Arkansas slugger Rylin Hedgecock announces return for 2024 season
After initially deciding to retire and step away from the program, utility player Rylin Hedgecock had a change of heart, deciding to return to the Arkansas Razorbacks softball team for her super senior season, which the team announced on Wednesday.
The slugger deciding to use her final season of eligibility is huge for the Razorbacks, as Hedgecock put together an absolutely stellar season for Arkansas last year.
She earned Second-Team All-SEC honors, First-Team All-American honors, and was named D1Softball’s Most Improved Player of the 2022-2023 season. Her career year consisted of 55 hits, 21 home runs, and 62 RBIs with a .335 batting average and a .459 on-base percentage, as she was a major catalyst in Arkansas 40 win season and NCAA Tournament appearance.
Her 21 home runs led the Razorbacks last season, as her return marks her rejoining Hannah Gammill and Cylie Halvorson who also had over 17 home runs last season for Arkansas. The Razorbacks also added Auburn transfer Bri Ellis to the squad this offseason as well, who had 20 homers of her own last year.
Arkansas celebrated Hedgecock’s return with an electrifying highlight video of some of her greatest moments with the Razorbacks, which can be seen below.
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Arkansas softball team lands NIL deal with Wright’s Barbecue
Wright’s Barbecue, which has a couple of locations in the state of Arkansas, has teamed up with Arkansas softball in a new NIL deal. The entire team is a part of this new deal.
Softball players, like Taylor Ellsworth and Mary Haff, tweeted out that they were “Wright’s athletes” to announce the deal. Wright’s has made creative NIL deals in the past. There aren’t any financial details currently available on the deal with the softball team.
“We ran into (head coach) Courtney Diefel and Hannah Gammill at my daughter’s softball game,” sad Jordan Wright of Wright’s Barbecue. “I was like, ‘We need to get this done for you all. Y’all are having a great season and it would be fun for all players before regionals started.’ They all jumped on board.”
Arkansas has one of the best softball teams in the country. They beat Missouri to win the 2022 SEC Championship and will be hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament. This isn’t the first team-wide NIL deal that the Arkansas team has signed. They also have a team deal with a local Buick dealership.