OKLAHOMA CITY — Lacie Burch and her Muskogee Rougherettes teammates didn’t get down after a loss in the Class 6A fastpitch softball state tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

Burch’s two-run double keyed a three-run fifth inning as MHS rallied to beat Bartlesvile 5-3 in the elimination game and remain alive in the double-elimination tournament.

The Rougherettes had lost 1-0 to Westmoore in their first game of the tourney at the ASA Hall of Fame Complex.

Muskogee, now 23-13, plays at 10 a.m. today against Choctaw (31-5). Westmoore (33-2) led by the strong pitching from Kaci Quintero (26-1), beat Choctaw 2-0 in the winner’s bracket.

Burch, who got the pitching decisions in both games to put her record at 19-11, said she went to the plate against the Lady Bruins (22-12) with confidence.

“Coach (Mack Chambers) told me to be ready to hit,” she said. “I didn’t get down after that first game. I knew if we stayed up as a team, we could come back.”

Chambers knew it, too.

“When we went to eat (between games), I could tell we were fine. We were loose,” he said. “The girls haven’t quit on me all year long. Lacie gets a huge hit. She did an outstanding job.”

After Burch’s hit tied the game at 3-3, Laura Fleck, hitting .343 coming into the tournament, singled in Burch — the Rougherettes’ lone senior — in the fifth, putting the Rougherettes ahead to stay at 4-3. MHS added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Madison Reed slid safely home on a ground out by Hannah Hamilton.

“We’re still here and playing,” Chambers said.

At one point, it looked like MHS was going to go home as Bartlesvile jumped to a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning when catcher Lindsey Sarver singled in Jacey Punches and Sadie Reed.

The day didn’t start out too well for the Rougherettes as Westmoore took the 1-0 victory in eight innings. The Lady Jaguars’ Quintero struck out 12 batters in tossing the one-hitter.

Tori Venable’s fourth-inning single was the only MHS hit in the game.

The Lady Jaguars got their only run when Reed, Muskogee’s center fielder, couldn’t cleanly field a wind-blown single by Courtney Brawner and allowed Callie Huff to slide under the tag of catcher Emily Emberson to score the one-out decisive run.

“I didn’t have the ball,” Emberson said. “I had to jump and get the ball and she slid under me. Her foot touched my foot and I couldn’t get my feet under me.”

Quintero was in control from the beginning, striking out the first four batters she faced. No Rougherettes reached second base.

Muskogee is making its first ever trip to the fastptich tournament in the 35-year history of its program. If the Rougherettes win this morning, they will play again at 2 p.m. against Westmoore but a loss at any time would end their season.