Deifel enjoying prep as No. 13 Razorback softball squad eyes Feb. 6 season opener

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – With just over three weeks left before her team’s season opener, Arkansas head softball coach Courtney Deifel is energized about her 2025 squad, which is ranked 13th nationally Softball America’s preseason poll.

“I feel really good about it,” Deifel said. “It is good to be back (from a school break) and I feel like we are in a good spot. Right now, I feel it is more like seeing where the weather is at and which days we are going to get out since we are getting the cold front that everyone is getting.

“So just making sure we get what need outside. We are also really lucky we have the indoor.

“This team, they have been really fun to coach and this past week has been no different. I am just really excited that we are be back and ready to work together and getting ready in these next four weeks to go to battle.”

The Razorbacks will open the season on Thursday, Feb. 6 against host Texas State in San Marcos in a three-day tournament that will also feature single games with Lipscomb and San Diego sandwiched around a pair with Bradley.

That’s the first of three away tournaments that also include trips to Ruston, La., and Cathedral City, Calif., before battling Iowa in its home opener on Friday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Woo Pig Classic.

It is a 20-contest non-conference slate with games against UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Baylor, Rutgers, Loyola Marymount, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss, ULM and Missouri State.

“I’m excited about it,” Deifel said. “I think it is a really good mix. I think it is four weekends that prepare us for conference, four weekends of what we are going to be made of as a team.

“So I am excited about it. I helped design it so it is hard to say anything else – that is the mastermind of our scheduling.

“I think it is a schedule that we are going to find out right away what we are made of, what we need to get fixed and back on track and get ready for the long haul of the season.”

The additions of national champion Oklahoma and runner-up Texas into the SEC has made the conference even stronger.

“I think we all have an idea, but we have no idea until we are in it,” Deifel said. “…The other (SEC) sports are like ‘yep, that has been our life for a long time – all of our teams being in the top 25, top 30 typically RPI-wise.

“We just added only (number) one and two. No big deal. But I think you coach in this conference and you play in this conference because you want to play the best and you are adding one and two.

“It is so strong throughout and you know anytime you take the field – whether it is in conference or out of conference – this game is too good, everybody is so good, it is harder and harder to win, you have to be your best and bring your best every day because they are going to demand that from the other dugout.”

The Razorbacks were 37-18 overall last season and 14-10 in league action, but saw their season end boy losing four of five.

That included going 1-2 while hosting an NCAA Tournament Regional at Bogle Park.

Arkansas welcomes several vets back to go with freshman and portal transfer classes both ranked in the top five.

“I think it has been a motivation for this group, especially through the fall,” Deifel said. “I think we felt that a little bit more in the fall, but this team is so different than last year’s team that it is a little bit of motivation and then we have new players coming that are like ‘let’s freaking go. it doesn’t matter what happened.’

“So it is think it is just a healthy amount of motivation. There’s no other word for it because it is just so far in the rearview mirror that it is kind of a moot issue at this point.

“I also think it is just kind of a snapshot where the sport is where you can put all your weight on what the year was in the last weekend. It was a really great year, but the team never really fired and still they put together a really great season.”

Deifel enjoys the talented mix she has on this season’s roster which includes four of Softball America’s Top 100 players in Bri Ellis, Kailey Wyckoff, Reagan Johnson and Kennedy Miller.

“They are like refreshingly fun and competitive – equally fun and competitive,” Deifel said. “We have always kind of been ‘you be you’ on this team, but I think you are going to see a lot of personality on this team.”

She has a bevy of talent with many of them bidding to be in the line up.

“We have really great position battles and we have really good depth, which gives us a lot of great options,” Deifel said. “I think there is still a few (position battles) to play out, but you are going to see a lot of players.”

Photo by John D. James