Softball completes staff with Ricketts
Samantha Ricketts
An All-American, career-record holder and former professional softball player, is coming to Starkville. Samantha Ricketts will complete the 2014-15 Mississippi State softball coaching staff, according to an announcement from head coach Vann Stuedeman last week.
Ricketts, who will work with Bulldog hitters and have game management and recruiting responsibilities, spent the last three years as an assistant coach at Wichita State University.
“Coach Ricketts is a perfect fit for our softball family,” Stuedeman said. “A prolific hitter in her own right, she made a profound impact at Wichita State as its batting average went from .231 to .314 in just three years with the Shockers.
”We are excited and optimistic about Samantha’s arrival to MSU as she is a proven winner. She possesses the characteristics of a champion.”
With the Shockers, Ricketts worked with the team’s hitters and consistently improved their production. This last spring was her most successful as she helped the Shockers increase their overall win total by 15 from 2013 to 2014. Wichita State finished 21-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) in 2014 to win the program’s first regular-season league title.
Ricketts was part of the MVC Coaching Staff of the Year, helping to improve the Shockers from the ninth place in 2012, to eighth place in 2013, to MVC champs in 2014.
“I am very excited to be joining the Bulldog softball program as well as the Mississippi State family,” Ricketts said. “I am looking forward to contributing to the success of the program that Vann Stuedeman has been building and I truly believe it is an exciting time to be at Mississippi State University.”
At the conclusion of her four-year Oklahoma playing career in 2009, Ricketts was the record holder in career home runs (48) and runs batted in (239) while ranking third in extra-base hits (97), total bases (444), slugging percentage (.645) and on-base percentage (.461). She started 192 consecutive games and ended her career as the Big 12 career RBI leader.
The San Jose, Calif., product earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Oklahoma in 2009, and her master’s of education in adult higher education with an emphasis in intercollegiate athletic administration in 2011.
For additional information about Mississippi State athletics, please visit HailState.com.
