FAYETTEVILLE — After playing 25 non-conference games, the No. 20 Arkansas softball team is scheduled to begin its SEC slate Friday at Auburn.
The Razorbacks (20-5) wrapped up a 15-game homestand last weekend with the Razorback Rumble. During that stretch, Arkansas went 12-3 and the Razorbacks enter conference play on a three-game winning streak.
“I think that the team’s in a good spot,” coach Courtney Deifel said. “We came off a really great finish to last weekend and I think that the vibe, the practices, the intent [and] the approach has been really great this week and I think they’re excited to get into conference play.”
The three-game series is scheduled to start at 5 p.m., but thunderstorms are expected throughout Friday in Auburn, Ala., so the series opener may get pushed to Saturday.
The teams are scheduled to play Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Some things to watch for when Arkansas faces Auburn:
Bri Ellis returns to The Plains
Arkansas junior first baseman Bri Ellis, who won SEC player of the week honors after batting .636 last weekend during the Razorback Rumble, will be returning to the place she started her career.
Ellis started all but one game in two seasons at Auburn and was the SEC freshman of the year in 2022 when she homered 20 times.
During her freshman campaign, Ellis batted cleanup and posted a .302 average with 45 hits. Her 20 home runs that season ranked third in the SEC and 13th in the nation.
As a sophomore in 2023, she was one of two Auburn players to start all 62 games. She batted .275 with 42 hits, and her 14 home runs were 12th most in the SEC.
Ellis entered the transfer portal last offseason and landed at Arkansas. She ranks ninth in Auburn program history with 34 home runs and her 20 as a freshman were the second most in a season by a Tiger.
“That’s the one tough part about transferring in-conference is you know that you’re going to have to line up against [your old team again],” Deifel said. “It’s where she played for a couple years and obviously she was very much a big part of that team. It just is what it is. You just have to deal with it head on and hope that she handles it the best way that she can, and really hope that they do too — it’s a two-sided thing. We just try to get her in the best mindset that we can.”
Ellis is batting .342 with 25 hits and 8 home runs this season. She leads Arkansas with a .740 slugging percentage.
Can the Razorbacks test Maddie Penta?
Arkansas will face a stiff challenge with Auburn ace Maddie Penta, who is the reigning SEC pitcher of the year and an All-American.
One look at the Tigers’ innings pitched reveals how much they rely on their star senior pitcher. Penta has thrown 70 innings and the next closest to her are Shelby Lowe and Annabelle Widra, who have pitched 19 1/3 and 18 innings, respectively.
Penta has a 0.80 ERA, which ranks eighth in the SEC, and is No. 2 in the league with 97 batters struck out. Opponents have batted .145 against her.
She is one victory away from setting the Auburn program record for wins.
Missouri found some success against Penta when it got 6 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings against the right-hander en route to stealing a 5-2 victory in the teams’ series opener.
If the Razorbacks can find similar success against Penta, it could go a long way toward setting the weekend’s tone.
Will the Razorbacks build some momentum with the bats?
Figuring out Arkansas has been difficult through the pre-conference slate. The Razorbacks have been good at responding — they have not lost back-to-back games — but have yet to go undefeated over a weekend.
And each time they have lost, the offense has been much to blame. When the Razorbacks have lost, they have averaged 1.8 runs and 4.8 hits.
But the Razorbacks' bats seemed to have found some rhythm at the end of last weekend, a positive sign for a lineup with both speed and power.
Arkansas outscored its opponents by a combined 26-8 score over its last three games of the Razorback Rumble, capped with a 9-0 victory in 6 innings over Northern Iowa. It is that type of pass-the-bat offense Deifel indicated will be pertinent for the Razorbacks to have as they begin SEC play.
“I just feel like we ended the weekend really confidently,” Deifel said. “I felt like there was this lightness to the team that we hadn’t necessarily seen but we knew that was there.”
Can they carry momentum from one weekend into the next?
“I think we saw this past weekend what this offense is capable of,” Deifel said. “And I think that’s just the start for them. The big thing is just getting them in that free, light, confident mentality because we know we have that skillset.”