The No. 12 Sooners split the series between the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Thursday evening in Norman. A walk off grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning by designated hitter Wendy Trott finished the Sooners late rally to overcome the Red Raider’s four run deficit in the first game of the doubleheader. The Sooners battled to extend the second game into extra innings before the Red Raiders scored the final run to beat the Sooners 7-6 in nine innings.

In the first match up of the evening, the Sooners posted a quick 4-0 lead with a three RBI home run by senior catcher Lindsey Vandever in the bottom of the fourth inning. Vandever’s home run scored senior second baseman Amber Flores who doubled to right center to reach base and freshman first baseman Jessica Shults who walked. The Sooners posted three runs on two hits during the inning.

Texas Tech returned in the top of the fifth to take the lead with a home run by centerfielder Mickey Kenney. Singles by three different players also added more base runners for Texas Tech, including two RBI singles. The Red Raiders scored four runs on five hits total hits for the inning. Texas Tech also added three more runs in the top of the sixth to extend the evening’s biggest lead over the Sooners to 7-3.

OU came out in the bottom of the sixth to put two more runs on the board with a two RBI home run by sophomore Katie Norris. Following in the bottom of the seventh, after the Sooners held Texas Tech to no runs, Trott then crushed her first home run of the season over the centerfield fence to give the Sooners enough runs to win the game by a score of 9-7. Trott entered the game with a .152 batting average and no home runs for the season before hitting the grand slam.

After coming off a sweep of Texas A&M for the first time since 2002, the OU softball team held off the late surge by Texas Tech in the second game before defeating the Red Raiders 7-6 in extra innings. The Sooners first ended the one run tie in the bottom of the fifth with a double to left centerfield by freshman catcher Jessica Shults to score junior outfielder Krystle Huey. The double was followed by a one run RBI home run by Vandever, her second for the day and ninth for the season. The four runs extended the lead for the Sooners to 5-1 through five innings.

The Sooners looked to be in control of the game until Emily Bledsoe hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh to claim a 6-5 for the Red Raiders in the game. The Sooners came back to tie up the game 6-6 with a double by Vandever who would eventually score off of a single by Ricketts. The single sent the teams into extra innings.

In the top of the ninth outfielder Leah Legler singled to second base, followed by a single by outfielder McKenzie Clemmons. After a pitching change to bring in freshman pitcher Michelle Gascoigne, infielder Emily Bledsoe walked and Legler scored on a wild pitch to end the tie in favor of Texas Tech. The Sooners would not be able to get their offense going in the bottom of the ninth, ending the game with a one run defeat to Texas Tech 7-6.

The Sooners return to action against No 14 Texas in the Red River Rivalry series this weekend. The first game against the Longhorns is at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon with a second game at 2 p.m. on the following Sunday.