Ricketts Named NCAA Female Athlete Of The Year

Keilani Ricketts capped her remarkable career at the University of Oklahoma on Monday night as she was named the winner of the 2013 Honda Cup, given to the nation's top female collegiate athlete by the Collegiate Women's Sports Awards.

The two-time winner of the Honda Sports Award for Softball, Ricketts beat out the other 11 Honda Sports Award winners, including fellow finalists Elena Delle Donne, women's basketball player from Delaware, and Kimberlyn Duncan, track and field athlete from LSU.

Ricketts becomes the first student-athlete in Oklahoma history to win the Honda Cup and is just the third softball player to take home the honor, joining UCLA's Natasha Watley (2003) and Lisa Fernandez (1993).

The two-time USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, Ricketts helped lead the Oklahoma softball team to the 2013 National Championship, the second in program history. In the title-clinching win, she drove in all four runs in a 4-0 victory over Tennessee, including a three-run home run.

Ricketts was 35-1 this season with a 1.23 earned run average and 350 strikeouts in 238.1 innings pitched. She posted the second most shutouts in the nation this year with 16 and ranked third in wins (35), fifth in hits allowed per seven innings (3.61), sixth in total strikeouts (350) and eighth in both ERA (1.23) and strikeouts per seven innings (10.3).

Additionally, Ricketts hit .379 at the plate with 15 home runs and 60 runs batted in. She slugged .725, got on base at a .534 clip and was a perfect 9-9 on stolen bases.

The CWSA presents the Honda Sports Award annually to top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. Ricketts was chosen for the Honda Sports Award by a vote of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

A member of the 2013 USA Softball Women's National Team, Ricketts will compete next from July 11-14 at the World Cup of Softball in Oklahoma City.