Not once in the first 17 softball games at new Arrocha Ballpark had anyone homered off the large rectangular scoreboard beyond the left-center-field fence.

Then it happened twice within about 10 minutes as Kansas University and Oklahoma divided a Big 12 Conference softball twinbill Saturday afternoon.

Kansas captured the opener, 2-0, as senior right-hander Kara Pierce fanned a dozen Cowgirls.

However, Megan Carey stroked a two-run rocket off the scoreboard netting in the top of the seventh of the nightcap to give OSU a 3-1 victory.

Carey’s blow came just minutes after KU’s Destiny Frankenstein had forged a 1-all deadlock by homering to almost the same spot.

“My dad always tells me you can’t take a change-up out of the park,” Frankenstein said. “I’m going to call him tonight and tell him I did.”

Frankenstein’s third homer of the season — the first to hit the scoreboard in a game — came minutes after her error in the top of the sixth had given the Cowgirls a 1-0 lead.

“I wasn’t in the best of moods,” Frankenstein said. “I wanted to redeem myself.”

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, the euphoria was short-lived. In the seventh, Carey connected with two outs and a runner on against Kassie Humphreys, who hadn’t allowed an earned run to that point.

Kansas University's Destiny Frankenstein throws to second base for a force out against Oklahoma State. KU split with the Cowgirls on Saturday at Arrocha Ballpark.

“It was a hanging drop-ball,” KU coach Tracy Bunge said of the fateful pitch to Carey. “It was up, and you can’t throw a drop ball there.”

Bunge chalked it up to a freshman mistake.

“She’s learning,” Bunge said. “When Kassie hits spots, people don’t hit her, but when she makes mistakes, the ball gets hit hard.”

In the first game, Pierce pitched out of a couple of jams. She allowed five singles, walked one and hit a batter, but didn’t make any costly mistakes.

“With runners on, I was focused and trying to put pitches on the black of the plate,” Pierce said.

KU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Melaney Torres doubled and scored on Jessica Moppin’s single. Then the Jayhawks added an insurance run in the sixth when Leah Mountain singled, pinch-runner Kathy McVey stole second, and Melanie Wallach stroked an RBI single.

Kansas collected six hits in the first game and five in the second.

“Eleven hits in two games … that’s good,” Bunge said. “We looked good at the plate today. You’d like to score more runs, but from where we’ve been I’ll take the 11 hits.”

Prior to Saturday, the Jayhawks were hitting .143 as a team in conference games and had been shut out in six of their seven defeats.

KU will play host to Southern Illinois in a single game at 3 p.m. Monday.