Sequoyah 10, Purcell 7

This one also had atonement for the Lady Indians. Purcell had defeated them in fastpitch state and slowpitch state in recent years.

The Lady Dragons (25-9) led 3-1 when  Linch’s two-run double highlighted a five-run second inning. Linch would finish the game 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

No. 5 Purcell would come back with two runs in the second and another in the third to forge a tie. Singles by Leach and Henson in the fourth gave Sequoyah an 8-6 advantage.

In addition to Linch,  Towie and Feather Pacheco also had three hits in an 18-hit attack.

– Johnson is sports editor of the Tahlequah Daily Press. Phoenix sports editor  Mike Kays contributed to this story.