October 8, 2022

Coming up short in the last two tournaments was on all of the Morrison Wildcats’ minds. 

Morrison had just fallen to Pocola in the slowpitch state title game a year ago. Morrison had also lost to Silo in last season’s fastpitch state title game. 

So, when the Wildcats stepped onto the field for the first time this year, all the way back in August. They were all in agreement.

It was time to break through again. 

The Wildcats made that a reality when senior pitcher Hally Vaughn fired a pitch past the Pocola batter’s swing and into the glove of senior catcher Audrey Warriner for the final out of the state championship. Warriner sprang in the air and gave a hard fist pump as Morrison had won it all again.

“My heart was racing,” Warriner said. “I couldn’t keep it down.”

Morrison took down Pocola 2-0 on Saturday for the Class 2A state title. The Morrison seniors, which have been pivotal for the program, had earned four straight fastpitch state tournament appearances throughout their career. They began their run with a title in 2019 and closed it with one in 2022. 

“We came back hungry,” Morrison coach J.T. Freeman said. “That was our motto all year, ‘Let’s eat, let’s stay hungry.’ An amazing group of seniors, an amazing group of girls. Really proud of them and it just means a lot for the girls and the community.” 

The two teams were held scoreless through the first two innings. But Morrison (32-7) finally made a breakthrough in the third as senior Kallie Rupp smashed a two-run home run to center field to score Aleigh Tucker, who hit a single to start the inning. It would prove to be the only runs of the game and Morrison’s only two hits. But it was all Vaughn needed to finish the game from the circle.

“I knew we could always do it,” Rupp said, “but it’s just awesome to finish how we started in 2019 now that our four years are up. We ended on a great note.”

The senior class also includes Kansas commit September Flanagan and Rylee Hughes. 

“We started off rough,” Flanagan said, “and we all gelled together at the beginning of regionals and we put it all together and made it back here. We put it back together one last time.”