Purcell is set to open the fast-pitch State Tournament at Devon Park Thursday morning at 10 a.m. against Verdigris.

The semifinals will be Friday at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of Blanchard and Miami.

The finals are set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Other teams in the field include Tuttle, Broken Bow, Weatherford and Elk City.

Cache drew first blood in the Super Regional here last week pushing across a run in their half of the second inning.

But the Dragons came back in the bottom of the third to knot the score at one-all on an Ella Resendiz home run. Purcell scored twice more in their half of the fourth to earn a 3-1 victory.

“Stepping into Super Regionals it was a different team this year than last year against Plainview,” head coach Sarah Jones said.

“We had a close game and went 11 innings with Cache when we played them earlier this year. The girls knew not to take them lightly.

“I think we had the jitters going into the first inning and they ended up scoring on actually a confirmed wrong call by the umpire that wouldn’t have put runners in scoring position but once we got settled in, we responded well,” Jones said.

In the bottom of the fourth with two outs the Dragons had top of the order up.

Hannah Whitaker laced a single followed by a KK Vazquez double.  After Resendiz was intentionally walked, Maica Martinez hit a ball over the first baseman to score Whitaker and Vazquez.

“We held them the rest of the game,” Jones said. “Ella ended with 12K’s to win game one.”

In the second game, Purcell posted a 2-0 shutout victory over the Bulldogs.

“We scored in the bottom of the first, with a lead off single from Whitaker, a sac bunt from Vazquez that led to an error by the catcher scoring Hannah,” Jones said.

Sophomore pitcher Ava Sparks got the start in the circle and did not disappoint.

“She did a fantastic job getting through their entire lineup, allowing only two hits and no runs,” Jones said. “Ella came in to finish the game and had 8 strike outs one hit and no runs.

“We had great defensive plays that held them with the bases loaded. Fielders choice to KK at short for a perfect throw home to Mack McKay with a great tag. The replay confirmed she was out,” the coach said.

Purcell scored its second run in the bottom of the fifth with a lead off double by Kendra Anderson down the left field line. Jasey Baker followed with a sacrifice moving Anderson to third. Whitaker put the ball in play forcing an error that plated Anderson.

“We have three more games and are playing the last week we possibly can,” Jones said. “We have reached our small goals and are ready to take on the battle of winning our final goal. It will be a tough and great week of softball and we are looking forward to it,” she concluded.