Keilani Ricketts

Keilani Ricketts
Oklahoma City Spark – No. 10
Pitcher
Born: (1991-09-01) September 1, 1991 (age 33)[1]
San Jose, California
Bats: Left
Throws: Left
Professional debut
NCAA: 2010, for the Oklahoma Sooners
NPF: 2013, for the USSSA Pride
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Women's softball
Representing  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2011 Guadalajara Team
Gold medal – first place 2019 Lima Team

Keilani Johanna Ricketts Tumanuvao (born September 1, 1991)[2] is an American softball pitcher for the Oklahoma City Spark. She played college softball at Oklahoma from 2010 to 2013, where she was the starting pitcher and helped to lead the Sooners to the national championship in 2013.[3] As a member of the United States women's national softball team she won 2011 World Cup of Softball.[4] Ricketts currently plays for the USSSA Pride in the National Pro Fastpitch. She is the Sooners career leader in wins and strikeouts. She also ranks for career records in both the Big 12 Conference and the NCAA Division I, where she is one three players to win 100 games with 1,000 strikeouts and hit 50 home runs.[5]

Oklahoma Sooners

Ricketts debuted on February 10, 2010 tossing three scoreless innings to beat the Florida Atlantic Owls.[6] She was named Second-Team National Fastpitch Coaches' Association All-American along with First-Team All-Big 12 honors.[7][8] As a freshman, she would break the record for strikeout ratio and then rank second for strikeouts overall at the school. Ricketts would lead the team into a Super Regional with the Washington Huskies and opened the series by beating National Player of The Year Danielle Lawrie before dropping the next two to be eliminated that year.

In her sophomore year, Ricketts would be named a First-Team All-American and earned her second conference honors.[9] Ricketts would break her own and set the school record for strikeout ratio with a career best 11.1 per 7-innings. She also broke the school strikeouts record, which now ranks second all-time.

On April 16, 2011, Ricketts lost a 9-inning contest vs. the Missouri Tigers and combined with Tiger pitcher Chelsea Thomas to record 33 strikeouts, an NCAA top-10 record.[10] In the NCAA tournament, the Sooners opened up that year against the Iona Gaels and Ricketts set a career and school high with 19 strikeouts in regulation, winning 7-1 on May 20.[11] The Sooners made the Women's College World Series that year by defeating the Arizona Wildcats but did not win a game.

As a junior, Ricketts again earned First-Team honors from both the NFCA and the conference, this time being named 2012 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year while also achieving a pitching Triple Crown.[12][13] She was also chosen USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and recognized with the Honda Sports Award for softball.[14] She would break her own strikeout record with a career and school best total, while her career high in wins ranks second all-time for the Sooners; Ricketts also had her best ERA and WHIP. Ricketts would also lead the team in batting average and doubles with career highs, which she also tallied in home runs, RBIs, hits, triples and slugging percentage.

Ricketts fired a perfect game over the Kansas Jayhawks on March 30 and struck out 10 batters to cross the 1,000 career benchmark, becoming one of the elite to reach that milestone in three seasons.[15] On May 19, Ricketts hit a grand slam to help reach a career high with 6 RBIs vs. the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.[16] At that year's WCWS on June 1, for her second game Ricketts pitched a 16-strikeout, 2 hit shutout over the No.1 California Golden Bears.[17] The Sooners would go on to defeat the defending champs to meet the Alabama Crimson Tide in the championship final. Ricketts won game one but then lost back-to-back games to drop the series. Ricketts would be named All-Tournament for her performance, tying the third best record for WCWS strikeouts with 64.[18]

For a final season, Ricketts claimed her fourth First Team all-conference and third First-Team and fourth overall All-American honors, simultaneously winning Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.[19][20] She would also earn her second USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and Honda Sports Award for softball to accompany the Honda Cup Award.[21][22] Ricketts had a career best in shutouts and winning percentage with a near perfect season while also throwing 6 no-hitters, a top-5 NCAA record for a single season.

February 9, 2013 she won her 100th game, no-hitting the Oregon Ducks.[23] Beginning on March 27-June 3, she had a career best 21 game win streak. Ricketts led her team to a No. 1 seed and culminated in winning the National Championship by besting the Tennessee Lady Vols in a 12-inning game one and then driving in all the runs, three of them the winning runs coming via her 50th career home run off Ivy Renfroe, in game two to seal the title. This would give her the Most Outstanding Player Award and her second All-Tournament recognition.[24]

Ricketts would also become one of the most prolific and winning pitchers in WCWS history going 8-4 with 112 strikeouts and allowing 19 earned runs in 80.1 inning for a 1.00 WHIP in three trips.[25] For her career she holds the school records in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeout ratio.[26] In the Big 12 she ranks second in career wins, strikeouts and shutouts, third in strikeout ratio, fourth in innings and 7th in ERA; offensively she stands third in walks, fifth in home runs and 10th in slugging percentage.[27] In all of the NCAA she is 7th in wins all-time.[28]

Personal life

Ricketts is of Samoan descent.[29] She has three siblings that include Richard, a former Air Force Falcons football player, Stephanie, a former All-American Hawaii Rainbow Wahine softball player, and Samantha, a former All-American Oklahoma Sooners softball player and current Head Softball Coach for Mississippi State University.[30] In December 2017, Ricketts married Sean Tumanuvao in San Jose, California.[31]

