
Photo by: Jade Hewitt/Athletes Unlimited
Former All-American Sanders Joins Softball Staff
June 15, 2021 | Softball
STARKVILLE – Former First Team All-American DJ Sanders will join the Mississippi State softball coaching staff as a volunteer assistant, head coach Samantha Ricketts announced on Monday.
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Sanders spent her collegiate career at Louisiana and Oregon where she earned All-American honors in 2017 and All-Pac-12 honors in 2018. She was drafted No. 21 overall by the Chicago Bandits in the 2018 NPF Draft and played the summer of 2020 with Athletes Unlimited. Most recently, Sanders was a graduate assistant at Missouri, helping the Tigers to a 61-24 record in her two seasons.
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"We are thrilled to add DJ to our staff as she brings a wealth of knowledge with her from her professional and collegiate playing experience," Ricketts said. "She has learned from some of the best coaches in our game, playing for Mike Lotief at Louisiana and Mike White at Oregon and serving on staff with Larissa Anderson and Chris Malveaux at Missouri."
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Joining the Bulldogs is a homecoming for Sanders who grew up less than an hour outside of Starkville in Columbus, Mississippi. She then spent the first three years of her college career as the starting shortstop at Louisiana. In her junior year and All-American season, Sanders led the NCAA in 29 home runs (29), RBIs (82) and slugging percentage (1.013). She also posted a career-high .388 average and a .524 on-base percentage.
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She started all 55 games and made just seven errors on her way to being named one of 10 finalists for the USA Softball National Player of the Year award and was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. She also played the USA Softball Junior National Team at the World Cup of Softball and Junior Women's World Championships in 2015.
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"I could not be more excited to join this coaching staff minutes away from my hometown," Sanders said. "Having dreamt of playing for the Bulldogs as a little girl, I'm grateful that the sport has brought things full circle for me to be able to finally rep the Maroon and White as a coach. I hope to make an immediate impact for the players while learning from and coaching with this amazing staff."
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In her lone season at Oregon, Sanders hit .281 with a .614 slugging percentage while blasting 16 homers and collecting 51 RBIs in the Ducks' Pac-12 Championship season.
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Professionally, she made her NPF debut on June 16, 2018, and recorded her first career hit the next day. In her rookie season, Sanders batted .306 and ranked third on her squad in home runs. In the summer of 2020, she finished 14th individually in Athletes Unlimited's inaugural season with 1,520 points. Sanders batted .333 with four homers over 14 games.
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"DJ is a driven up and coming young coach who will assist with both hitting and defense," Ricketts added. "She will be a great mentor for our players, and we can't wait to have one of the all-time great players from Mississippi on campus and representing the Maroon and White."
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For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."
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Sanders spent her collegiate career at Louisiana and Oregon where she earned All-American honors in 2017 and All-Pac-12 honors in 2018. She was drafted No. 21 overall by the Chicago Bandits in the 2018 NPF Draft and played the summer of 2020 with Athletes Unlimited. Most recently, Sanders was a graduate assistant at Missouri, helping the Tigers to a 61-24 record in her two seasons.
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"We are thrilled to add DJ to our staff as she brings a wealth of knowledge with her from her professional and collegiate playing experience," Ricketts said. "She has learned from some of the best coaches in our game, playing for Mike Lotief at Louisiana and Mike White at Oregon and serving on staff with Larissa Anderson and Chris Malveaux at Missouri."
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Joining the Bulldogs is a homecoming for Sanders who grew up less than an hour outside of Starkville in Columbus, Mississippi. She then spent the first three years of her college career as the starting shortstop at Louisiana. In her junior year and All-American season, Sanders led the NCAA in 29 home runs (29), RBIs (82) and slugging percentage (1.013). She also posted a career-high .388 average and a .524 on-base percentage.
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She started all 55 games and made just seven errors on her way to being named one of 10 finalists for the USA Softball National Player of the Year award and was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. She also played the USA Softball Junior National Team at the World Cup of Softball and Junior Women's World Championships in 2015.
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"I could not be more excited to join this coaching staff minutes away from my hometown," Sanders said. "Having dreamt of playing for the Bulldogs as a little girl, I'm grateful that the sport has brought things full circle for me to be able to finally rep the Maroon and White as a coach. I hope to make an immediate impact for the players while learning from and coaching with this amazing staff."
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In her lone season at Oregon, Sanders hit .281 with a .614 slugging percentage while blasting 16 homers and collecting 51 RBIs in the Ducks' Pac-12 Championship season.
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Professionally, she made her NPF debut on June 16, 2018, and recorded her first career hit the next day. In her rookie season, Sanders batted .306 and ranked third on her squad in home runs. In the summer of 2020, she finished 14th individually in Athletes Unlimited's inaugural season with 1,520 points. Sanders batted .333 with four homers over 14 games.
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"DJ is a driven up and coming young coach who will assist with both hitting and defense," Ricketts added. "She will be a great mentor for our players, and we can't wait to have one of the all-time great players from Mississippi on campus and representing the Maroon and White."
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For more information on the Bulldog softball program, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "HailStateSB."
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