HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's basketball team announced the addition of All-American pitcher, Stephanie Ricketts to their 2012-13 roster.
 
Ricketts becomes the first player to ever play both softball and basketball at UH. On the diamond last year, Ricketts became UH's all-time winningest pitcher as a senior and holds the Rainbow Wahine career records with 102 wins, 33 shut outs, 116 complete games, 164 appearances, 938.1 innings pitched and 818 strike outs. She earned National Fastpitch Coaches Association, Easton and Lowe's Senior CLASS All-America honors last year and is a three-time all-academic Western Athletic Conference player and two-time NFCA scholar-athlete. Ricketts graduated last spring with a degree in psychology and is currently a student in UH's master's nursing program and has one year to play another sport. Ricketts will be a center under first year head coach Laura Beeman.
 
Ricketts earned three varsity letters in basketball at perennial prep power Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif. before joining the UH softball team as a freshman. She helped the Monarchs win back-to-back state titles her last two seasons.
 
“I'm excited!” says coach Beeman. “Stephanie brings the intangible things that coaches want. She's a winner. Often girls have won games, but are not winners across the board in work ethic in character, in academics...how you present yourself on a basketball court or a softball field. That's what I call swag. And Stephanie has swag.” Beeman continues, “Whether she can be an immediate impact with rebounds, points and defensive stops, I don't know. But what she will give me is a winning attitude and that is something that can be contagious. I'm very excited that Stephanie has decided to join our program.
 
“I'm excited to continue representing the state of Hawai'i.” says Ricketts. “It's going to be a very different role than I had on the softball field, but I am still going to compete and have the same expectations. I'm grateful for the opportunity and the appreciative of the warm welcome from the team and the coaches.”