Sometimes you just have to go to the veteran to settle things down, and for the Carolina Blaze that is what happened Monday evening.
After falling down 4-0 to the Spark, Karlyn Pickens was chased from the game. It was her first taste of adversity at the pro level, and Oklahoma City had done what most have not been able to do. They were on time and squared her up, and after four innings and four runs, Keilani Ricketts took the ball to try to settle the game.
“That’s what Keilani brings,” Blaze head coach Kara Dill told Southeastern Softball Wire. “There’s no moment that she hasn’t pitched in, multiple times.”
Ricketts came in and did what she has done countless times over her career. She spun the ball nicely and kept the Spark off balance. Oklahoma City managed only three hits in the four innings Ricketts pitched. She looked as good as she has this season. Ricketts knew she had a great defense behind her and induced six groundouts with five flyouts.
“She brings a sense of, she is a veteran,” Dill said. “When you’re expecting her to give up a ground-ball out, and we have a phenomenal infield. We have a phenomenal defense behind her.”
What made the outing tedious was the situation she inherited. The Spark had a good lead, until Carolina clawed back to take a one-run lead in the fifth inning. Holding that took exactly the kind of arm Dill could trust to navigate the rest of the way. Ricketts gave up nothing over her four innings of work, and the diversity of the Blaze staff played right into it. After the Spark timed up Pickens early, Ricketts gave them a completely different look.
“The beauty of our pitching staff, the way that Dana crafted everybody, is that our pitching staff is very diverse,” Dill said. “They’re just different arms, different looks.”
Her performance couldn’t have come at a better time. Ricketts came into the game with a bit of a hit-batsman issue. In the 12.2 innings prior, she hit seven, but on Monday she didn’t give up any. Neither did she walk anyone.
There was also a bit of homecoming to it. Ricketts, like teammate Alyssa Brito, was back in Oklahoma, and she answered the moment the way she had answered so many before it.
“The hit-by-pitches have been plaguing Keilani a little bit recently, but the last two outings she hasn’t had a hit batter,” Dill said. “So she’s doing a good job of just learning and adjusting. That’s what you expect from your veteran out there. No doubt she was gonna get it done in those big moments.”
For a Blaze team sitting third and fighting to stay on the right side of the championship cutoff, they need dependability. When the game and the lead needed protecting, Carolina was able to look to Ricketts, and she did what seasoned veterans do.
