Nobody told Arkansas they were supposed to be nervous.
For a program playing in its first-ever Women’s College World Series game Thursday night at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, the Hogs sure didn’t act like first-timers.
They took the lead. They lost it. They took it back. They lost it again.
When regulation ended with the score tied, they kept right on playing, forcing No. 4 Nebraska all the way to the bottom of the 10th inning before the Cornhuskers finally walked them off 5-3 in front of a Women’s College World Series record crowd of 12,605.
If this is what Arkansas looks like in its very first WCWS appearance, the rest of the field’s been warned.
The No. 5 national seed Razorbacks didn’t come to Oklahoma City to take a photo and go home. They came to compete.
For nine-plus innings on Thursday that’s exactly what they did against one of the tournament’s top programs. Nebraska needed a walk-off two-run home run from shortstop Ava Kuszak in the 10th just to close the door.
Johnson Made History Before the First Out
The Hogs’ first-ever WCWS at-bat set the tone perfectly. Reagan Johnson stepped in to lead off the game and singled to shortstop, becoming the first player in program history to record a hit at the Women’s College World Series.
It wasn’t a fluke. Johnson finished the night 2-for-5, picking up infield singles in the first and eighth innings and moving her to the top of the Arkansas record books with 80 career multi-hit games, the most in program history.
She was the perfect player to write that page of history. Cool, consistent and unaffected by the moment.
That calmness spread through the entire lineup. Dakota Kennedy singled to center in the second inning. Brinli Bain rolled one down the first-base line for a hit in the sixth.
Tianna Bell singled through the left side to open the seventh. Kennedy Miller went up the middle in the eighth.
Wyckoff Spotted Arkansas a Lead Early
Kailey Wyckoff made sure the Hogs didn’t just hang around, they took charge.
With two outs in the top of the second inning, Wyckoff drove a 1-0 pitch from Nebraska’s Jordy Frahm over the wall in left-center field, scoring Kennedy ahead of her for a two-run homer that put Arkansas on top 2-0.
Wyckoff’s blast gave Arkansas the team-high two RBIs on the night and sent a message that the Hogs had every intention of being difficult to beat.
Nebraska tied it at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single from Samantha Bland and an RBI fielder’s choice from Bella Bacon, with a Johnson throwing error helping set the table.
It was the first time all night the Hogs had trailed, but they responded.
Burnham Gave Arkansas a Chance to Win
When Robyn Herron exited in the fourth inning after 5.2 frames, Payton Burnham walked into a tied game and proceeded to make Nebraska’s lineup look very ordinary for the next four innings.
She gave up just one run on three hits, walked nobody and struck out a batter.
Her best stretch came in the fifth, when Ella McDowell made a play that had no business working: fielding a hard grounder and firing across the diamond from her knees to record the second out of the inning.
Burnham followed with a strikeout to end the inning.
Herron’s final line showed 5.2 innings with four runs allowed on five hits and two walks.
She struck out one and kept the Hogs within striking distance long enough for Burnham to take over and do the rest.
McDowell Put Arkansas Back in Front in Eighth
The Hogs kept finding ways to lead. In the top of the eighth, Kennedy Miller singled up the middle to get things started.
After some shuffling on the bases that included a pinch runner and a fielder’s choice, Johnson moved to second on a Bain groundout.
Then McDowell lined an RBI single down the left-field line to score Johnson and put Arkansas back in front 3-2.
Three times the Razorbacks had led in this game. Three times they’d refused to let Nebraska breathe easy.
Nebraska answered in the bottom of the eighth when Hannah Coor hit a solo home run to center to tie it at 3-3.
Herron came back on in relief, and after a Hannah Camenzind double rattled the right-center gap, she got two groundouts and a walk to escape without further damage.
The game went to the ninth tied, then to the 10th.
Kuszak Finally Ended It in 10th
In the bottom of the 10th, with one out and Coor on second after a wild pitch, Kuszak stepped in and hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center for the walk-off.
Frahm, who went all 10 innings for the Huskers, struck out nine and allowed three runs on eight hits to improve to 21-4. She’s one of the best pitchers in the country and she needed all 10 innings to get past Arkansas.
It was the first extra-inning game the Razorbacks played all season and the program’s first 10-inning contest since a win over Alabama on March 20, 2023.
The loss drops Arkansas to 47-12 on the year, but this group is far from finished.
The Hogs face UCLA on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN in an elimination game, with Kevin Brown and Amanda Scarborough on the call.
Win it and they’re back Sunday. Lose it and the season ends. Don’t expect them to go quietly.
They didn’t come to Oklahoma City for one game. Thursday just confirmed it.
