Oakdale High School alum Amanda Bricker, now a true freshman playing second base, shortstop and designated hitter (DH) for the softball Lancers of California Baptist University, hit a towering home run to straightaway centerfield in her first collegiate at bat against the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina to score the season’s first run for her team.

Bricker, a 2022 graduate of Oakdale High School, was a two-time All VOL shortstop for the Mustangs of head coach Larry Loger. For the North Carolina game, Bricker was the team’s designated hitter and went 1-for-2, but the one hit was a round tripper. Bricker’s Lancers, who were playing in a major early season NCAA tournament in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, would eventually lose to the Tar Heels by the score of 3-2 in a game televised on ESPN. The Lancers would rebound in the nightcap of their Day 1 of the tournament double header by beating the University of Wisconsin.

There’s also another dimension to the young athlete’s story.

“Amanda was born deaf and had her first of many surgeries to implant cochlear implants to allow her to hear starting at the age of 14 months. Long journey for her, but with all her hard work, in speaking with her you would never know it,” proud mom Brandy explained.

And seeing the success the former Lady Mustang is having early in her collegiate career is icing on the cake.

“We were of course elated,” said Brandy of the home run blast. “We later found out that hers was the very first home run and first run scored in the NCAA Division 1 softball 2023 season, which is so cool for her.”

Bricker played softball all four years in the OHS program and was a three-year varsity starter. Among her career highlights: Winning a Section title freshman year; four-time Offensive Player of the Year; two-time Valley Oak League batting average leader; two-time VOL on-base percentage leader; first team All-VOL.

Now, she is double majoring in psychology and communication sciences and disorders at California Baptist University in Riverside while playing college softball in the Division 1 WAC conference.

Bricker is the latest in a long line of Mustang players under Loger who have played softball at the college level. According to Loger, 67 Lady Mustangs over the past 20 years have played at the college level, 21 of whom have played at the Division 1 or 2 levels, including Bricker.

Sports Correspondent Pete Simoncini and Leader editor Marg Jackson contributed to this report.