The Samantha Story: Chapter One - Norman
Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications
7/6/2021
The Samantha Story is a four-part series examining Samantha Ricketts' journey from All-American to head coach. The first chapter begins with her time as a student-athlete at the University of Oklahoma.
STARKVILLE – On a February day in 2007, Samantha Ricketts stood in the on-deck circle at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, California. She and the No. 9 Oklahoma Sooners had won 13 straight games to open the year and were now meeting a ranked Cal squad.
“I just remember thinking to myself, ‘How did I get here?’” Ricketts said. “’I’m hitting cleanup for a top-10 team in the country, and I’m a sophomore. How did I get so lucky to be in this situation?’”
The Sooners went on to claim an 11-3, run-rule victory that day with Ricketts collecting a hit and two walks in four trips to the plate. It was the beginning of a breakout season that would see the San Jose, California, native earn her first All-American honors and take her first steps down the path to Sooner legend.
But one of the most well-known players in Oklahoma history originally never planned to play a single game in Norman.
Ricketts had signed with Santa Clara University during her high school career. The smaller, private school is just down the road from her high school, and it offered a Division I opportunity.
“My offers were two small D-Is in San Jose or a D-II out in Colorado. I really wanted to play in Division I, so I canceled my trip to the Colorado school and committed to Santa Clara,” she said. “I was going to have to live at home. I was going to have to take out loans, but it was really what I wanted to do and what my dream was.”
However, after signing, the head coach at Santa Clara left the program. Released from her National Letter of Intent, Ricketts wasn’t sure where she’d go to school. Her travel ball coach also coached at a local junior college, so playing there was one option. At least until Patty Gasso called.
“Coach Gasso sent her hitting coach out to watch me play. They saw me play one weekend and said, ‘We’ll take her,’” Ricketts remembered. “I signed and committed to OU without even taking a visit.”
Within the span of a month, Ricketts had been released from her commitment, planned to go to junior college and pivoted to sign with one of the nation’s premier programs. She quickly packed up for an official visit, just weeks before she was supposed to move into the dorms.
“I honestly had no idea where it was,” she said. “I had to look up Oklahoma on a map. I thought they were the orange and black school. I had no clue.”
Her flight was canceled, which meant her father could no longer make the trip with her. She traveled to Norman on her own, a nervous high school senior about to make a life-altering decision.
“It was the first decision I had to make by myself,” Ricketts said. “I really remember sitting down, crying about it, praying about it and just being like ‘This is an opportunity to play for the best and see what you’re made of.’ It’s the best decision I’ve ever made, and I think it’s led me to everything I’ve had since then.”
Still, her arrival in Norman was far from heralded. She was a late addition to the recruiting class, one of six incoming freshmen and to some an afterthought.
“Every other player in that class was recruited by every Power 5 you could think of, the Arizonas, Floridas, the Washingtons,” Ricketts said. “I knew going in, I felt like I was already behind, and I wanted to prove that I deserved to be there, that I was good enough, that I could make it at OU.”
Ricketts played in 57 games as a freshman, primarily as the designated player. She hit .355 with 11 doubles and 51 RBIs, which ranked 30th in the nation. In her sophomore season, she took the step from contributor to star.
She was named NFCA National Player of the Week in March of that year. At the Judi Garman Classic, she led the Sooners past reigning National Champion Arizona twice while hitting two homers including a grand slam in the tournament’s championship game. Ricketts batted .800 in two games against the Wildcats with seven RBIs and three home runs.
Ricketts finished her sophomore campaign with a career-best .415 batting average and 18 long balls. She was second in the nation in RBIs per game and finished the season with 81 runs driven in. That year was also the first time the possibility of coaching entered her mind, when Gasso asked her if she’d ever consider the career path.
“I said no,” Ricketts remembered. “I don’t know what I wanted to be at the time. Maybe I said a nurse because that’s what my mom wanted me to be. She said, ‘Well I think you should think about it. I think you’d be really good.’”
Gasso recognized that Ricketts had a mind for the game. The former first baseman admits she wasn’t the typical great player full of natural talent. She had to look for any advantage she could find. Ricketts spent hours learning pitchers’ tendencies and tells. Whatever information her coaches could provide, she wanted to soak it in.
Ricketts had all the same traits she now sees in some of her student-athletes like Mia Davidson. Davidson has been called a “mini Coach Ricketts” by national media members. It’s her mental approach to the game, combined with her talent that has drawn the comparison.
“She’s super talented on one end, but then she also has a lot of game savviness and smarts,” Ricketts said of Davidson. “She’ll pick up stuff that I don’t even see. ‘Hey the pinky is sliding over two centimeters on her curveball.’ That’s the fun stuff and the little things about coaching and why she will be a great coach too.”
Beginning in her sophomore year, Gasso groomed Ricketts for a coaching career. Gasso would pull her aside to ask her what she would do in certain situations if she were the head coach. Today, Ricketts considers her the greatest influence on her journey.
More than any strategic or technical knowledge, Ricketts’ biggest takeaway from her time under Gasso was something box scores and awards don’t adequately convey.
“I think overall it’s the demeanor and the expectations and the atmosphere that she promotes,” Ricketts said. “That’s what I’m striving to do, that expectation of excellence in everything you do on and off the field. It was never screaming and yelling and cussing. It was just, ‘No way. Not acceptable.’ Just a simple, short expectation. That’s what I think I remember the most about her.”
Even today, Ricketts still calls Gasso at times for advice or a word of encouragement. She called her when she was back in Oklahoma on a recruiting trip to check in with her former coach. When the Bulldogs hit a rough stretch on a losing streak, Gasso called her to ask why she hadn’t called for advice yet. Gasso offered reminders of when Ricketts went through losing streaks as a player and how her teammates rallied later in the year.
When Ricketts was hired for the head job in Starkville, Gasso was her first call.
“I called her before my own parents because she was so invested in it and such a big part of me getting there that I wanted to share that with her first,” Ricketts said. “She always answers my call or calls back immediately, no matter how busy she is. That’s something I want to be able to do too for my girls, my players and past players.”