Softball

Razorbacks Begin Postseason Play at SEC Tournament

Hunter Corneliusen
Hunter Corneliusen May 6, 2025
WATCH Live Stats

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Razorbacks open SEC Tournament play on Wednesday against the winner of No. 12 Georgia and No. 13 Kentucky on Wednesday, May 7, following the conclusion of the No. 8 Mississippi State/No. 9 LSU matchup, which begins at 11 a.m.

First pitch of Wednesday’s game will be approximately 35 minutes following the conclusion of the Bulldogs and Tigers contest. The Hogs’ first-round matchup will be televised on the SEC Network with Kevin Brown (PxP) and Amanda Scarborough (Analyst) on the call.

LEADING OFF

  • The Razorbacks finished the regular season with a 38-11 record that included a 14-10 conference showing. Arkansas finished the regular season by winning its final six SEC series which is the most consecutive series wins for the Hogs since 2022.
  • The Razorbacks have earned a program-record 21 wins by run-rule this season. The previous record of 16 was set back in 2014.
  • Arkansas has outscored opponents 376-150 this season.
  • Arkansas has won a program-record five series this season against Top 10 opponents with series wins over No. 7 Tennessee, No. 2 Florida, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 1/2 Texas A&M and No. 10 LSU. The Razorbacks’ five Top 10 series victories are the most nationally.

PRESENCE IN THE POLLS

  • Arkansas checked in at No. 1 in the Softball America Poll, the rest of the polls have not been released as of Tuesday morning.
  • The Razorbacks’ No. 1 ranking in the Softball America Poll yesterday was the first No. 1 ranking in program history. The previous best in-season ranking was last week, when Arkansas was ranked second in the Softball America Poll.
  • The Razorbacks have been ranked in the Top 25 of the NFCA Coaches poll for a program-best 85 consecutive weeks dating back to the start of the 2020 season. Arkansas is one of six 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, Oklahoma State and Florida State.

HISTORY LESSON

  • Arkansas is 14-20 all-time in SEC Tournament play, highlighted by winning the event in 2022.
  • The Razorbacks are looking to get back in the win column after falling in the first round of the tournament in 2024 and 2023. The Razorbacks fell to Missouri 3-1 in last year’s tournament on May 9 in Auburn, Ala.

PAYTON’S PHENOMENAL PITCHING

  • Freshman Payton Burnham is 13-2 this season with a 2.64 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 90 innings pitched while limiting opposing hitters to a .221 batting average. The Eugene, Ore. product threw a complete-game shutout on her 19th birthday in a 6-0 win over No. 10 LSU on Saturday after striking out six and allowing just four hits and two walks in her seven innings of work. Her 13 wins this season are the most by a Razorback freshman pitcher since Mary Haff’s 29 wins in 2017. She was named SEC Freshman of the Week after pitching 6.1 shutout innings and striking out five in a series-clinching win at Tennessee (March 23).

