Keilani Ricketts and Lauren Chamberlain deserve your attention. The two are arguably the best players in college softball, and they play on the same team. Yes, they are huge reasons why Oklahoma is poised to win the Women’s College World Series and why the team nearly won it all last year.
Ricketts (pictured right) is a senior from San Jose, Calif., who is not only one of the best pitchers in the country, but also one of the top power hitters. Ricketts entered the WCWS 129-35 with a 1.25 ERA for her career. She has struck out 1,566 batters in 1,043.1 career innings. She is left handed, which gives hitters a different look than what they are used to. She is an imposing figure at 6-foot-2, and she pitches regularly in the low-70s, which is just about as fast as it gets in college softball. But that’s not all the two-time USA College Softball Player of the Year has going for her.
Ricketts blosomed as a hitter in the last two seasons. She batted .395 with 13 doubles and 17 home runs last season. She followed that up by batting .383 with 14 home runs this season. Ricketts has posted a career 1.171 OPS and displayed excellent bat control by walking 168 times compared to just 133 strikeouts.
Ricketts comes from an athletic family.
Her oldest sister, Samantha, is the Oklahoma’s career leader in RBIs. Samantha was the school’s career leader in home runs until Keilani broke the record this postseason. Her other older sister, Stephanie, was a star pitcher for Hawaii from 2009-2012. Her older brother, Richard, was a defensive lineman at Air Force. Four kids from the same family and all four were college athletes. Those are some excellent genes.
Having Ricketts on the team was probably enough to get Oklahoma to back-to-back championship games in the WCWS, but it sure has been a great boost also having Lauren Chamberlain.
Chamberlain (pictured left) is a sophomore from Trabuco Canyon, Calif. (Orange County area), and she is the best hitter in the country. Chamberlain tied Longwood’s Megan Baltzell for the country lead in home runs this season with 30. She led the nation with a 1.102 slugging percentage and 84 RBIs. Chamberlain was also one of three finalists for the USA Player of the Year award won by Ricketts. She also provided a walk-off 2-run home run in the bottom of the 12th to give the Sooners a 5-3 win over Tennessee in the first for the best of 3 against the Lady Vols.
Chamberlain and Ricketts, along with Shelby Pendley and pitcher Michelle Gascoigne, are big reasons why Oklahoma is 56-4 and possibly one of the best teams in the sport’s history. After losing to Alabama in the championship last year, this group is likely to give the school its first softball championship since 2000.
Photo: Twitter/Lauren Chamberlain
