With a state tournament berth on the line, the Sequoyah Lady Indians softball team held off a pesky Panama squad to win the regional championship 6-4.

The Lady Indians went 3-0 during the tournament, defeating Panama and Wilburton in Thursday's games before beating Panama again on Friday to claim a berth in the state championship which begins next Thursday in Oklahoma City.

In Friday's final game versus Panama, the Lady Indians continued their trend of grabbing the early lead. After center fielder Nikki Lewis led off the game with a single to center field, first baseman Binx Hammer drove Lewis home with a single to right center to give Sequoyah the lead 1-0.

In the second inning third baseman Caitlin Dry led off with a single. After a sacrifice bunt by Haylee Beck, left fielder Keisha Jones drove in Dry to make the score 2-0. It looked like Sequoyah would get more in the inning, after Taylor Johnson followed Jones with another single and Lewis reached on a bunt to load the bases. However, the Lady Indians were unable to score any more.

In the third inning second baseman Megan Tehee reached on a single. The next batter, Dry, hit a sharp grounder to third. Panama's third baseman attempted to throw out Tehee at second. However, the throw got by the second baseman, allowing Tehee to score and Dry to move to second. Beck followed with an RBI groundout to second and Sequoyah led 4-0.

In the fourth inning, it was Johnson getting her second single of the game to lead off the inning. Lewis then bunted again. The throw to first bounced off Lewis' back and struck Panama's first baseman in the face, allowing Lewis to reach and Johnson to move to third. Two batters later, pitcher Cortney Glass hit a two-run single to leftfield to put Sequoyah up 6-0 after four innings.

Sequoyah appeared to be in cruise control. For the first four innings, Glass scattered five hits over the first four, not allowing Panama to get a baserunner past second base and extending her scoreless inning streak to 18 innings.

However, the Lady Razorbacks refused to quit, scoring a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to cut the lead to 6-2. In the seventh, Panama followed a double with a single to get two baserunners on. With two outs, Panama got a triple to cut the lead to 6-4. However, Glass was able to coax the next hitter into grounding the third, and Sequoyah was on to the state tournament.

"We handled the pressure pretty well," head coach Jeff Turtle said. "At least until the last couple of innings. But they [Panama] are a tough team. They hit the ball well and we had a couple of chances early that we didn't take advantage of."

"But we found a way to get it done. We played good defense all three games and we finally managed to string together enough hits to score some runs. Only eight teams qualify for state, so to be one of them is pretty good."

Sequoyah will travel to Oklahoma City for the state tournament that starts on Thursday. Opponents and game times are to be determined.