Clifton's Walk-Off Slam Saves Sooners

Kansas

^13/14 Oklahoma

Inning-by-Inning
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
KU	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	3	3
OU	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	5	6	0

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Parker (12-3)	7.0	3	2	2	2	9
L - Formby (11-4)	6.1	6	5	5	8	3
S - N/A	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Clifton	2	1	1	4	1	1
KU - Dodson	2	1	1	2	0	1

Game Notes
Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Kansas, 59-43 ... OU has won 24 straight in the series at home and is 32-13 all-time against KU in Norman ... Oklahoma is 9-1 at home this year ... OU is 16-5 in Big 12 home openers, including five straight wins ... the win was the Sooners' first this year when trailing after five or six innings and was it's sixth comeback victory ... the Sooners tied a season high with eight walks drawn ... freshman Caleigh Clifton hit a walk-off grand slam, her first career home run, and set a career-high with four RBI ... it was the team's third walk-off grand slam this year, though the previous two had been in run-rule wins; the last walk-off grand slam for Oklahoma that didn't come via run-rule was on April 15, 2010, when Wendy Trott did it in a 9-7 win over Texas Tech ... sophomore Nicole Pendley was 2-3 to extend her hitting streak to a season-best five games ... freshman Shay Knighten made her first career start at first base

Game Notes

Oklahoma now leads the all-time series against Kansas, 59-43 ... OU has won 24 straight in the series at home and is 32-13 all-time against KU in Norman ... Oklahoma is 9-1 at home this year ... OU is 16-5 in Big 12 home openers, including five straight wins ... the win was the Sooners' first this year when trailing after five or six innings and was it's sixth comeback victory ... the Sooners tied a season high with eight walks drawn ... freshman Caleigh Clifton hit a walk-off grand slam, her first career home run, and set a career-high with four RBI ... it was the team's third walk-off grand slam this year, though the previous two had been in run-rule wins; the last walk-off grand slam for Oklahoma that didn't come via run-rule was on April 15, 2010, when Wendy Trott did it in a 9-7 win over Texas Tech ... sophomore Nicole Pendley was 2-3 to extend her hitting streak to a season-best five games ... freshman Shay Knighten made her first career start at first base

NORMAN – Freshman Caleigh Clifton's first career home run was a walk-off grand slam as No. 13/14 Oklahoma (25-6, 2-0 Big 12) rallied past Kansas (19-12, 0-1) Friday night, 5-2, to earn its seventh straight win.

Taylor Dodson's two-run home run for Kansas in the fifth inning accounted for the only runs in the game until the seventh when the Sooners rallied for five runs on three hits, two walks and an error to complete the team's sixth comeback win of the season.

Sophomore Kelsey Arnold started the bottom of the seventh by getting OU on the board. She reached on an infield single, but the throw from KU third baseman Jessie Roane went over the first baseman's head and caromed into right field, allowing Arnold to race around the bases.

Senior Erin Miller followed Arnold's at-bat with a walk and Sydney Romero, representing the winning run, added a single. After a flyout, sophomore Lea Wodach walked to fill the bases. That brought Clifton to the plate and she drove a 2-1 pitch into the bleachers in right-center for her first career homer. The four RBI were also a career-high for her.

It was the third walk-off grand slam for the Sooners this year as senior Paris Townsend did it against Maryland on March 13 and freshman Fale Aviu hit one against UMKC on March 25. Both of those came in run-rule wins, however.

Oklahoma's last walk-off grand slam in a game that wasn't a run-rule win came on April 15, 2010, in game one of a doubleheader against Texas Tech when Wendy Trott did it in the seventh inning of a 9-7 win.

Arnold finished Friday's game 2-3 with a run scored, while fellow sophomore Nicole Pendley also collected two hits to run her hitting streak to a season-best five games.

Sophomore Paige Parker earned the win to run her record to 12-3 on the season. She struck out nine for her second highest strikeout total of the season, walked two and allowed just three hits, one of which was the two-run homer.

After giving up that home run, however, Parker was lights out. She closed out the fifth with a lineout and groundout, then retired Kansas in order in the sixth and seventh innings to set down the last eight batters she faced.

The win came against Kansas starter Andie Formby who has been named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week three times this season, including each of the past two weeks. She gave up five runs on six hits with three strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

OU drew eight walks against Formby, which tied the team's season high. It's also notable because Formby had walked a total of 15 batters in her 96.0 innings on the entire season entering the game. In fact, she had walked only eight batters in her previous 81.1 innings combined.

The win continued OU's longstanding success against KU in Norman. The Sooners are now 32-13 against the Jayhawks at home, including 24 straight wins. Kansas has not won in Norman since 1995.

Oklahoma also improved to 16-5 all-time in Big 12 home openers. It has won five straight such games, outscoring opponents 27-7 during the current streak.

Overall, the Sooners have won three straight against Kansas, six of the past seven matchups and 14 of the past 16 contests.

The teams return to the field Saturday at 1 p.m., and the game will be shown on Fox College Sports Pacific.

Saturday is Kady Self Day, and the first 250 fans will get a Self poster and a selfie stick.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kelsey Arnold

Caleigh Clifton

Shay Knighten

Erin Miller

Paige Parker

Nicole Pendley

Sydney Romero

Kady Self

Paris Townsend

Lea Wodach

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics