Marshaylee Knighten (born September 13, 1997) is an American former professional

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

player for the

USSSA Pride The USSSA Pride is a professional softball team based in Viera, Florida, and a former member of Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF). Founded in 2009, they previously played in National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) from 2009 to 2019. They play their home ...

and current assistant head coach for the

San Diego Toreros The San Diego Toreros are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of San Diego (USD). The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I ( FCS) as a member of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Sports sponsored National champi ...

softball team. She previously played

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

for

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, where she led the team to four consecutive

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

appearances from 2016 to 2019, and won the national championship as a freshman in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and sophomore in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. She was named WCWS Most Outstanding Player in 2017.

College career

During her freshman year in

, she played in 60 games with 36 starts, and led the team in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.400),

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

s (52),

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...

s (78),

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

s (22),

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

s (3) and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

(.682). Her 22 doubles tied a Big 12 record, and she ranked 12th nationally with 0.37 doubles per game. She became the first freshman to lead the team in batting average since 2010. She finished the season with 13

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

, 62

run batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI), a .397 batting average and .670 slugging percentage. During the

2016 Women's College World Series The 2016 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 20 through June 8, 2016 as the final part of the 2016 NCAA Division I softball season. The 64 Division I (NCAA), NCAA Division I college softball teams were to be selected out of an ...

, she batted 9-19 (.474) with two home runs, and eight RBI, to help the Sooners win the national championship. Following an outstanding season, she was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year, second team All-American, and a top-three finalist for

NFCA National Freshman of the Year The NFCA National Freshman of the Year is an award given by Schutt Sports to the best college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. ...

. During her sophomore year in

, she played in 70 games with 69 starts. She finished the season ranked seventh in the country in RBI (70), 23rd in hits (76), 29th in RBI per game (1.00) and 40th in total bases (122). During the 2017 Women's College World Series, she hit .350, with four runs scored, two doubles, a home run and RBI. In game one of the championship series against

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, she hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the 17th inning to help the Sooners win the game. In game two of the championship series, she hit a go-ahead three-run double to help Oklahoma win back-to-back national championships, and was subsequently named Most Outstanding Player. Following an outstanding season, she was named Big 12 Player of the Year and second team All-American. She was also nominated for Best Championship Performance at the

2017 ESPY Awards The 2017 ESPY Awards were presented at the 25th annual ESPY Awards show, held on July 12, 2017 at 5 pm Pacific at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California and on television nationwide in the United States on ABC at 8 pm Eas ...

. During her junior year in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, she started 53 games where she totaled 14 games with multiple hits and seven games with multiple RBIs. During her senior year in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, she played in 56 games with 55 starts, she ranked second on the team with 131

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (PO) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base (a tag ...

s. During the

2019 Women's College World Series The 2019 NCAA Division I softball tournament was held from May 31 to June 4, 2019, as the final part of the 2019 NCAA Division I softball season. Thirty-two teams were awarded automatic bids as champions of their conferences, and the remaining 3 ...

, she homered in both of Oklahoma's championship series games against

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, including a game-tying, two-out solo shot in the top of the seventh in game two. Following the season she was named All-Big 12 second team. She finished her career with a .360 batting average, 247 hits and 148 runs scored, and ranked fourth in

sacrifice flies In baseball, a sacrifice fly (sometimes abbreviated to sac fly) is defined by Rule 9.08(d): "Score a sacrifice fly when, before two are out, the batter hits a ball in flight handled by an outfielder or an infielder running in the outfield in fair o ...

(10) and sixth in RBIs (197) in program history.

Professional career

Knighten was drafted 20th overall by

in the

2019 NPF Draft The 2019 NPF College Draft was the 16th annual collegiate draft for the National Pro Fastpitch. It took place April 15, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee at Acme Feed & Seed, a downtown entertainment venue. It was available for internet viewing via NPF ...

. On June 10, 2019, she signed a one-year contract with the team. During her first season with the team in

, she batted 2–3 with a double and three RBI in the Cowles Cup championship game, to help USSSA Pride win the NPF Championship.

Coaching career

On September 18, 2019, Knighten was named a student assistant coach for the Sooners. On October 7, 2020, Knighten was named an assistant coach for the

softball team.

Personal life

Knighten was born to Kenny and Marci Knighten. She has two sisters, Briayna and Marjani, and one brother, Marquis. Her father, Kenny, played baseball at

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, and her sister, Marjani, played softball at

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

and was an All-American in 2016.

References

External links

Oklahoma bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knighten, Shay 1997 births Living people Oklahoma Sooners softball players People from Buena Park, California Sportspeople from Orange County, California Softball players from California USSSA Pride players Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player Award winners