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With the World Cup of Softball set to begin on Thursday, Team USA was dealt a significant blow when former OU All-American Keilani Ricketts made the decision to leave the team. Ricketts has been a fixture in the circle both for Oklahoma and Team USA with the Sooners obviously coming off a national championship and Ricketts being named the National Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Ricketts addressed her decision to leave the team on her Twitter account early Wednesday morning.
Just wanted to let everyone know I wont be playing USA this summer. No I did NOT quit..just wasnt given the freedom to make a decision that
— Keilani Ricketts (@laniricketts10) July 10, 2013
should have been made after the season was over. I was always committed until the end of the summer so don't believe everything you hear.
— Keilani Ricketts (@laniricketts10) July 10, 2013
Shortly after her own tweets, she the retweeted the following from her sister and former Oklahoma softball player Samantha Ricketts.
Hard 2 see ppl spread news that isnt true.This is the truth!RT @KTULNews: Ricketts Wont Play 4 TeamUSA http://t.co/YeAwy6rPUe
— Samantha Ricketts (@SammyRick) July 10, 2013
The video that the older Ricketts tweeted a link to and referred to as the "truth" is below and states that Keilani's decision to leave the team was due to her hesitancy to sign a long-term contract with Team USA. The implication being both from the video and Keilani's tweets that Team USA was possibly attempting to pressure her into doing so.
Either way the event this week is being held at the site of Oklahoma's recent national championship, Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, just lost a lot of star appeal.
Even though Ricketts will obviously no longer be taking part, there are two other OU players on Team USA in fellow All-American Lauren Chamberlain and outfielder Destinee Martinez.