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In the most important game of the year, Arkansas’ bats went cold and the best season in school history came to an end Saturday afternoon.
Sophia Simpson shut out the Razorbacks’ explosive offense and Texas scored three runs in the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie in the Longhorns’ 3-0 win in the decisive Game 3 of the Fayetteville Super Regional.
For the third time in four trips to the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas reached the round of 16, but came up short of the Women’s College World Series. This time, it finished a win shy of its first trip to Oklahoma City.
The Razorbacks entered the weekend third nationally in scoring (7.39 runs/game) and sixth in batting average (.335), but managed just one run and went a combined 10 for 52 (.192) over the final two games of the super regional.
Where the struggles were most apparent Saturday was when Arkansas had a chance to break through against Simpson, who was starting in place of Texas ace Hailey Delcini after she threw more than 500 pitches over the previous week.
Nine runners were stranded on base, as the Razorbacks went just 1 for 13 with runners on and were hitless in 12 at bats with runners in scoring position.
That issue started early and persisted through the entire game.
Danielle Gibson and Hannah Gammill hit back-to-back singles to start the second inning and moved to second and third on a wild pitch, but were stranded when Linnie Malkin and Kacie Hoffmann struck out and Audrie LaValley flied out.
Similar situations unfolded in the third and fifth innings before Texas finally broke through in the sixth. With only two hits off Arkansas ace Chenise Delce through the first five innings, the Longhorns opened the sixth with four straight hits.
Janae Jefferson started it with a double, Mia Scott followed with a bunt single and then — after Scott stole second — Alyssa Washington drove them in with a double to center. Mary Iakopo tacked on an RBI single for good measure.
That made it 3-0, which still wasn’t out of reach for Arkansas. In fact, the Razorbacks put the first two batters on base in the sixth and seventh innings, only to come up empty once again. Facing her former team, Taylor Ellsworth hit Simpson’s 111th pitch of the game to deep left field, but Lauren Burke caught it in front of the wall to send the Longhorns to their sixth Women’s College World Series — and first since 2013.
In the opposite dugout, Arkansas’ season ended on its home field in the super regionals for the second straight year. It ended the season with a school-record 48 wins on top of its first outright regular-season SEC title and SEC Tournament championship.
