No. 7/8 Arkansas Opens Home Slate This Weekend

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 7/8 Arkansas opens its home slate this weekend with the Razorback Invitational on Feb. 20-22, where the Hogs will square off against SEMO and Northwestern.

Arkansas will face SEMO (3-6) and Northwestern (4-6) twice each day. On Friday, Arkansas will play SEMO at 1:30 p.m. and Northwestern at 4 p.m., then face Northwestern at 1:30 p.m. and SEMO at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The Hogs will conclude the Razorback Invitational by squaring off against Northwestern (10 a.m.) and SEMO (12:30 p.m.) on Sunday. Both of the Razorbacks’ games on Sunday will be streamed on SEC Network+.

Arkansas is 8-1 this season, with all eight wins coming by run-rule. The Hogs are coming off a 4-0 weekend at the States Up! Invitational in San Marcos, Texas. During the tournament hosted by Texas State, Arkansas defeated Wichita State (10-2, 5 inn.), Clemson (12-0, 5 inn.), BYU (11-1, 5 inn.), and Texas State (9-0, 6 inn.) Arkansas is outscoring opponents 102-13 this season.

Arkansas enters the third week of the 2026 season as a consensus top 10 team nationally, having garnered preseason rankings of No. 8, No. 7, No. 7 and No. 7 in the ESPN/USA Softball, NFCA/GoRout D1 Coaches, D1 Softball and Softball America Preseason Top 25 Polls.

The Arkansas Razorbacks, one of the nation’s most successful programs in recent years, have been ranked in the Top 25 of the NFCA Coaches poll for a program-best 91 consecutive weeks dating back to the start of the 2020 season.  Arkansas is one of five programs nationally to have appeared in the Top 25 of every NFCA Coaches Poll since the start of the 2020 season, joining Oklahoma, Florida, UCLA, and Florida State.

OPENING WEEKEND SCHEDULE

HOGS IN HOME OPENERS

The Razorbacks have won their past nine home openers and are 9-1 in home openers under Courtney Deifel (since 2016). Arkansas owns an all-time record of 25-4 in season openers with a 15-3 mark in Bogle Park since its opening in 2008.

ROBYN RECEIVES THE HONORS

Senior LHP Robyn Herron was named the Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week and SEC Pitcher of the Week after her performance during the States Up! Invitational last weekend.

Herron improved to 4-0 on the season after earning a win in both of her appearances last weekend while registering 15 strikeouts, allowing no runs, and surrendering just one hit and three walks in 6.2 innings pitched during the Hogs’ 4-0 showing at the States Up! Invitational. Additionally, Herron held opposing hitters to a .048 batting average on the weekend. During a 12-0 run-rule win over No. 18 Clemson, the Tampa, Fla., product, pitched a five-inning complete game shutout in which she struck out 11 and allowed just one hit and two walks on 76 pitches. Her 11 strikeouts marked the 12th time in her career in which she had struck out 10+ batters in a single game. A day later, Herron returned in relief to secure her fourth victory of the season against BYU by pitching 1.2 no-hit innings and striking out four while surrendering just one walk.

Herron is the Arkansas all-time leader in opponent batting average, holding opponents to a .178 average in 357.1 innings pitched. Her 12 10+ strikeout games are the third-most in program history, trailing only Katy Henry (2005-08, 14) and Mary Haff (2018-22, 16), while her 42 career wins rank seventh in program history. Arkansas is also 28-6 (.824) when Robyn Herron goes 5+ innings in her collegiate career.

HOME SWEET BOGLE

Bogle Park was the place to be in 2025, as 78,586 fans walked through the gates. The Razorbacks were one of just three programs nationally to average 3,000+ fans per game, alongside Alabama and Oklahoma. Arkansas set top 10 attendance marks in three games last season, highlighted by a season-high 3,803 fans against LSU on May 3, 2025.

Arkansas is just one of three programs to rank in the top five in single-season attendance every year since COVID, joining the likes of Alabama and LSU.

The Razorbacks have ranked in the top three nationally in total home attendance in three consecutive seasons and have finished in the top five in national total attendance in each of their past six seasons at Bogle Park.

Since its gates opened in 2009, Bogle Park has welcomed 521,697 fans through the turnstiles. Of those 521,697 fans, 433,951 (83.18%) have come during head coach Courtney Deifel’s tenure (2016-present).

DEFENDING THE DIAMOND

Assistant Coach Matt Meuchel joined the Razorbacks’ coaching staff prior to the 2017 season and is in his 10th season in Fayetteville in 2025. Meuchel is one of the sport’s leaders in analytics and also coordinates the Razorbacks defense. All five of the Hogs’ top-five single-season fielding percentages have come under his watch.

The Hogs are coming off a perfect fielding weekend at the States Up! Invitational and are currently fielding .985 this season, which ranks 12th nationally.

The Razorbacks led the nation with a .984 fielding percentage during the 2025 season, making just 24 errors in 1,471 total chances. Arkansas was the first SEC team to lead the nation in fielding percentage since 2019, when Florida accomplished the feat. The Hogs’ .984 fielding percentage ranked tied for 6th in NCAA history.

Arkansas is one of four programs to finish the last two seasons ranked in the top 10 nationally in fielding percentage, joining the likes of Florida Atlantic, Omaha and Oklahoma. During that span, Arkansas ranks second nationally in fielding percentage, trailing only Florida Atlantic by one 1000th of a percentage point.

In 2024, Meuchel helped guide Arkansas to a then program-record .978 fielding percentage, which led the SEC and ranked ninth nationally.

