Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
#1 Oklahoma
Northwestern Falls to Oklahoma in WCWS Opener
6/2/2022 5:00:00 PM | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY - Graduate student Rachel Lewis' home run put Northwestern in front early, but the No. 9 seed Wildcats fell 13-2 (5 innings) to No. 1 seed Oklahoma in the opening round of the Women's College World Series at Hall of Fame Stadium on Thursday afternoon. NU (45-12) moves into the Elimination Bracket and will face No. 5 seed UCLA at 6 p.m. CT, tomorrow, June 3, on ESPN2.
Lewis hammered a 3-2 offering from OU pitcher Hope Trautwein into the left field bleachers, giving Northwestern a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, and sending the pocket of purple sitting on the first base side into a frenzy. She slugged her 23rd homer of the year, tying Garland Cooper (2007) for the single-season program record.
The Sooners (55-2) responded the next half inning by scoring six runs on six hits. A Tiare Jennings grand slam gave Oklahoma the lead. A seven-run fourth frame helped shorten the game to five innings.
Northwestern plated its second run in the top of the fifth inning after pinch hitter Kendall Peterson led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second on Jordyn Rudd's single. Rudd extended her hitting streak to seven games, and has totaled a tournament-best 15 hits in the NCAA Tournament. Maeve Nelson followed and sent a seeing-eye single through the middle of the field, scoring Grace Nieto, who pinch ran for Peterson.
Pitcher Danielle Williams (31-5) suffered just her fifth loss of the season and went 3.0 innings, allowing seven hits with three strikeouts. She faced one over the minimum in the first two frames before 11 Sooners came to the plate in the third. Relivers Lauren Dvorak and Sydeny Supple combined to finish the last inning.
Lewis and Rudd both reached base twice for the Wildcats.
Trautwein (19-1) nearly went the distance, working 4.2 innings and allowing one run on one hit, but walked a season-high five Wildcats. Jordy Bahl entered to record the game's final out, but allowed back-to-back hits to Rudd and Nelson.
