Ellis Named Finalist for 2025 Honda Sport Award

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Softball senior first baseman Bri Ellis has been named a finalist for the Honda Sport Award, the Collegiate Women Sports Award announced Friday.

She joins Danielle Gibson (2022) as the only players in program history to be named a finalist for the prestigious award. She is one of 22 Arkansas student-athletes to be named a finalist for the honor in their respective sport since the award’s inception in 1976.

The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by the CWSA for the past 49 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics”. The winner of the sport award becomes a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2025 Honda Cup.

Ellis was previously named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year (May 27), D1 Softball Player of the Year (May 28) and the Softball America Player of the Year (May 20). Additionally, she was the 2025 SEC Player of the Year, along with garnering First-Team All-SEC, First-Team NFCA All-Central Region, and SEC All-Defensive Team honors.

The Houston, Texas, product put together one of the greatest offensive seasons in NCAA history. She batted .440 with 26 home runs, 72 RBI, 146 total bases, 69 walks, and 68 runs scored while posting a 1.090 slugging percentage, a .639 on-base percentage, and a 1.729 OPS. Her 26 homers, 72 RBI, 68 runs scored, 1.090 slugging percentage and .639 on-base percentage were single-season program records. She also tied the SEC single-season record with 26 round-trippers. Ellis finished the regular season ranked second nationally in home runs per game (0.51) and walks per game (1.42), becoming the first player to finish the regular season in the top two nationally in both categories since Jen Yee of Georgia Tech in 2010.

Through 58 games, Ellis homered once every 5.15 at-bats while walking once every 3.17 plate appearances. Her 1.729 OPS was the third-highest single-season mark nationally since the statistic was officially tracked in 2016. Ellis became just the sixth player in NCAA history to post a regular season batting average above .480 and hit 20+ home runs, courtesy of a .487 batting average and 25 home runs.

In conference play, the right-handed slugger batted .397 with a league-leading 11 home runs and 29 RBI while drawing 27 walks and posting a .983 slugging percentage, .606 on-base percentage, and 1.589 OPS. Ellis reached base in 22 of the Hogs’ 24 SEC games while registering nine multi-RBI games and seven multi-hit games. She finished league play on a 20-game reached base streak. Defensively, the first baseman posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 124 putouts and seven assists. Ellis did not commit a single error in 307 chances during SEC play in her two seasons at Arkansas. Her selections marked the second consecutive year that Ellis earned first-team and all-defensive honors.

The softball finalists were chosen by a panel of experts and coaches from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). The Honda Sport Award winner for softball will be announced later this week after voting by administrators from over 1,000 NCAA member schools. Each NCAA member institution has a vote.

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