No. 2 Sooners Rally To Top Northwestern

Georgia Casey slugged a pair of home runs and drove in five runs as No. 2 Oklahoma rallied for a 7-4 win over Northwestern on Sunday in the final game of the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz.

The win puts OU at 5-0 on the season for the second season in a row, while the Wildcats drop to 0-5 on the year.

Things looked good for Oklahoma early on as it took advantage of wild Northwestern pitching to take a 2-0 lead in the second inning.

Brittany Williams drew a leadoff walk and Callie Parsons reached on a bunt single before freshman Leslie Miller, who was making her first career start, drew another walk.

Following the second out of the inning, Lauren Chamberlain was hit in the back on the first pitch of her plate appearance. Casey then stepped in and drew a five-pitch walk to plate the game's second run.

Northwestern jumped ahead with a four-run third inning, scoring more runs in one inning than OU had allowed in the previous four games combined.

With runners on the corners and none out, Amy Letourneau chopped one back to Keilani Ricketts in the circle, but Ricketts' flip home wasn't in time to get the runner at the plate. Anna Edwards then tripled to right field to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead. A sacrifice fly from Aubrie May plated NU's final run of the game.

The Sooners wasted little time, however, in tying the game up and then taking the lead.

Chamberlain led off the fourth inning with a sharp single to left field. Casey then recorded her first home run of the season with a straight shot to center field.

With two outs, Pendley kept the inning alive with a walk. Williams then hit a ground-rule double to right field to put two runners in scoring position. A walk to Parsons filled the bases while a subsequent walk to Javen Henson brought home the go-ahead run.

Casey provided some insurance in the top of the seventh inning with her second home run of the season. It was nearly identical to her third-inning home run, as it was also hit to straight-away center field and scored Chamberlain. For Casey, it was the first multi-homer game of her career.

In the first inning, Northwestern leadoff hitter Kristin Scharkey chopped a grounder off the top of Pendley's glove at third base. It was the first hit surrendered by Ricketts, snapping a season-opening streak of 12.0 innings.

Ricketts lasted two innings and gave up four runs on four hits with four strikeouts. Michelle Gascoigne came on in relief and earned the win. She pitched the final five innings and yielded just three hits to go with eight strikeouts.