Arkansas will host softball regional for 1st time

Arkansas Hannah McEwen celebrates after scoring a run Friday, March 30, 2018, during the fourth inning against Mississippi State at Bogle Park in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — Following a record-setting regular season, Arkansas’ softball team was selected to host a NCAA regional at Bogle Park - the first home regional in the program's 22-year history.

The Razorbacks, the No. 13 overall seed, will play DePaul on Friday at 4 p.m. on SEC Network. Oklahoma State and Wichita State will play Friday night in the Fayetteville Regional.

Arkansas lost 1-0 at Wichita State in March. The Razorbacks defeated Oklahoma State twice during exhibition games at Bogle Park in October.

Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel said she is familiar with DePaul from her time as an assistant coach at Louisville.

"It was pretty exciting just to hear the excitement from the team," Arkansas coach Courtney Deifel said. "They've worked so hard for this, and just to see them have that moment was pretty huge for our program. I'm incredibly proud of them and that we get to stay at home and play some more softball in Bogle."

Arkansas enters postseason play with a 39-15 record. The team’s 39 wins are tied for third-most in program history and are the most in a season since 2002.

The winner of the Fayetteville Regional will play the winner of the Norman (Okla.) Regional in the super regional round. Oklahoma is the No. 4 overall seed in the tournament. Missouri, Tulsa and Boston will play in the Norman Regional.

Super regionals will be played May 24-27.

The Southeastern Conference had all 13 teams selected to the tournament field for a second consecutive year, and nine SEC teams will host. Vanderbilt does not sponsor softball.

"It doesn't surprise me just with all 13 bodies of work. We all earned it," Deifel said. "It wasn't a big shock to me."

Arkansas high school softball state championship games were scheduled to begin Friday at Bogle Park, but the Arkansas Activities Association announced Sunday night those games would be moved to the University of Central Arkansas campus to avoid a scheduling conflict.