Bulldog Quartet Prepares For International Debuts At Canada Cup
July 02, 2026 | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY – Four different Bulldogs will be in action in the international division of the Canada Cup next week. Head coach Samantha Ricketts will make her debut as the head coach of the American Samoa Women's National Team, and she is joined on that squad by State alumni Matalasi Faapito and Kiarra Sells.
Additionally, Alyssa Faircloth will play with Team TC Colorado, a travel organization squad made up of elite active collegiate players.
Team American Samoa enters the Canada Cup with a No. 42 world ranking. The nation last played last July at the Pacific Mini Games in Palau where it won gold. The team is seeking to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and the path to that qualification includes playing in WBSC-sanctioned tournaments like the Canada Cup over the next two years.
Ricketts' connection to the island of American Samoa and its familial culture has brought seven players with Samoan ties to Mississippi since 2016, including 2027 rising junior Kalani Sells, the younger sister of Kiarra, and incoming freshman Taylor Faga.
Faapito spent three seasons in Starkville, playing in 137 games as a Bulldog. She totaled 19 home runs and 59 RBIs in her career. She was especially potent in the postseason, posting a .737 slugging percentage in the NCAA Tournament for her career, which ranked third in MSU history when she graduated, and posted a .750 career on-base percentage in the postseason. The two-way player also made 51 appearances in the circle for State, posting a career 2.70 ERA. She registered four saves out of the bullpen and recorded 132 career strikeouts.
Sells earned Second Team All-South Region honors from the NFCA this spring after starting all but two games in right field. She led MSU in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, doubles, homers, walks, hit-by-pitches and stolen bases in her senior year. She closed her career ranked sixth in State history with a .614 career slugging percentage and 1.068 OPS. She launched 25 total homers in her final two years alone.
Faircloth was a Second Team All-American by D1Softball this year after a dominant campaign that saw her named the SEC Newcomer of the Year while setting school records for single-season strikeouts (268), strikeouts looking (70) and strikeouts per seven innings (10.56). She ranked fourth nationally in total strikeouts and was among the top 20 in fielding-independent pitching, strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP.
Fifteen teams will play in the international division in British Columbia from July 5-12. Pool play runs from July 5-10 before teams enter bracket play. All of the Bulldogs involved are in the White Pool along with Chinese Taipei, Israel, Peru, Singapore, Canada Elite and the Saskatchewan 222s. The final day of pool play will see Faircloth go head-to-head with Ricketts, Faapito and Sells at 8:30 a.m. CT.
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