TIANNA HITS TANKS

1B Tianna Bell has made an immediate impact during her short time as a Hog. The Cal transfer is batting .516 with 16 hits while registering four HR, 12 RBI, two doubles and a team-leading 14 runs scored. Bell has homered in three consecutive games entering this weekend and is coming off a two-homer performance in a win at Texas State (Feb. 15).

Bell homered four times during the Hogs’ 4-0 showing at the States Up Invitational. Against Texas State, Bell smashed a pair of solo home runs and drove in a third run with an RBI single. She registered her second career multi-HR game and first since Feb. 11, 2023 (Feb. 15). In an 11-1 run-rule (5 inn.) win over BYU, Bell ended the contest with a three-run shot to right field (Feb. 14) after hitting a two-run homer the night before in a 12-0 win vs. No. 18 Clemson (Feb. 14).

The two-homer performance against Texas State was Bell’s first multi-homer game since she had two on Feb. 11, 2023, while at Cal. Additionally, Bell became the first Hog to homer in three consecutive games since Bri Ellis did so on Feb. 14-15, 2025, during the LA Tech Classic in Ruston, La.

RUN-RULING RAZORBACKS  

Arkansas has won by run rule in all eight wins in 2026, picking up right where the Hogs left off when they set a program record with 23 run-rule victories and had more wins by way of run-rule (23) than complete seven-inning games (21) in 2025.

The Razorbacks, under the direction of hitting coach DJ Gasso (2024-present), have accounted for 39 wins by way of run-rule in a total of 122 games played (31.9%). Throughout the entirety of the three seasons prior to Gasso’s arrival, the Hogs posted 37 wins by way of run-rule in 172 games played.

BRINLI GETS ON BASE

Freshman C/INF Brinli Bain is batting a team-leading .556 with 10 hits, three doubles, eight walks, seven runs scored and seven RBI. Bain has reached base safely in all nine games this season.

Bain currently leads the SEC and ranks sixth nationally in on-base percentage with a mark of .692. She is the first Arkansas freshman to reach base in the first nine games of a season since Maggie Hicks accomplished the feat in 2019.

BIRD IS THE WORD    

Arkansas is to face its second bird mascot opponent this season with the SEMO RedHawks. Senior LHP Robyn Herron has been spectacular against teams with a bird mascot during her collegiate career. During her collegiate career, against teams with a bird mascot, Herron is 13-0 with a 1.01 ERA in 75.2 innings pitched.

RUN IT UP RAZORBACKS

Under the guidance of hitting coach DJ Gasso, Arkansas ranks among the nation’s leaders in numerous categories,  including batting average (3rd, .430), runs per game (3rd, 11.33), hits (12th, 105), on-base percentage (3rd, .519), RBI per game (3rd, 10.22), slugging percentage (9th, .693) and total runs (4th, 102).

Arkansas is outscoring opponents 102-13 through nine games this season while earning all eight wins by way of run-rule.

Arkansas set an opening weekend program record with 60 runs scored over five games at the Kickin’ Chicken Classic (Feb. 6-8). During a 21-3 victory over Akron (Feb. 8), Arkansas registered 18 hits, which was the most in a single game since the Hogs had 18 during a 15-5 win over Nebraska on Feb. 9, 2020, in Las Cruces, N.M. The Hogs’ 21 runs scored were also the second most in a single game in program history.

Last year’s Arkansas team ranked among the best in program history in batting average (2nd, .320), doubles (1st, 90), slugging % (2nd, .537), on-base % (1st, .439), runs (1st, 436), sacrifice flies (1st, 29), RBI (1st, 399), total bases (2nd, 823), walks (1st, 291) and HR (3rd, 74).

REAGAN NEARING THE RECORD

Reagan Johnson ranks second all-time in Arkansas career batting average at .371 while ranking sixth in career on-base percentage (.427), seventh in career triples (7), and third in career stolen bases (57).

She has posted a .407 batting average this season with 11 hits, a double, and seven RBI while drawing six walks and stealing seven bases.

Johnson batted .700 with seven hits, an RBI, and four walks while stealing four bases during the States Up! Invitational (Feb. 13-15).

Johnson’s 235 career hits ranked fourth nationally among all D1 active players entering this weekend, trailing only Mihyia Davis (272) of Texas Tech, Haley Ahr (241) of Marist and D’Auna Jennings (236) of Duke. Of the top four players in career hits, Johnson and Jennings are the only ones to spend their entire career at the Power 4 level.

She is the only Razorback in program history with multiple 70+ hit seasons with 72 in 2025, 73 in 2024 and 79 in 2023. In 2024, she became one of four Razorbacks in program history to post an on-base percentage of .426 or better while registering 70+ hits in a season, joining Danielle Gibson (2022), KB Sides (2022) and Hannah McEwen (2019).

DAYTIME DOMINANCE

Arkansas has posted a record of 264-124 in day games (Prior to 5 p.m.) under head coach Courtney Deifel (2016-present). Since 2021, the Razorbacks are 148-51 in daytime contests.

30 SEASONS OF RAZORBACK SOFTBALL

2026 marks the 30th season of Arkansas Softball. The Razorbacks hold an all-time program record of 890-814-1 (.523) with four head coaches in the entirety of its history.

Arkansas played its first official game in program history on Feb. 20, 1997, which was a 4-3 loss to Cal State Northridge during the San Diego State Classic. The Razorbacks rebounded later that same day with a 5-4 triumph over Hawaii to earn the first win in program history. Designated Player Lisa Flores provided the winning runs in the victory with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

For schedule updates and other news, go to ArkansasRazorbacks.com, or follow @RazorbackSB on X, Instagram and Facebook.