Opposing head coach heaps praise on Arkansas softball, Courtney Deifel
When the Arkansas softball team takes the field against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first Women’s College World Series in Arkansas program history on Thursday night, two friends will be in opposite dugouts.
Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel has led her Razorbacks roughshod through the Regional and Super Regional rounds, winning in run-rule fashion in each game. Now, the next opponent is one she learned from as she rose through the coaching ranks.
Deifel said before the team left that while she was at Louisville, where she was an assistant from 2011 to 2014, her bosses asked if there were any coaches she wanted to visit to learn more about how to run a program.
Her choice? Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle, whose Cornhuskers are slated to play the Hogs on Thursday night.
“She’s one of the absolute best to ever do it, and she’s one of the absolute best humans also,” Deifel said. “So what she’s done, what she’s built at Nebraska with her staff, it’s inspiring. I look at their staff, their connection, their loyalty to each other, and I see that connection in us, and it’s what you want in this game, and they’re just some of the good ones.
“As a young pitching coach and seeing what they’ve always done with their players, how they love them, how they get the best out of them, that was my first answer. And when I called and asked, they didn’t even hesitate. They just said yes, and I went and spent a couple days with them. And we’ve been really dear friends since. I just love what they do, how they do it, what they stand for, all of it.”
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Revelle holds Deifel in high regard
Those sentiments were reflected by Revelle when she was asked about coaching against Deifel.
“I just really admire and respect and adore Courtney Deifel,” Revelle said. “I think she’s a tremendous human being. I like to talk about the person before I talk about the athlete or the coach, so I want to do the same for her. Thrilled for her, I know they’ve been so close so many years and just had gut punches. That’s really difficult to endure.
“I heard in one of her press conferences, it wasn’t a matter of ‘if’, it was a matter of ‘when’. This is their ‘when.'”
Revelle is no stranger to being so close and not breaking through the barrier to the Women’s College World Series. She’s been at Nebraska since 1993 and has an overall record of 1,229-702, but hasn’t been to Oklahoma City since 2013. Since then, the Huskers had two Super Regionals and four Regional appearances.
Huskers have ace up their sleeve in the circle
This year, her Huskers squad ran up an overall record of 51-6 and went 23-1 in Big 10 play and, like Arkansas, has not lost in the postseason. One big reason for that is the play of USA Softball Player of the Year Jordy Frahm.
The two-year team captain has been with Nebraska for three seasons and spent two at Oklahoma before that. She owns a devastating 1.14 ERA in 40 appearances (16 complete games) and has 234 strikeouts to just 30 walks in 171.2 innings of work.
“The tenacity of her work, she’s just never satisfied,” Revelle said of her pitcher on Wednesday. “She just does things that are at a different level. I’ve coached a lot of players, but I don’t know that I can say I’ve coached a player that has more intention on what the end goal is for her.”
The Razorbacks and Cornhuskers will start the final game of the day Thursday from Devon Park in Oklahoma City. First pitch is set for roughly 8:30 and the game will air on ESPN2.
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