Awards and honors

Statistics

University of Oklahoma
Year W L GP GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2010 32 10 48 38 29 14 2 259.2 136 63 46 91 346 1.24 0.87
2011 29 15 50 42 33 9 2 284.1 195 79 60 82 452 1.48 0.97
2012 37 9 49 43 34 15 2 292.0 163 64 45 51 457 1.08 0.73
2013 35 1 45 40 27 16 2 238.1 123 47 42 63 350 1.23 0.78
TOTALS 133 35 192 163 123 54 8 1074.1 617 253 193 287 1605 1.26 0.84
University of Oklahoma
YEAR G AB R H BA RBI HR 3B 2B TB SLG BB SO SB SBA
2010 52 86 15 21 .244 20 5 0 2 38 .442% 28 35 0 1
2011 57 133 27 38 .285 45 13 0 2 79 .594% 38 39 1 1
2012 63 160 42 64 .400 49 17 2 13 132 .825% 53 31 6 7
2013 61 153 44 58 .379 60 15 0 8 111 .725% 51 33 9 9
TOTALS 233 532 128 181 .340 174 50 2 25 360 .676% 170 138 16 18
NPF USSSA Pride
YEAR W L G GS CG Sh SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP
2013 3 3 9 7 2 0 1 35.0 35 25 22 21 43 4.40 1.60
2014 6 6 16 13 0 0 1 65.0 53 25 18 16 56 1.94 1.06
2015 7 5 14 12 4 1 0 76.0 62 34 28 16 83 2.58 1.02
2016 8 6 21 14 2 1 0 96.0 85 40 33 15 90 2.40 1.04
2017 11 4 18 13 0 0 1 80.2 67 21 17 12 82 1.48 0.98
2018 6 0 8 6 4 2 2 41.0 12 2 0 7 51 0.00 0.46
TOTAL 41 24 86 65 12 4 5 393.2 314 147 118 87 405 2.10 1.02

See also

References

  1. ^ "Keilani Johanna Ricketts". California Birth Index, 1905–1995. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  2. ^ "USA Softball #10 Keilani Ricketts". usasoftball.com. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
  3. ^ "Player Bio: Keilani Ricketts". soonersports.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2013.
  4. ^ "U.S. wins World Cup of Softball". ESPN. July 26, 2011. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
  5. ^ "Keilani Ricketts Profile". Soonersports.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  6. ^ "SOONERS WIN SEASON OPENER, 9-0". Soonersports.com. February 10, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  7. ^ "2010 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-America Teams". Nfca.org. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  8. ^ "FLORES, VANDEVER EARN BIG 12 HONORS". Soonersports.com. May 14, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  9. ^ "2011 Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-Americans". Nfca.org. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  10. ^ "WALK-OFF HOME RUN PUSHES MISSOURI PAST OU". Soonersports.com. April 16, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  11. ^ "RICKETTS LEADS SOONERS PAST IONA, 7-1". Soonersports.com. May 20, 2011. Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  12. ^ "2012 NFCA Division I All-Americans". Nfca.org. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  13. ^ "OU TAKES THREE OF FIVE BIG 12 YEARLY AWARDS". Soonersports.com. May 15, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  14. ^ "RICKETTS NAMED PLAYER OF THE YEAR". Soonersports.com. May 29, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  15. ^ "RICKETTS PERFECT IN OKLAHOMA RUN RULE". Soonersports.com. March 30, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  16. ^ "OU OPENS POSTSEASON PLAY WITH 19-3 RUN RULE VICTORY". Soonersports.com. May 19, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  17. ^ "RICKETTS FANS 16 IN SHUTOUT OF NO. 1 CAL". Soonersports.com. June 1, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  18. ^ "SOONERS FALL IN TITLE GAME, 5-4". Soonersports.com. June 7, 2012. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  19. ^ "2013 D1 ALL-AMERICANS". Nfca.org. May 29, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  20. ^ "SOONERS TAKE HOME TOP BIG 12 AWARDS". Soonersports.com. May 14, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  21. ^ "RICKETTS REPEATS AS USA PLAYER OF THE YEAR". Soonersports.com. May 28, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  22. ^ "Keilani Ricketts, University of Oklahoma". CWSA. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  23. ^ "RICKETTS FIRES SECOND NO-HITTER". Soonersports.com. February 9, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  24. ^ "CHAMPIONS! SOONERS CROWNED AT WCWS". Soonersports.com. June 4, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  25. ^ "NCAA Division I Softball Championships Records Book" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  26. ^ "Oklahoma Softball 2017 Media Guide". Issuu.com. March 27, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  27. ^ "Softball Big 12 Record Book" (PDF). Big12sports.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  28. ^ "Division I Softball Records" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  29. ^ "KEILANI RICKETTS OF GABBARD FAMILY ADDS MORE NATIONAL AWARDS TO LIST". Samoa News. July 30, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2013.
  30. ^ Aber, Ryan. "WCWS: Keilani Ricketts and sisters credit parents' positive attitude". newsok.com. The Oklahoman. Retrieved June 1, 2012.
  31. ^ "Keilani & Sean's Christmas Samoan Wedding". ShootAnyAngle Photography. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  32. ^ a b "Softball". CWSA. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  33. ^ "Keilani Ricketts Caps Career With 2013 Honda Cup". National Pro Fast Pitch. May 13, 2013. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved March 22, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)