Arkansas gets second shot at Ole Miss with history on line

Arkansas softball finally got one monkey off its back by beating Oklahoma State in the regional final and clinching the team's fourth Super Regional appearence in school history.

But to truly set the 2025 team apart from the 28 that came before it since the start of the program in 1997, Arkansas needs two more wins. The Razorbacks have never advanced to the College World Series.

It seems only fitting that the team waiting for them is a team Arkansas is very familiar with — Ole Miss. The Rebels upset the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats in the Tucson Regional by prevailing in a winner take-all game, 7-3 Sunday night.

The Razorbacks have a good record all-time against Ole Miss. Arkansas is 43-35 all-time against the Rebels, including 11-8 during the Deifel's time as head coach.

The Razorbacks have never lost a game at Bogle Park against Ole Miss with her at the helm (6-0). This year's season series was a different story.

Arkansas opened with the Rebels in early March on the road at one of its low points in the season. The two teams met in Oxford at the start of SEC play.

Ole Miss outscored Arkansas 18-4 in the first two games of the series. The Razorbacks dropped both games in uncompetitive fashion.

Even though Arkansas outscored Ole Miss for the series with a 20-3 rout in the finale, Deifel still had to have a heart-to-heart with the team after the rough start.

"It's not what we expected,” Deifel said after the series. “It was not a version of ourselves that we had seen. It was very uncharacteristic in every facet. It's one of those things where you don't want to give it too much life because it's not who we are, but it was back-to-back days of it."