BRI’s HISTORIC HITTING 

  • Arkansas first baseman Bri Ellis is batting .487 with 55 hits, 59 runs scored, eight doubles, 25 home runs, 68 RBI, 138 total bases and 56 walks while posting a 1.221 slugging percentage and a .659 on-base percentage.
  • She currently owns a 1.881 On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage (OPS), which leads the country and is on pace to be the best single-season mark since the statistic was first tracked in 2016.
  • Only 24 players since 2016 have registered an OPS above 1.500 throughout the entirety of a single season. Of those players, only six SEC players have accomplished the feat, while 12 Power Five (Pac 12 Included) players in total have accomplished the feat.
  • Of the four USA Softball National Player of the Year Award winners who batted and won the award since 2016, only Jocelyn Alo of Oklahoma (2021, 2022) registered a single-season OPS of above 1.500.
  • The 24 players that have previously accomplished a 1.500+ OPS in a single season have combined for four National Player of the Year Awards 18 NFCA All-America selections (13 First-Team, 4 Second-Team, 1 Third-Team), 24 NFCA All-Region selections, (22 First-Team, 2 Second-Team), 26 First-Team All-Conference selections and 16 Conference Player of the Year Award winners.
  • Ellis is having one of the most impressive seasons at the plate in softball or baseball history. Ellis is walking and homering at an absurd rate this season. Through the regular season, Ellis has homered once every 4.52 at-bats while walking once every 3.75 plate appearances. Both numbers are better than Barry Bonds’ 2001 season, which is widely regarded as one of the most impressive seasons in baseball history. Bonds homered once every 6.52 at-bats and walked once every 3.75 plate appearances.
  • Ellis finished the regular season ranked in the Top 2 nationally in home runs per game (2nd, 0.51) and walks per game (2nd, 1.20).
  • The last Division I player to finish the regular season ranked in the Top 2 nationally in both categories was Jen Yee in 2010, who finished second in HR per game (0.47) and first in walks per game (1.42).
  • Ellis is currently batting .487 with 25 home runs. Only five players in NCAA history (Since 1982) have finished a season batting above .480 while also hitting 20+ home runs. All five players who had previously accomplished the feat were named Conference Player of the Year in their respective conferences, while four of the five were named NFCA First-Team All-America and NFCA First-Team All-Region. Stacey Nuveman (UCLA, 2002) and Jocelyn Alo (Oklahoma, 2022) were both named USA Softball National Player of the Year, while Jen Yee (Georgia Tech, 2010) and Megan Langenfeld (2010) were the top three finalists for the award.

ROB CAN SPIN IT

  • Junior left-hander Robyn Herron is 15-5 this season with a team-best 2.52 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 116.2 innings pitched while limiting opposing hitters to a .186 batting average. She earned her third save of the season in Friday’s win over LSU. She earned her 15th win of the season at Texas A&M after striking out four and allowing two earned runs on three hits in five innings pitched (April 25). She was recently ranked 8th nationally in the Softball America May Position Rankings.
  • Arkansas is 26-6 (.813) when Robyn Herron goes 5+ innings during her collegiate career.
  • Her .186 batting average against this season is on pace to be the third-best in program history.

THE BASH SISTERS

  • Courtney Day (61) and Bri Ellis (68) have combined for more RBI (129) than 24 Division I programs this season, as of May 5.
  • Ellis and Day entered the week as the only teammates ranked in the Top 6 nationally in RBI per game with marks of 1.39 (5) and 1.36 (6).
  • On April 15, the duo became just the third pair of Arkansas teammates to drive in over 50 runs in a season in program history, joining Cylie Halvorson (51) and Rylin Hedgecock (62) in 2022 and Taylor Ellsworth (53), Linnie Malkin (68) and Danielle Gibson (70) in 2022.
  • Day (2R HR) and Ellis (solo HR) both homered in a 10-2 win over Kentucky (March 28)
  • In a 10-7 series finale loss to No. 1 Oklahoma, Ellis homered twice and Day hit a three-run homer. (March 16).

SOOIE SPINNERS

  • The Razorbacks own a 2.99 ERA this season while striking out 303 batters and limiting opponents to a .212 batting average in 304.0 innings pitched.
  • Arkansas has registered 43 shutouts since the start of the 2023 season. The Razorbacks are one of only nine programs to rank in the top 20 nationally in shutouts in 2023 and 2024, joining the likes of Oklahoma, Boston, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Stanford, Alabama, South Dakota State and Cal State Fullerton.
  • Arkansas entered the week ranked 24th nationally with 12 shutouts this season and ranked 19th nationally in shutouts in 2024 with 14 and 17th nationally in 2023 with 17.
  • The Razorbacks have posted 11+ shutouts in each of the last five seasons, one of just 16 programs nationally to accomplish the feat.

HITTIN’ HOGS

  • Arkansas has posted a 195-21 overall record when registering 12+ hits in a single game since 2006, including a 119-12 mark under Courtney Deifel.
  • The Razorbacks are 15-1 this season and posted a 9-1 record in 2024 when registering 10+ hits and have won 69 of their past 74 contests when accomplishing the feat since 2020.

TAKING DOWN THE TOP 10

  • Arkansas has won a program-record five series this season against Top 10 opponents with series wins over No. 7 Tennessee, No. 2 Florida, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 1/2 Texas A&M and No. 10 LSU. The Razorbacks’ five Top 10 series victories are the most nationally.

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

Powered by