By Abby BittermanNORMAN — OU’s home opener came with a surprise.Senior utility Nicole Mendes — who has been out to this point in the season recovering from an ACL injury suffered in the fall — made her first appearance of the year.She was not expected to be back until mid-March But in the bottom of the sixth inning in the Sooners’ first game of the day against Northwestern, Mended came in to pinch hit.She hit a soft ground ball back to the pitcher and jogged to first before being thrown out.Read more on NewsOK.com