The homestretch of the Arkansas softball season left a bad taste in the mouths of the Razorbacks.
Friday, the switch flips.
Despite falling immediately in the SEC Tournament and in the last series of the regular season to the last-place team in the conference, Arkansas has a legitimate reason for confidence heading in the NCAA Tournament this weekend.
Namely, Bogle Park.
Certainly Ole Miss’ taking of the final series heading into the SEC Tournament is sour. But Arkansas was 18-9 at Bogle Park during the year. And all the evidence in the world, over decades, bears that teams playing at home are more successful than teams playing on the road.
The Razorbacks were chosen as hosts for the Big Dance and will perform those duties for Southeast Missouri State, Arizona and Villanova. The, the regional’s No. 2-seed, are plenty familiar to Arkansas. The two schools split two games in Tuscson earlier in the year. Each team won 1-0.
Coach Courtney Deifel has turned Arkansas into a national powerhouse, though they have yet to take that step into elite territory. The Razorbacks have made the NCAAs every year since 2017 and have finished in the top four in the SEC, alongside the Big 12 as the best softball conference in the land, each of the last four years. But the Hogs have not made the College World Series.
Yet. The path toward it starts Friday.