Samantha Ricketts knows Devon Park. She played there as a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior — four trips to the Women’s College World Series as an Oklahoma Sooner, first as a contributor and later as the program’s all-time leader in home runs and RBI.
On Thursday, she will walk back through those doors as the head coach of Mississippi State — the program that ended Oklahoma’s nine-year WCWS streak by blanking the Sooners 6-0 in Game 3 of the Norman Super Regional. The details of that kind of story don’t write themselves easily. They have to be lived.
What It Took to Get Here
Mississippi State’s path to Devon Park required defeating the most dominant program in college softball. Oklahoma, the No. 1 overall seed entering the super regional, had not missed a Women’s College World Series since 2015. Their nine-year streak was the longest active run of WCWS appearances in the sport. They were expected to extend it to ten.
Instead, Delainey Everett — a pitcher who had thrown just 13.1 career innings entering the super regional — threw a complete-game shutout in Game 3. Kinley Keller went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. The offense scored six runs against Oklahoma pitching in the biggest game of the Bulldogs’ program history. The final score read 6-0. Oklahoma’s season was over.
Mississippi State had never been to the WCWS before. Now they were in.
What Opening Day Looks Like
The Bulldogs’ first Women’s College World Series game is Thursday at noon ET on ESPN against Texas Tech. This is not an easy draw. The Red Raiders are making their second consecutive WCWS appearance and are anchored by NiJaree Canady — the only active pitcher in college softball with 1,000 or more career strikeouts and 96 career wins.
Mississippi State is the lowest remaining seed in the bracket. Texas Tech is an experienced program that knows this stage. There will be no gentle introduction to Devon Park.
But that is also the point. Mississippi State beat No. 1 Oklahoma to get here. If they were capable of doing that, there is no reason to assume they will be intimidated by Texas Tech. Everett is expected to start. The same Bulldog offense that scored six on the Sooners will take the plate against Canady.
Whether it translates is unknown. What is known is that this team does not appear to play with fear.
The Coach Who Came Full Circle
Samantha Ricketts’ story adds a layer to this entire narrative that is difficult to manufacture. She played for Patty Gasso at Oklahoma from 2006 to 2009. She was a Sooner during their early championship runs. She held program career records in home runs and RBI when she left the campus in Norman.
Now she coaches at Mississippi State. Now her team beat Oklahoma in Norman. Now she is bringing a program that has never been to the WCWS to a building she knows intimately.
Whatever happens in Oklahoma City, Ricketts has already done something that will be part of Mississippi State softball’s story forever. She guided a program to its first Women’s College World Series appearance — and she did it by going back to the place where she became who she is.
What’s Next
Mississippi State faces Texas Tech at noon ET Thursday in Game 1 of the 2026 Women’s College World Series on ESPN. A win puts them in the winner’s bracket and builds momentum through the double-elimination field. A loss puts them in must-win territory immediately — the same position they have navigated all tournament. Either way, the Bulldogs are in Oklahoma City, at Devon Park, for the first time in program history. For a fanbase that has waited for this, Thursday’s game is everything.
