Arkansas looks to atone for 2024, advance out of home regional

Originally posted on Arkansas Razorbacks on SI
By Daniel Shi | Last updated May 15, 2025 4:18 PM ET

The moment No.4 Arkansas has waited for all year is here.

After being bounced from its home regional in 2023 by Oregon and 2024 by Villanova, the Hogs are ready for another shot at a deeper run in the postseason.

Coach Courtney Deifel always valued culture in her program, but after coming up short for the second year straight, she needed to tweak a few things.

"I hate losing," Deifel said. "If you're around me at all, you're gonna know that. It forced us to really look at what we do, how we do it. We went to work, the staff went to work. We worked all summer on really diving into just having a deeper connection to our culture."

Ace Robyn Herron and first baseman Bri Ellis both were members of the 2024 team that experienced disappointment at home.

Both have seen the change this year compared to last year. Deifel implemented four pillars for the program to live by.

It's those four pillars that allowed the team to make a comeback from a 1-5 start in SEC play to finish 14-10 in conference play and a semifinal run to the conference tournament.

Ellis and Herron both explained what each pillar means to the program ahead of embarking on yet another regional run.

The team is in this position thanks in no small part due to Ellis' contributions at the plate and on defense at first base. Her 26 homers is already tied for the SEC record in a season.

Ellis spent most of Thursday's media availability speaking about other members of the team.

It's the first time in her career that she did not write down personal goals for herself at the beginning of the year.

Previously, she wrote down goals like win SEC Freshman of the Year, a goal she would accomplish but focusing on the team this year has freed her up to put together one of the most historical seasons in college softball.

"When you see early the numbers that she's putting up you almost temper your expectations a little bit," Deifel said. "It's like dang, there's no way she can keep it up. What she's doing, the production she's having.

"Not just the power but the average and all of those things, it's just not for a hitter built like her. You start to temper those expectations thinking, OK, that might dip a little, it might come down when we get in conference all, but also know that dang, she's just dialed."

But for Deifel, Ellis' willingness to talk about her teammates has created extra cohesion, not friction, and is a key part as to why this team is able to stay together.

"She's going to talk about the team," Deifel said about Ellis. "She's going to talk about the pitcher, she's going to talk about what everyone else is doing and she means it."

The path to avoid the same fate for the third straight year won't be easy, they often aren't in postseason play. Arkansas faces Abby Mallo in its opening game against St. Louis.

Mallo has 19 homers and 80 RBIs on the year, which ranks second nationally. Indiana as the No. 3 seed brings in the highest batting average in the country by 11 points. You can find a more in-depth breakdown of all the teams here.

"We learned from last year," Herron said. "It's also realizing that we're not that same team and so not trying to bring it back up too much and just sticking to the present. Knowing that last year wasn't us and just the ability to come back from that and learn and just be a better team is so inspiring."

Arkansas gets its regional underway against St. Louis 5:30 p.m. Friday. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.