Razorbacks Travel to Central Arkansas for Tuesday Tilt

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Fresh off a series win over No. 11/11 South Carolina yesterday, the No. 10/12 Arkansas Razorbacks are back in action tomorrow at 5 p.m. when they travel to Conway, Ark. for an in-state showdown with Central Arkansas on ESPN+.

LEADING OFF

• The Arkansas Razorbacks are 31-9 and coming off a series win against No. 10/11 South Carolina last weekend by taking the first and final game of the series, 10-2 (6 inn.) and 5-4, giving Arkansas its fourth-straight SEC series win.
• The Razorbacks have earned a program record 19 wins by run-rule this season. The previous record of 16 was set back in 2014.
• Arkansas has outscored opponents 313-118 this season.

PRESENCE IN THE POLLS

• The Softball America Poll is the only one to be released this week as Arkansas garnered a No. 5 national ranking. Arkansas checked in at No. 7 in the Softball America Poll, No. 8 in the D1 Softball Poll, No 10 in the ESPN/USA Softball Poll and No. 12 in the NFCA/GoRout Poll last week.
• The Razorbacks have been ranked in the Top 25 of the NFCA Coaches poll for a program-best 81 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 and Central Arkansas will be meeting for the ninth time on Tuesday. The Razorbacks hold a 6-2 all-time series lead over the Bears and took the last meeting 6-3 on March 18, 2025, during education day at Bogle Park. Five of the Hogs’ six runs scored in the victory came on the long ball as Bri Ellis smashed a three-run shot in the bottom of the third inning, and Kailey Wyckoff and Atalyia Rijo added solo homers in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
• The programs have played a home and home each season since the series’ inception in 2021. Last year’s game at Bogle Park was canceled due to weather conditions.
• Only 119 miles separate the two schools.

SCOUTING CENTRAL ARKANSAS

• Central Arkansas is 20-23 this season and 8-6 in ASUN play. The Bears are coming off a series win at Bellarmine this past weekend with victories in the series opener and series finale by the scores of 19-5 and 7-1.
• Central Arkansas is batting .289 with 327 hits, 214 runs scored, 53 doubles, 12 triples and 14 home runs while driving in 195 runs and posting a team on-base percentage of .373. Kylie Griffin leads UCA with a .385 batting average, 57 hits, four doubles, four triples, a homer, 18 RBI and 32 runs scored while posting a .426 OBP.
• In the circle, Central Arkansas is led by Madge Layfield (5-4, 5.72 ERA, 45.2 IP, 18 K). The Bears own a 5.85 team ERA while limiting opponents to a .290 batting average in 274.0 innings pitched this season.

BRI’s HISTORIC HITTING  

• Arkansas first baseman Bri Ellis currently owns a 1.829 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. Additionally, her 1.189 slugging percentage is also the highest of anyone on the list, leading the next closest in that period by 116 percentage points (Desirae Spearman, 2025, New Mexico State).
• 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.
• This season, nine players have an OPS above 1.500 through April 8, including four SEC players. The next closest player in OPS to Ellis is Desirae Spearman of New Mexico State (1.789), who plays home games at 3,909 FT above sea level. Nobody posted a 1.500+ OPS nationally last season.
• Of the four USA Softball National Player of the Year Award winners that batted and won the award since 2016, only Jocelyn Alo of Oklahoma (2021, 2022) registered a single-season OPS of above 1.500. Valerie Cagle (2023, Clemson), and Sierra Romero (2016, Michigan) won the award despite recording an OPS lower than 1.500. Alo, Skylar Wallace (2023, Florida), and Abbey Cheek (2019, Kentucky) are the only three NFCA Player of the Year Award winners to post a 1.500+ OPS since the award’s inception in 2016.
• 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 currently batting .484 with 20 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 to previously accomplish the feat were named Conference Player of the Year in their respective conferences while four of 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 13-4 this season with a team-best 2.21 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 98.1 innings pitched while limiting opposing hitters to a .180 batting average. She went the distance in both of Arkansas’ wins against South Carolina last weekend while posting a 2.86 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 14.2 innings pitched. Herron entered the weekend ranking 19th nationally in hits allowed per 7 inn. (4.48). She was recently ranked 13th nationally in the Softball America April Position Rankings.
• Arkansas is 25-6 (.806) when Robyn Herron goes 5+ innings during her collegiate career.

