Good news! Arkansas softball is now hosting fastpitch tournaments to provide their local communities with an opportunity to attend and…
FAYETTEVILLE: Arkansas will have a bye until approximately 4 p.m. on Thursday due to its fourth-place regular season finish. The SEC softball tournament will begin on Tuesday at Auburn.
At that point, the fifth-seeded Missouri (40-14 13-11), the 12th-seeded Kentucky (30-21, 8-16), or the 13th-seeded Ole Miss (30-24, 7-17) will take on the Razorbacks (36-15, 14-10).
Ole Miss and Kentucky square off in the first match of the single-elimination tournament on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Head coach of the Razorbacks Courtney Deifel is attempting to maintain perspective after his team’s weekend losses of two out of three to the Rebels in last place.
“Even though we are not satisfied with the outcome of this weekend, we managed to secure a top-four seed, which is extremely difficult in this conference,” stated Deifel. “I believe that is the viewpoint that we require.”is to serve as a reminder.
“We played ourselves into position where even with this last game, we finished fourth in the toughest conference in the country,” the player said, “even though this feeling is pretty crummy.”
Arkansas, who plays in the finals this week, is ranked eleventh by D1 Softball and Softball America going into the postseason.
“I am proud of them for what they have accomplished this year, and now it is time for us to move on, finish our education, and concentrate on how we can improve going forward in the postseason,” Deifel stated.
If Arkansas prevails on Thursday, it will play the top-seeded and reigning SEC champion Tennessee (40-9, 19-5) on Friday at around 1 p.m.
Additionally, third-seeded Texas A&M (39-12, 15-9) and second-seeded Florida (43-12, 17-7) received byes.
into the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Deifel is hoping that the setback suffered by her team over the weekend will serve as fuel for a late-season run.
“This is not a great way to end the regular season,” Deifel remarked. “We were not tough enough in the end.” They outperformed us, and since it comes down to production, we need to find a way to increase it.
“I hope that this feeling sticks with them and motivates them to start over and hopefully not want to experience that feeling again. Sadly, Ole Miss was simply superior to us today.
In the first game of the doubleheader on Friday, Ole Miss shut out Arkansas 6-0 before the Razorbacks responded with nine runs in the first inning.
a 12-2 triumph in the final game.
It was a long day at Bogle Park on Saturday as the weather delayed the game’s start time from 3 p.m. to 8:05 p.m., with the Rebels emerging victorious 4-3 on Senior Day.
Kennedy Miller’s solo home run in the sixth inning reduced Arkansas’ lead to one, but the Razorbacks were unable to score the game-winning run in the seventh inning.
Deifel remarked, “You just can not have off days; the conference is a grind.” “You cannot take consecutive days off in a row.
Ole Miss is a good team, and in my opinion, they are currently playing at their best. They won the series against Auburn and came to play here in the last few weeks, and from what I could see, they looked better this weekend than a large portion of the videos I viewed, but that is the objective.
Deifel believes her team still has room to improve.
“We are not done yet,” Deifel declared. “We are not there yet; we are still striving to be the best versions of ourselves. Though I believe we have seen glimpses of it, we are still not there. Therefore, I am hoping that this sort of thorn in our side will push us to achieve our best in the future.
