The Oklahoma Sooners women’s softball team are off to an amazing start in the 2012 Women's College World Series. In their first game, on May 31, they beat South Florida, 5-1. The Sooners then stepped up and knocked off No. 1 California on June 1, 3-0.
In the first game against USF, Oklahoma won behind the strong pitching of Keilani Ricketts, who pitched seven innings while only giving up three hits and one unearned run. She also struck out 11 batters. Lauren Chamberlain did her part with a home run on two hits. She also scored two runs in the game.
Ken Eriksen, the head coach at USF, compared the Sooners to the New York Yankees, comparing Ricketts to Babe Ruth and the batting order to the Yankees’ teams from the 1990s.
“Who do you pitch around?†Eriksen said. “I mean, do you walk Chamberlain to get to Ricketts? Do you walk Ricketts to get to Shults? What do you do? The margin of error becomes smaller at this level against a great hitting team like that.â€
The next day, it was an even more impressive performance by Oklahoma. Ricketts pitched again and this time struck out 16 batters from the No. 1 ranked team, California.
"She has gone to another level," Sooners’ head coach Patty Gasso said of Ricketts. "Just knows how to get locked in like never before, and I've seen her step up in clutch situations. She's been doing that over and over. It's been an absolute pleasure to watch."
The No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners also continued to play with power as Georgia Casey hit her 10th home run of the season. The Sooners lead the nation with 97 home runs and Ricketts has pitched 39 straight innings without allowing an earned run.
The Oklahoma Sooners play next on June 3.
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