Keilani Ricketts may be entering just her fourth stint as a captain in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League All-Star Cup, but the veteran pitcher has more experience to draw from than just about anyone in the competition.
The lefty pitcher is the most experienced pro on the 2026 All-Star Cup roster and first competed in the unique individual format during the 2024 AUX season before serving as a captain during Series Three and Four of the 2025 All-Star Cup. She finished third on last year’s leaderboard and earned her first AUSL medal.
Now, she is back in the captain’s chair for a fourth consecutive All-Star Cup series dating back to last season.
Ricketts led her Series One squad to a 1-1 record, improving her career mark as a captain to 4-4. Team Ricketts dominated the leaderboard that series, occupying eight of the top 10 spots at its conclusion, including the top four.
As she prepares to lead her Series Two team alongside facilitator Geena Garabedian, here are the keys to success that Ricketts is living by.
Trust the Team You Drafted
With 45 players and three teams in this year’s competition compared to 60 players last year, Ricketts found this year’s draft easier to navigate. Once the picks are made, she focuses on showing her players why she selected them in the first place.
“I think for me, especially in the intro practice, it’s letting the girls know how you want things to go and just giving them that reassurance that they’re here for a reason, and they were picked for a reason,” Ricketts said.
That includes trusting each player to know what they need to prepare.
“If you don’t need to pitch today at practice, if that’s going to help us win points this weekend, I’m fine with it,” Ricketts said. “Or just get what you need defensively or offensively, whatever it is that’s going to help the team win. I’m okay with it.
“I just hope that the players have that trust in me that I have in them.”
Spread the Wealth in the Circle
Managing a pitching staff presents an added challenge for Ricketts because she must decide when to put the ball in her own hands.
During Series One, she took advantage of the depth of her staff. Four pitchers appeared across Team Ricketts’ two games.
“It’s cool to be able to share the wealth with all the girls, being able to show why they have been successful in this league,” Ricketts said.
When she’s the one in the circle, she also relies on the team facilitator to help manage those decisions.
“One of the hardest parts for me was just, as a pitcher, having to figure out the pitching rotation. And especially when I was in the game, trying to find the balance of, ‘Okay, do I keep myself in the game? Do I take myself out?’” Ricketts said. “I think the facilitators were very helpful with that.”
Embrace the Chaos
Spreading the wealth doesn’t mean Ricketts is afraid to take the ball herself. In fact, she prefers to save herself for when the game gets complicated.
“I do, especially as a pitcher, enjoy the chaos,” Ricketts said. “I try to save myself for if the game starts getting a little bit chaotic. I like to be able to put myself in those situations just to help the team.
“If I am the best matchup to go in, then I’ll be able to sub myself in that way,” Ricketts said. “If it’s going to help the team win innings, I think that’s kind of how I make my rotations and make my subs that way.”
Keep Learning
Ricketts has no shortage of coaching experience and currently serves as an assistant coach at the University of the Pacific, but captaining in the All-Star Cup has presented its own learning curve.
She’s picked up strategies from coaches throughout her career and her own coaching experience, while also watching how other All-Star Cup captains handle pitching staffs and substitutions.
“I try to be able to take from different coaches and different leaders that I’ve had in the past,” Ricketts said. “But also just learning from how the other captains do it as well.”
That included watching fellow Series One captains Georgina Corrick and Rachel Garcia.
“Just seeing how they run the pitching staff or how they do subs, I’m still learning in that way as well,” she said.
Win the Inning
Despite playing in an individual scoring format, Ricketts tries to keep her decisions centered around the team and one simple goal: win the inning.
Team Ricketts did exactly that in the Series One finale, sweeping all 130 available win points in its victory over Team Garcia. It marked the first win-point sweep of the 2026 season.
“The thing that helps me the most out there, just to be more comfortable, is to keep it more team-focused and just being able to win the innings,” Ricketts said. “I’ll say that quite a bit as the captain: just being able to win the innings, win the innings and win the game.”
It is also the advice she would give to a first-time captain.
“We’re in a team sport, and I know this can feel like it is such an individual-based league concept in the All-Star Cup, but you have more success the more your team wins,” Ricketts said. “The more the team can win and the more you can keep it team-focused, the better.”
Play Free
The All-Star Cup format allows Ricketts to simplify the game after the grind of the AUSL regular season.
“You kind of have that freedom, just being able to be out there with a new team every week and being able to have different people behind you,” Ricketts said.
“We’re coming into this season where we have a little bit more free time. We’re able to work on our craft a little bit more, and then we’re going after it on the weekends.” Ricketts explained. “It does feel like we have a little bit more of a sense of fun playing… A different sense of fun, a different sense of competition in this part of the season.”
Ricketts enters Series Two third on the leaderboard with 242 points as she takes the reins of Team Three for another week.
Team Ricketts will take the field on Friday at 7 p.m. local time at Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, IL. Tickets are available now.
Siera Jones is the digital media reporter at Athletes Unlimited. You can follow her on Instagram and X @sieraajones.