Career Highlights
D1 Softball First-Team Freshman All-American (2025)
Softball America Freshman All-American (2025)
SEC Freshman of the Week (March 25, 2025)
2025 | Freshman
D1 Softball First-Team Freshman All-American … Softball America Freshman All-American … SEC Freshman of the Week (March 25) … Made 29 pitching appearances and 20 starts in the circle … Led Arkansas with a 2.62 ERA, posting an impressive 16-2 record with 94 strikeouts and just 44 walks in 117.1 innings pitched while limiting opponents to a .217 batting average … 16 wins were the most by a Razorback freshman since Mary Haff’s 29 in 2017 … Just the third Arkansas freshman since 2010 to throw multiple seven-inning complete game shutouts, joining Robyn Herron (2, 2023) and Mary Haff (8, 2018) … Threw a complete-game shutout while striking out seven and allowing just three hits and a walk in a 4-0 Super Regional win over Ole Miss (May 24) … Pitched four shutout innings in which she allowed just two hits and a walk in an NCAA Regional win over Oklahoma State (May 17) … Became the first Razorback in program history to throw a no-hitter in an NCAA Tournament game in a 10-0 win over Saint Louis (May 16), striking out six in five innings pitched … Tossed a complete-game shutout on her 19th birthday by striking out six and allowing just four hits and two walks in a 6-0 win over LSU (May 3) … Pitched 6.2 innings while striking out two and allowing three earned runs to earn her 11th win of the season at Texas A&M (April 26) … Became just the fifth Arkansas freshman since 2000 to win 10 games in a season after throwing six shutout innings and striking out a career-high nine batters in a 7-0 win at Central Arkansas (April 15) … Earned her second save of the season, recording the final out of a 9-5 win at No. 2 Florida (April 6) … Pitched 3.0 shutout innings with a strikeout and two hits allowed to garner her eighth win of the season against Kentucky (March 30) … Fanned four and allowed three runs on six hits in 4.1 innings in her seventh win of the season vs. Kentucky (March 28) … Threw 6.1 shutout innings during her sixth victory of the season in a 9-0 win at Tennessee (March 23) … Was the first Razorback freshman to start her career 4-0 in the circle since Autumn Storms did so in 2017 … Became the first freshman pitcher to record a win in her first two pitching appearances since Mary Haff in 2018 with wins over Bradley and San Diego (Feb. 7-8) … Struck out eight batters while allowing just one run on three hits and one walk during her 6.1 innings pitched in a 3-1 win over Bradley (Feb. 7)
High School: Prepped at Sheldon High School in Eugene, Ore., where she led the Fighting Irish to 6A State Championships in 2023 and 2024 … Garnered Oregon 6A Pitcher of the Year honors as a junior and senior … Earned a win and struck out 10 while spinning a no-hitter in the 2024 Oregon 6A State Championship … Named Eugene-Register Guard Athlete of the week following throwing a no-hitter and registering an RBI in Sheldon’s 5-0 win over Glencoe in the 2024 6A State Championship … Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior … Boasted a 0.19 ERA across 186 innings and owned a 30-1 mark in the circle as a junior in 2023 … Notched 375 strikeouts and five shutouts in each of Sheldon High School’s five postseason games, guiding her team to a state title as a junior … Batted .404 with five home runs, 35 RBI and recorded a .674 slugging percentage in 2023.
Why Payton chose Arkansas: “I chose Arkansas because I fell in love with the people and Fayetteville.”
