Bash Sisters power Arkansas into SEC softball opening series at red-hot Ole Miss

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – Two for the nation’s hottest bats and hottest teams will meet this weekend on the softball diamond in Oxford, Miss.

No. 10 Arkansas (19-1) and No. 25 Ole Miss (18-3) will open each other’s SEC slate with a three-game series beginning Friday night at 6 p.m.

“I think we are really excited,” Razorback head coach Courtney Deifel said. “I think that when you start the SEC season, there is this feeling of almost the start of your second season a little bit.

“It’s a different pace with having three games a weekend instead of five. So you are prepping for one and it is very intense prep for one opponent instead of three or five.

“…But I think this team is excited anytime it takes at the field so I don’t know if they re going to be more geared up for a conference game. I think that they are pretty excited to take the field no matter who we are playing.”

The Rebels, who are riding a 13-game winning streak, will also host the Razorbacks Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. with all three game streamed on SEC Network +.

“I think you see out of Ole Miss a team that’s playing really confidently right now,” Deifel said. “They’re on a 13-game win streak, and in those 13 games they are producing a lot of runs and they’re holding down other offenses.”

The Razorbacks started off the season with a school record 14 straight wins with all being in tournaments away from home.

After losing to No. 4 UCLA, Arkansas has been victorious in its last five contests – all via the run rule while hosting last week’s Wooo Pig Classic.

The Razorbacks have won 15 of their of last 16 SEC road series.

“They’re going to demand our best,” Deifel said of Ole Miss. “And it’s obviously a road matchup, which we’ve liked in the past. Hopefully this team has that same makeup, but it’s going to be a battle.”

The Arkansas offense has been powered by the duo of first baseman Bri Ellis (.556, 11 home runs) and utility player Courtney Day, who have combined for 66 RBIs – 33 each.

The have earned the nickname ‘Bash Sisters.’

Per Razorback assistant communications director Hunter Corneliusen, that total is more than 147 college teams so far this season and they are the only teammates in the top five nationally,

“I think they’re quite a tag team,” Deifel said. “And I think that they thrive in that [with] what people are starting to call them….Being able to support and protect each other in the lineup, I think, is huge.”

Deifel is adamant that Ellis and Day’s production is in large part because of their teammates.

“I just have been impressed so far with their production,” Deifel said. “They’re also the two that the first thing they’re going to say is, ‘We can’t do this if everybody in front [or behind] us isn’t doing their job.’

“I think that they understand that they’re a big part of what we do, but it’s not completely dependent on what they do. And I think there’s a lot of freedom in that. There’s a really big sense of maturity from them, a ton of confidence, and that they make everyone around them appreciate it.”

The Rebels ranked third nationally in pitching ERA with a 1.29 ERA.
Ole Miss freshman pitcher Miami Guachino (8-3), leads the nation with 99 strikeouts and has a 1.22 ERA.

The Rebels also have another pair of mound standouts in Baylor transfer Aliyah Benford and Brianna Lopez round out the staff.

Photo by John D. James