Arkansas lands No. 4 national seed in NCAA Softball Tournament that begins Friday

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

Arkansas was awarded the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Softball Tournament on Sunday – meaning its path to a possible berth in the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City will run through Fayetteville.

The Razorbacks (40-12) will host Saint Louis (34-22) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and also have Indiana (33-18) and Oklahoma State (33-18) in the Fayetteville Regional this weekend at Bogle Park.


It is a double elimination format running Friday through Sunday (if needed) and the No. 4 seed ties Arkansas’ 2022 squad for the highest ever.

Oklahoma State and Indiana open things up Friday at 3 p.m.

“We’re excited,” Arkansas head coach Courtney Deifel said. “I think it is the highest seed ever so this group just continues to move us forward. But we are just really excited to be home and it is always exciting to see you name.

“So we are looking forward to a fun postseason.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Arkansas will be playing in its own home field.

“There are no guarantees in anything,” Deifel said. “The strength of softball, it has never been stronger.

“But it is nice when you get the opportunity to stay home and compete in your stadium, in front of our own fans and stay in your own bed. There are a lot of positives to that.

“But it is going to be tough. We have a really tough field and we expect that. So we are just glad we get to stay home.

Deifel thought her team was likely to see two of the three teams that are coming to Fayetteville.

“We were pretty confident we were going to get Oklahoma State and Saint Louis the question mores who our third seed was going to be do that was a surprise to us…It is going to be a tough region with three really good teams so it is going to be tough, but everything is tough this time of year.”

Oklahoma State has made five Women’s College Word Series in a row.

“I think when you look at the entire field they all have a lot of strengths,” Deifel said. “They are all postseason teams and they are going to be fighting for their lives.

“I think when you look at Oklahoma State, they have been there, done that. It is a new team, just like ours team is new, but right now our focus is just on Saint Louis.

“But I think we look the field and we prepare for the field, but few are going to put our focus first omn Saint Louis.”

The SEC landed 7 of the 8 national seeds.

Texas A&M is the top seed with Oklahoma second, Florida third and Arkansas fourth, Florida State fifth, Texas sixth, Tennessee seventh and South Carolina eighth.

Arkansas is coming off an 8-5 loss SEC Tournament semifinal loss to Oklahoma on Friday.

Oklahoma and Texas A&M were named co-champions when the game was canceled on Saturday.

“I think it really valuable for the team to go there and play,” Deifel said of the SEC Tournament. “It was very much a huge stage and a had a postseason feel and it forces you to just really be where your feet are and focus on one game at a time.

“I though our team competed well and played their hearts out and I really like we are at as a team.

So it is all positive coming out of Athens.”

Photo by John D. James