Arkansas Razors Looking for Fourth Super Regional Appearance in School History

Zorbacks, Arkansas (42-12) hope to play Oklahoma Cowgirls (34-19) at Bogle Park on Sunday.

Arkansas is the fourth-place seed in the NCAA softball tournament, defeating the Cowgirl 6-5 in eight innings Saturday, thanks to a later rally. This is the first NCAA Championship extra win in the history of the program. Another victory beats the cowgirls who have to hone their own way in the loser’s brackets, which will promote Arkansas to the fourth super zone in program history, and losses will force tomorrow night’s champions to go all out.

The Razors took a break on Saturday night to have the chance to watch Oklahoma fights to keep its season going, while the Pokes did it with authorization, dividing Indiana 16-8 in six innings. Oklahoma State has relied heavily on Ace pitcher Ruby Meylan throughout the season, while Nebraska natives suffered up and down games over the weekend.

Meylan surrendered three games in many innings and threw 162 balls in two games Saturday, including 5.1 innings of 9 hits against the Razorbacks against the Razorbacks and six walks to be chased in the first round against Indiana.

Courtney Deifel, the best coach in program history, said the comeback to the Cowgirl is one of her best ever.

“I’m very proud of this group. It’s one of the most resilient, richest performances of our time here, and I saw it overall,” Deifel said. “We kept the course and got the game back to us with a firm belief that this group itself was incredible.

“Our work is not done yet, we know we have a lot of work, but today is huge.”

Atalyia Rijo cut into two games with a 5-1 drop in the bottom of the sixth inning, shortstop Atalyia Rijo gave a solo home run on the right.

The Razorbacks scored two points in seventh place with Raigan Kramer's singles, while SEC Player of the Year Bri Ellis scored all. Senior Courtney Day took part in the plate representing the kidnapping game, she doubled to the right-center gap, earning Kramer's score from second base before Ellis slid over Oklahoma State catcher Amanda Hasler into the backstage, making it 5-4.

Sophomore Kasey Wood ran for a day and he ranked third on the mistake, freshman Ella McDowell hit her home with RBI doubles, eventually pulling the game into five-fifths.

Oklahoma State fell in the eighth place ranking before the second day ended again, this time gently hitting the middle with a 2-2 score, twice eliminating, and the base took Rijo from third, who led the pigs into the championship game.

"We knew they were going to go Raigan and Bri, so I knew it would be up to me and I wanted it to be me," Day said. "I wanted to have that moment and do it for my team. I just wanted to find a court to hit the ball, not do a lot of things, just achieve that."

Courtney Day's first Reserve Bank of India (RBI) brought Oklahoma State to a match, hitting her second place for the second time, but another hero in the afternoon was Atalyia rijo, who finished a perfect 4-4 shot in the sixth inning. Rijo is one of many in Arkansas' deadly batting lineup, and in her second year hitting coach DJ Gasso, her batting average increased from .214 a season ago to .315 in 2025, earning six home runs and 36 RBIs, and ranking fourth.

However, Rijo isn't the only one to have a perfect day on the plate in a regional game. Texas Tech transfer Kailey Wyckoff beats the Pigs in five innings to beat St. Louis 10-0, 10-0 running and 3-3 with five RBIs.

Deifel signed three pitchers in the 2024 class, while Oregon native Payton Burnham won second place in Ace Robyn Herron in her first college season.

Burnham won the 2023 Oregon Gatorade player in his junior year, opening the Fayetteville area at the blast, no-hit playoffs against St. Louis in school history and hit six batsmen and walking only one.

Like attacking in Oklahoma's super win, Burnham is just as important after taking the circle to ease fifth-place Herron. After Herron began five runs with a tough start, Burnham won the win by throwing four innings of unscored two-hit balls.

Burnham has made 42 walks in 106.2 innings this season and has a 15-2 record.

•Atalyia Rijo scored a career-high quarter in the victory, a single game record for the Arkansas NCAA Championship. The other 11 people have previously maintained a record of three games.

•Razorbacks have been 22-26 all-time in NCAA Championship games, including Courtney Deifel's 15-14 points. She was the only coach in the history of the program, winning the NCAA Championship.

•Bri Ellis won the game in Game 63 of the season, the second largest season in the history of the show, behind the KB team, who scored 67 points in 2022. CourtneyDay extended her career best winning streak to 17 games, with two hits in the game.

•Bri Ellis tied for career highest with four walks in the win.

•There are two doubles today, and Arkansas set a single-season doubles record with 83.

•Reagan Johnson raised her base winning streak to 13 games with her first-inning single.