Purcell topped Plainview in the best two out of three in the Super Regional here last week but they took the long way around to do it.

With the Super Regional victory, the Dragons find themselves in the mix for a shot at the State Championship.

They will face Poteau in the opening round at 1:30 p.m. today (Thursday) at the Ballfields at FireLake.

The winner of that contest will face the winner of Tuttle and Blanchard in the semifinals, also at FireLake.

The finals will be at noon Saturday at the OU softball stadium.

Also in the field of eight are Newcastle, Cache, North Rock Creek and Weatherford.

The Super Regional was a three-day marathon that started with the Dragons stubbing their toe in the opening game, losing to Plainview, 5-1.

“We came out playing like we were scared to lose, rather than win,” head coach Sarah Jones said.

Jones said her club didn’t hit well, made mental errors and mistakes.

“We had to get that out of the way,” she confirmed.

Ella Resendiz, who was in the circle, and Brynley Jennings had the only two hits for the Dragons in that contest.

“Ella struck out seven but we didn’t back her up on defense,” Jones said. “They had zero earned runs. We knew we had to get it together before game two if we wanted to five ourselves a chance. Our next goal became, push them to the ‘if game’.”

And they did just that spanking the Indians 7-2 to end day one.

Since the Dragons were the visitors Jones elected to put Resendiz at lead off and after her first at-bat they walked her four times in the game.

“Everyone else had to step up and they did,” Jones said.

After Resendiz reached base Kenna Esparza moved her over and KK Vazquez’s sharp line-drive double plated Resendiz.

“After scoring that first run we took off from there,” Jones said.

“We were still a little shaky on defense but Hannah (Whitaker) pitched a heck of a game and had them off balance,” the coach said.

Esparza, Vazquez and Mac McKay had two hits apiece with Vazquez finishing with a trio of RBIs. Esparza, Whitaker and Jennings all had RBIs in the contest.

“We had great at-bats that led to walks,” Jones said.

Savanna Edwards walked twice while Jennings, Kailynn Helton and McKay all had walks on top of Ella’s four.

The rubber match was a dual that lasted over two days with the Dragons finally prevailing 2-1 to punch their ticket to State.

“We started off slowly but hit the ball hard,” Jones said.

Plainview scored their run in the bottom of the first before the Dragons started cooking in the top of the fourth.

That’s when Whitaker tripled followed by a Hadleigh Harp’s sharp hit to second scored Whitaker.

New ball game.

Then came the bottom of the sixth with the game knotted at one all with two outs, a runner on first and an 0-2 count.

Lightning was detected six miles away so the teams immediately exited the field.

The game was suspended until Wednesday. Initially it was set to resume at 3 p.m. but that was pushed back to 6 p.m. to allow the field more drying time.

Jones said she really appreciates the work put in by Mike Robinson and Matt Maral who worked from 6 a.m. until game time to get the field ready for play.

The game went into extra innings. In the top of the 8th, Resendiz walked and moved over to second on a passed ball followed by a Vazquez triple.

The Dragons held in the bottom of the frame.

“It was a very long three days,” Jones said. “No one on this team has experienced the feeling of what making the state tournament feels like.

“We have to remind ourselves to stay within ourselves and not let it get too big. They did that on Thursday and I couldn’t be more proud of them. It is going to be a fun week.

“It is a good feeling to be able to practice this week and be playing on the very last week of this fall season. We hope to see everyone in Shawnee,” Jones concluded.

The Dragons are 27-9 heading into the State Tournament.