Arkansas Softball Secures 5 All-SEC Awards
AUBURN, Ala. (Arkansasrazorbacks.com)– Highlighted by three First-Team picks, the No. 13 Arkansas softball team received five All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors as voted by the coaches.
Junior first baseman Bri Ellis, sophomore center fielder Reagan Johnson, and fifth-year senior RHP Morgan Leinstock were named First-Team All-SEC for the first time in their careers. Senior second baseman Cylie Halvorson was chosen for the Second-Team All-SEC for the second year in a row.
Senior third baseman Hannah Gammill earned a spot on the SEC’s All-Defensive Team, along with Bri Ellis, marking the first time since 2022 that two Razorbacks have been named to the All-Defensive Team in the same year. Arkansas’ three First-Team honorees are the most since achieving a program-record six in 2022.
In her first season with the Razorbacks, Bri Ellis led the SEC with a 1.124 OPS, 36 runs scored, 14 home runs, 47 RBIs, 95 total bases, and a .679 slugging percentage. She boasts a .329/.679/.446 slash line heading into the SEC Tournament quarterfinals against Missouri. The Houston native leads the team with 17 two-out RBIs and became the first in program history to win SEC Player of the Week consecutively on March 12 and March 19. Defensively, Ellis has a .991 fielding percentage on 347 chances and has assisted in turning 21 double plays.
Building on her impressive freshman year, Reagan Johnson remains one of the SEC’s top center fielders and leadoff hitters. The Karnes City, Texas, native ranks second in the SEC with 70 hits and sixth in batting average at .388. Johnson leads Arkansas in hits, stolen bases (11), and multi-hit games (21), with a .988 fielding percentage on 84 chances.
In her only SEC season, Leinstock has proven to be one of the conference’s elite pitchers, earning two SEC Pitcher of the Week honors. With a 13-4 record, she has a 1.75 ERA, 129 strikeouts, eight complete games, three shutouts, and a .205 opponent batting average heading into the SEC Tournament quarterfinals against Missouri. In conference play, Leinstock ranked fourth in saves (2), sixth in wins (8), sixth in strikeouts looking (20), eighth in ERA (2.00), ninth in innings pitched (80.1), ninth in strikeouts (66), and 11th in opponent batting average (.213). She is second on Arkansas’ pitching staff with a 1.12 WHIP this season.
