For the second season in a row, former Corning Hawks star Atalyia Rijo and her University of Arkansas teammates will compete in an NCAA softball Super Regional.
Rijo, a senior shortstop, is batting .338 with 7 homers and 40 RBIs while starting all 56 games. She has 12 doubles, 35 runs, and a .467 on-base percentage.
Arkansas hosts Duke at noon Eastern on Friday, May 22 in Game 1 of the best-of-three series that will be played at Bogle Park in Fayetteville. Game 2 is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. Game 3, if necessary, would be played at a to-be-determined time Sunday.
Game 1 will be televised on ESPNU, and Game 2 on ESPN 2. Both games are also available on the ESPN app.
Winners of the eight Super Regionals advance to the Women’s College World Series, to be played May 28 to June 4/5 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The Razorbacks bring a 45-11 record into the weekend after rolling to three home wins in a regional May 15-17. Arkansas topped Fordham, 8-0; then beat South Florida by scores of 9-1 and 10-2.
Arkansas is ranked fifth in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings.
Rijo went 4-for-7 in last weekend’s regional after going 9-for-10 with a homer last year while helping the Razorbacks advance to a Super Regional. Arkansas lost to Ole Miss, 7-4, in the deciding game of the 2025 Super Regional.
Rijo was a third-team NFCA All-Central Region selection this season.
Last year Rijo batted .318 with 6 homers in her comeback from an injury that kept her out for most of the 2024 season.
While in high school, Rijo helped Corning capture the 2019 Class AA state title and was a four-time all-state pick despite the cancellation of her sophomore season because of the COVID pandemic. She earned first-team honors three times after being selected sixth-team all-state as an eighth-grader.
Rijo was named Gatorade New York Softball Player of the Year in 2022.
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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Former Corning star Rijo back in Super Regionals with Arkansas
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
