The Oklahoma team waits at home plate for teammate Keilani Ricketts, 10, following her home run against Tennessee in the third inning of the second game of the best of three Women’s College World Series NCAA softball championship series in Oklahoma City.
The throw gets to Oklahoma shortstop Jessica Vest, left, before Tennessee’s Kat Dotson, right, who is tagged out at second base in the second game of the best of three Women’s College World Series NCAA softball championship series in Oklahoma City.OKLAHOMA CITY – Keilani Ricketts homered and drove in four runs, Michelle Gascoigne pitched a three-hit shutout and top-seeded Oklahoma won the NCAA softball championship by beating Tennessee 4-0 in Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series finals Tuesday night.
Ricketts, the national player of the year, drove a 2-1 pitch from Ivy Renfroe (22-5) halfway up the right-field bleachers for a three-run home run in the third inning and tacked on an RBI groundout in the seventh.
Ricketts got the night off in the circle after throwing a career-high 12 innings in Game 1 and moving to 35-1 on the season, but that just put the other half of her well-rounded game on display. She hit her 15th homer of the season and pushed her RBI total to 60.
No. 7 seed Tennessee (52-12) managed just three singles against Gascoigne (19-3), who struck out 12 and didn’t walk anyone.
Lauren Gibson, Ellen Renfroe and Madison Shipman were named to the WCWS all-tournament Team from the Lady Vols.