RAE$ CASHING IN

• Junior center fielder Reagan Johnson is batting .541 with 20 hits in 37 at-bats in her last 10 games while registering multiple hits in eight of 10 games, highlighted by a season-high three hits in series finale against Kentucky (March 30) and South Carolina (April 13).
• Reagan Johnson is the all-time program leader in career batting average at .380 while ranking fourth in career on-base percentage (.432), eighth in career triples (6) and fifth in career stolen bases (47).
• She became the 11th player in program history to register 200 hits on April 11 in a 10-2 win over No. 10 South Carolina.
• Johnson entered the 2025 season as one of six active Division I players with 73+ hits in each of the previous two seasons, joining D’Auna Jennings (Duke), Kendra Falby (Florida), Korbe Otis (Florida), Mia Scott (Texas) and Paige Rocha (SIU-Edwardsville). Of the six players to accomplish the feat, Johnson and Jennings are the only non-seniors entering the 2025 season.
• Johnson is the only Razorback in program history with multiple 70+ hit seasons with 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).
• She earned First-Team All-SEC and NFCA First-Team All-South Region in 2024 after batting a team-best .380 with 73 hits, four doubles, one triple, 11 RBI, 35 runs scored and 79 total bases to go along with a team-high 12 stolen bases. She ranked fourth in the SEC and 33rd nationally in hits (73) in addition to ranking fifth among all SEC players in batting average (.380).
• Her sophomore year batting average of .380 and her freshman year average of .378 rank sixth and seventh respectively in the Arkansas single-season record books while her 79 hits as a freshman and 73 hits as a sophomore were the third and fourth-most by a Hog in a single season.
• She batted a team-best .388 (66-170) against right-handed pitchers in 2024.
• Johnson is 47-51 in stolen base attempts during her career which is good for fifth all-time in program history.
• The Karnes City, Texas product checked in at No. 73 overall and ranked 27th among outfielders in the Softball America Preseason Top 100 Players List on Jan. 6.

KEEPING IT CLEAN

• Arkansas has posted a program-record .986 fielding percentage this season with 14 errors in 994 chances through 40 games. The Hogs’ .986 fielding percentage leads the country entering the week. Arkansas has not committed errors in 27 of its 40 games this season and are on a five-game errorless streak.
• In 2024, Meuchel and assistant coach Danielle Gibson helped guide Arkansas to a program-record .978 fielding percentage, which led the SEC and ranked ninth nationally.
• Arkansas is 167-46 when not committing an error under Courtney Deifel.

EIGHT IS GREAT

• Arkansas is 218-3 when scoring eight or more runs since 2002, including a 151-1 mark during the Courtney Deifel era (2016-present).
• The Razorbacks are on an 89-game winning streak when scoring 8+ runs. The last loss the Razorbacks had when accomplishing the feat was a 12-11 loss to Oklahoma State on Feb. 11, 2021, during the season opener at the Best on the Bayou Classic in Monroe, La.

MCDOWELL WOWS

• Freshman infielder Ella McDowell has wasted no time making her presence known as a Razorback. batting .390 with 48 hits, seven doubles, a triple, six home runs, 42 RBI and 14 walks while posting a .610 slugging percentage and a .458 on-base percentage.
• Herron became just the fourth freshman in program history to drive in five runs in a single game during Friday’s series-opening win over No. 10/11 South Carolina with a 2-4 night that featured a bases-clearing double.
• McDowell was named D1 Softball National Player of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week after batting .706 during the week with 12 hits, three doubles, a home run, eight RBI and four runs scored in addition to a walk. She posted a .722 on-base percentage and 1.059 on-base percentage while registering multiple hits in all four of the Razorbacks’ games to increase her hitting streak to six games while improving her batting average by 56 percentage points. During the second game at No. 2 Florida, McDowell went 4-5 with four RBI, three of which came on a three-run homer in the top of the third inning. Her four hits were a single-game career high and marked the first four-hit game by a Razorback this season, while her four RBI tied a single-game career high.
• She hit a game-winning solo HR in a 2-1 series-finale win over Kentucky (March 30) to earn SEC Freshman of the Week honors.

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