Arkansas softball aiming for more than just appearance in Women's College World Series
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas softball team is off to Oklahoma City, where it will appear in its first Women’s College World Series in program history.
Head coach Courtney Deifel’s squad has been on a tear in the postseason and run-ruled every opponent it faced in the regionals and super regionals to earn the opportunity to play among the eight best programs in the country. Most recently, the Hogs broke through the supers and beat Duke handily this past weekend.
There will be some wide eyes as the team descends upon the stadium for the first time, but the goal is not just to appear in the event. It’s to make a run to the championship and hoist a trophy at the end.
“I mean, of course, we’ve all said we’re happy to be there, but we all know that that’s not our end goal,” Senior outfielder Reagan Johnson said Tuesday. “Our end goal isn’t just to make it to Oklahoma City, it’s to make a very good run and to ultimately just win.”
Arkansas will face Nebraska in the final game of the opening day, which has somewhat of a built-in advantage. Deifel said the team will soak in the moment and majesty of Devon Park, but will turn the focus to how they perform before they take the field against the Huskers.
“Whether you’ve been there or not, you go there and that stage and the fans and the buzz and everything around it, it’s amazing,” Deifel said. “It’s what everybody has worked so hard to get our sport to. I think that we’ll be around it. We’ll soak up that environment. We have the last game on Thursday, so we’ll get to go be around it and see it, and then we’ll line it up. And when the game starts, we’ll focus on us in the field.”
This is not the first time that Deifel has been to the Women’s College World Series, as she played in it while at California from 2000-2003. She appeared every year there and won it all in 2002 under head coach Diane Ninemire.
“I have been as a player, but it has continued to grow,” Deifel said. “It has continued to just evolve with our sport. It’s one of the most exciting sporting events in college athletics, and I was more at the start of it. In my time as a player, they actually had like a berm hill down the side, and then my senior year is when they expanded it and took the seating down the lines. My sister played before me (with Fresno State). We had a seven-year run of our family going to the World Series, and now it’s been a little bit of a break.
“So, like, the magnitude of this event, I haven’t been at this magnitude of this event, so I will take it all in. I can’t wait to see the look in our players’ eyes as they take it in because they’ve worked so hard for it. They’ve earned it.”
Reagan Johnson, Robyn Herron living out childhood dream
Johnson, Arkansas’s leadoff hitter, will likely be the first batter Arkansas sends to the plate for its first WCWS game. She has started 230 games for the Razorbacks in her career and is hitting .320 with 58 hits and 16 RBI.
Growing up, the Women’s College World Series is the pinnacle, and it’s what she’s been working toward for her entire life, so it’s a dream come true for her to finally take the field in it as a senior.
That sentiment is true for Robyn Herron as well. The left-handed pitcher is a First Team All-SEC selection this season and owns a 2.09 ERA with a career-best 173 strikeouts.
“It’s super exciting,” Herron said. “We all watched the World Series when we were growing up, and even the past few years, we’ve all watched the World Series. That’s just all of our dreams, and it’s a dream come true. But just also the history and all of the games that have been played there have been such good games and so many titles won. So it’s just, it’s gonna be very surreal.”
The Razorbacks and Cornhuskers will start the final game of the day on Thursday, May 28. First pitch is set for roughly 8:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN from Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
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