Okarche outlasts Am-Po, advances to regional

Ironically, it was in defeat that Mark Framel was confident his team would emerge victorious. Okarche capped off the biggest surprise in Class A Saturday by defeating No. 13 Amber-Pocasset 2-1 on its home field to claim a district championship.

Am-Po was the highest-ranked team to not advance to this week’s regional tournament round.

Instead, it’s No. 20 Okarche, which got a two-hit gem from Christian Estep in the title game, moving on.

The Warriors are part of a four-team regional that includes No. 4 Fort Cobb-Broxton, which is hosting, No. 7 Byng and 12th-ranked Canute.

Such a scenario may not have seemed likely after a huge disappointment on Friday.

With a chance to clinch the district, Okarche fell behind Amber-Pocasset 7-0 early.

“I wondered how they were going to react,” Framel said.

He got his answer.  

The Warriors broke through in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game. It eventually went into extra innings.

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Am-Po’s batter walked to send home the winning run.

“As upset as our guys were, the told me that if they hadn’t fought back to tie it, they didn’t know how they’d react Saturday.

“But they felt they’d sent a message.”

In the top of the first Saturday, Okarche struck first as Bryce Reese drove home Carson Baustert. The Panthers got the run back in the bottom half when Estep surrendered one of his hits, a solo home run.

“That one was my fault,” said Framel, who said he called for the pitch in the wrong location.

But the Panthers did little else against Estep, who struck out four.

Estep is a move-in from Bethany who bats left, but throws right. Framel and the staff have been working on his location all season.

“He’s been off and on. We had someone else we knew we could throw and figured if Christian was off, we could figure it out early and get him out,” Framel said. “But he was dialed in pretty good.”

Okarche’s defense was also solid behind him, not only making the routine plays, but “two or three un-routine plays,” as Framel put it.

In the sixth, Preston Hawk was able to get on base. A bunt and a steal later and he was at third.

Estep’s hit drove him home for the go-ahead run.

Such aggressiveness has been the calling card for the Warriors. “They’re relentless; they run and fly all over the place,” Framel said. “They play with this emotion and speed that balances out their youth. I like to just sit back and watch it sometimes.”

That’s helped the team gain confidence. Okarche enters the regional with a 17-9 mark. The Warriors won five of six entering districts, including a 10-9 victory over Class B’s second-ranked Lookeba-Sickles.

The district started with an 11-1 win over Union City last Thursday.

Drummond, which upset Am-Po 3-2 in their opener, fell prey to the Warriors in the winner’s bracket game later that day, 12-6.

That put Okarche in the driver’s seat. Am-Po came out of the consolation bracket.

But even in forcing the “if” game, the Panthers never could put away the Warriors.

“Our guys have just gotten so much better throughout the year,” Framel said. “They basically go out there on the field every day and tell themselves they’re going to force the other team to respect them.”

The Warriors play Ft. Cobb-Broxton at 2 p.m. Friday in the regional opener. Two teams will advance from the double-elimination bracket to next week’s state tournament.

The Mustangs have beaten Okarche twice, 4-3 on Aug. 13 and 6-3 on Aug. 29.

“It’s a game our guys definitely don’t have to ‘get up’ for. They’ll be ready to go play them and won’t be intimidated,” Framel said.