Haff throws Razorbacks' first solo perfect game

Arkansas' Mary Haff celebrates during a game against LSU on Saturday, May 1, 2021, in Baton Rouge, La. (Photo by Andrew Wevers/LSU Athletics, via SEC pool)

Redshirt senior Mary Haff tossed the first individual perfect game in University of Arkansas softball history and struck out 14 to lead the Razorbacks to a 6-0 win over Maryland at the JMU Dukes Classic on Friday afternoon.

Arkansas (17-4) has won nine in a row and will finish play in the Classic on Sunday against host James Madison. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Haff (6-2) sat down all 21 hitters she faced, striking out the final hitter of the game to finish with a flourish. It was also her third no-hitter as a Razorback, but first to go seven innings. 

She no-hit Texas Tech last season in a 9-0, five-inning Arkansas win, and also no-hit Northern Colorado in 2018. That came in a 9-0 Arkansas win in six innings.

School officials said Tammy Kincaid and Rachel Talley combined to throw a perfect game in a 1-0 win over California State-Northridge in 2000. There have been 10 no-hitters in program history.

The 14-strikeout performance was her 14th career game of 10 or more strikeouts, which ties Katy Henry for the most in school history.

Sophomore Hannah Gammill went 2 for 2 with 2 home runs, drove in 3 runs and scored 3 times. Catcher Taylor Ellsworth also went 3 for 4 with a double.

The Razorbacks scored three times in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter K.B. Sides walked, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on Hannah McEwen’s sacrifice fly. Linnie Malkin added a two-out, two-run double later in the inning.

Gammill, who also homered in the win over Lehigh, added a two-run homer in the top of the third and solo shot in the fifth. They were her ninth and 10th home runs of the season.

Arkansas 19, Lehigh 2

The Razorbacks hit a program-record seven home runs and rolled over Lehigh in five innings in the early game Friday morning at the JMU Classic.

Sides went 4 for 4 with a home run, drove in three runs and scored twice. Ellsworth hit two home runs and drove in three runs. 

First baseman Danielle Gibson also went 3 for 3 with a home run. The Razorbacks broke the game open with a seven-run bottom of the second to grab an 11-1 lead.

Jenna Bloom (6-0) picked up the win, allowing a run on two hits in two innings of work. Callie Turner notched her first save, allowing an unearned run over the last three innings.