Arkansas Online

ARKANSAS magic happens once more.

For the second day in a row, Arkansas entered the sixth inning tied with Oregon. Also, for a second consecutive day, the Razorbacks took command by scoring six runs in the inning.

The difference between Sunday’s explosion in the inning was it came on the heels of adversity.

After jumping ahead to a 3-0 lead, the Razorbacks surrendered three runs during one play in the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, Oregon’s Ariel Carlson doubled to left field, and two Razorback throwing errors led to everyone scoring.

Despite the sudden change of momentum, the Arkansas dugout stayed composed.

“It’s very veteran,” redshirt senior Danielle Gibson said. “I think that you see and you hear our coaches talk about being poised. And I think that throughout the year, we’ve just really showed what it means to be really poised. It’s kinda funny ‘cause we don’t really blink when that kind of stuff that doesn’t go our way. We just are like, ‘OK, the game’s gonna come back to us.’ ”

The game came back to the Razorbacks.

Leading off the sixth, graduate transfer Taylor Ellsworth singled through the right side. In the next at-bat, Gibson hit a fielder’s choice, but both her and Ellsworth were safe thanks to an Oregon error. Hannah Gammill drew a walk to load the bases, and two at-bats later, a wild pitch allowed pinch-runner Cally Kildow to come home, giving Arkansas a 4-3 lead.

Later in the inning, Deifel elected to place Rylin Hedgecock in the game as a pinch hitter. The redshirt sophomore from Valdosta, Ga., delivered. On a full count, Hedgecock drove a three-run double off the outstretched glove of Oregon center fielder Jasmine Williams.

KB Sides, the SEC Player of the Year, put an exclamation mark on the inning. She parked a tworun home run over the center field wall, capping an onslaught of Razorback runs in the inning and giving Arkansas a 9-3 advantage.

Like Saturday, Deifel gave credit to a staff member for helping refocus the team. Assistant coach Matt Meuchel gave the team a small speech after Oregon had tied the game.

The day before, a ‘hype squirrel,’ as dubbed by Linnie Malkin, made its way onto the Bogle Park field immediately before the Arkansas bats awakened in the sixth. Whether the critter was on-site Sunday is unknown, but regardless, offensive fireworks exploded in the inning, and the Razorbacks are headed to a second consecutive Super Regional because of it.

Sports

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2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282621741330789

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