Keilani Johanna Ricketts Tumanuvao (born September 1, 1991) is an American

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

pitcher for the

Oklahoma City Spark Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) is a professional women's fastpitch softball league in the United States. The new league began its promotional campaign in 2021 and launched its inaugural season in June 2022. The league is unrelated to the d ...

of the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). She played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

from 2010 to 2013, where she was the starting pitcher and helped to lead the Sooners to the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. As a member of the United States women's national softball team she won

2011 World Cup of Softball The sixth World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA between July 21 and July 25, 2011. USA won their fifth World Cup by defeating Japan 6–4 in the Championship game. Current standings Preliminary round all times CDT Pos ...

. Ricketts currently plays for the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride are a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida and a member of the WPF - Women's Professional Fastpitch League, U.S. Founded in 2009. They previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play th ...

in the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

. She is the Sooners career leader in

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and strikeouts. She also ranks for career records in both the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

and the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I, where she is one three players to win 100 games with 1,000 strikeouts and hit 50

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

Oklahoma Sooners

Ricketts debuted on February 10, 2010 tossing three scoreless innings to beat the

Florida Atlantic Owls The Florida Atlantic Owls are the athletics teams of Florida Atlantic University. The Owls participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I as members of Conference USA. On October 21, 2021, Florida Atlantic accept ...

. She was named Second-Team National Fastpitch Coaches' Association All-American along with First-Team All- Big 12 honors. 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 The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

and opened the series by beating National Player of The Year

Danielle Lawrie Danielle Elaine Lawrie (born April 11, 1987) is a Canadian, former collegiate All-American, medal-winning Olympian, professional All-Star softball pitcher and current sports commentator. Lawrie played college softball at Washington, in which sh ...

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. 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 Chelsea Rae Thomas (born January 26, 1990) is an American former collegiate softball pitcher, originally from Pleasantville, Iowa. Thomas pitched for the Missouri Tigers in the Big 12 Conference and Southeastern Conference; Thomas is the career ...

to record 33 strikeouts, an NCAA top-10 record. In the NCAA tournament, the Sooners opened up that year against the

Iona Gaels The Iona Gaels are the athletics teams of Iona University, in New Rochelle, New York. They compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and participate in 21 NCAA Division I programs. Varsity athletic programs Men's basketball I ...

and Ricketts set a career and school high with 19 strikeouts in regulation, winning 7-1 on May 20. The Sooners made the Women's College World Series that year by defeating the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

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. She was also chosen USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and recognized with the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

for softball. 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 An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

and

WHIP A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

. Ricketts would also lead the team in batting average and doubles with career highs, which she also tallied in

, RBIs,

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. Ricketts fired a

perfect game Perfect game may refer to: Sports * Perfect game (baseball), a complete-game win by a pitcher allowing no baserunners * Perfect game (bowling), a 300 game, 12 consecutive strikes in the same game * Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, New York ...

over the

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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. On May 19, Ricketts hit a grand slam to help reach a career high with 6 RBIs vs. the

Lehigh Mountain Hawks The Lehigh Mountain Hawks are the athletic teams representing Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Hawks participate in NCAA Division I competition as a member of the Patriot League. In football, Lehigh competes in the Division I F ...

. 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 The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

. The Sooners would go on to defeat the defending champs to meet the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

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. 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. 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. Ricketts had a career best in

shutouts In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

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. 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 The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

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. 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. For her career she holds the school records in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched and strikeout ratio. 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. In all of the NCAA she is 7th in wins all-time.

Personal life

Ricketts is of Samoan descent. She has three siblings that include Richard, a former

Air Force Falcons football The Air Force Falcons football program represents the United States Air Force Academy in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. Air Force has been a member of the Mountain West Conference s ...

player, Stephanie, a former All-American

Hawaii Rainbow Wahine softball The Hawaiʻi Rainbow Wāhine softball team represents the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in NCAA Division I college softball. The team participates in the Big West Conference (BWC). The Rainbow Wahine are currently led by head coach Bob Coolen ...

player, and Samantha, a former All-American

Oklahoma Sooners softball The Oklahoma Sooners softball team represents the University of Oklahoma in NCAA Division I College softball. The team competes in the Big 12 Conference, and plays its home games at OU Softball Complex in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners are current ...

player and current Head Softball Coach for Mississippi State University. In December 2017, Ricketts married Sean Tumanuvao in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

Awards and honors

* 2012—Winner of the

for softball * 2012—Winner of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year * 2013—Winner of the Honda Sports Award for softball * 2013—Winner of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year * 2013—Premier Player of College Softball as voted by the fans * 2013—The

Honda-Broderick Cup The Honda-Broderick Cup is a sports award for college-level female athletes. The awards are voted on by a national panel of more than 1000 collegiate athletic directors. It was first presented by Tom Broderick, an American owner of a women's sports ...

winner for all sports. * 2017

All-Star

Statistics

References

External links