PRESS RELEASE
LAFAYETTE – Keeli Milligan, a three-year starter at Texas A&M who made a tremendous impact with her speed, has transferred and joined the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Softball program. Head coach Gerry Glasco announced her addition on Wednesday.
In three years competing with the Aggies in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Milligan produced 171 hits on a .339 average, scored 130 runs, recorded a .422 on base percentage and swiped 105 stolen bases over 117 attempts.
“Keeli is a game-changer and one of the nation’s elite leadoff hitters,” Glasco stated. “She made the offense one of the highest scoring in the nation when she arrived at Texas A&M by utilizing her elite speed and tremendous ability to get on base.
“Keeli is a fierce competitor and will respond to the challenge of leading our team and program as we fight to establish a top offense and increase our scoring,” Glasco added. “She will quickly become a team leader and a fan favorite with her speed and style of play.”
The outfielder from Vidor, Texas rounded up 183 putouts during her stay in College Station. She collected the second-most stolen bases in Aggies history highlighted by a single-season record 54 as a freshman in 2016.
Milligan was named to the USA Softball National Player of the Year Watch List prior to the 2017 season and was a NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year finalist in 2016. She earned All-SEC and NFCA All-South Region honors in her freshman campaign.
This past season Milligan maintained her consistent production, hitting above .300 with 30-plus runs, 40-plus hits, 20-plus stolen bases and a .400-plus on base percentage for the third straight season.
“Keeli loves to be challenged in practice to get better daily and expressed a desire to be pushed and developed her senior year,” Glasco said. “That really impressed me. She’s an athlete with tremendous natural abilities and has been highly successful in one of the best conferences in college softball…but still wants to get better.”
She made her collegiate debut with the Aggies in 2016 adding a sparkling .379 average to the record-setting stolen base performance (54-for-59). Milligan generated 75 base hits and scored 59 runs, the second-highest total in school history, during her rookie campaign.
Milligan was a driving force behind Texas A&M’s run to the Women’s College World Series in 2017. She batted .382 after April 1 that season, which ranked first on the team.
Milligan joins Santa Ana College infielder Tiana Patrick, Australian pitcher Kandra Lamb, Salt Lake Community College infielder Ashlee Snyder, Lamar outfielder Kendall Talley and Santa Ana College pitcher Kali Kitsinis as additions to the Louisiana roster for the 2019 season.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (41-16, 21-6 Sun Belt) recently completed their first season under Gerry Glasco’s guidance, earning the program’s 20th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and advancing to the championship game of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.
Louisiana reached 40 wins for the 20th straight season and was ranked in both major national Top 25 polls the entire season, finishing No. 18/19 in the final edition of the rankings.