Arkansas Razorbacks softball secures commitment from Woodlawn (Arkansas) pitcher Lillie-Faye McWhorter
Lillie-Faye McWhorter has always viewed the University of Arkansas as an attractive place to further her education and softball career. She now has that opportunity.
The Woodlawn star right-handed pitcher was offered a scholarship from the Razorback softball program last weekend and gave her pledge to head coach Courtney Deifel while on a visit to Fayetteville, then officially made it public on Monday evening.
"Growing up in Arkansas, it has always been one of my dream schools," McWhorter said. "If you grow up here, Arkansas is just where you want to be and I knew I wanted to go there."
Ranked by Extra Inning Softball as the 27th-best player in the 2025 class, McWhorter has a variety of pitches in her arsenal that include a two-seam fastball, which she throws between 67-68 MPH, along with a changeup, rise ball and drop ball.
Deifel has helped transform the Razorbacks into one of the premier programs in the Southeastern Conference, winning the regular season league title in 2021-22, along with finishing as the SEC Tournament Champions in 2022. Deifel's Hogs have also won 131 games and hosted a regional over the past three seasons, including super regionals in 2021-22.
While the team hype continues to grow, the one thing Deifel has not yet accomplished is a trip to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City (Okla.), but it is coming.
"I am really happy with how Coach Deifel is developing the program and what she is making it into," McWhorter said. "I am excited to see how it plays out because I know with her as the coach that it will just keep getting better and better every year."
Deifel showed how serious she is about taking the next step with the hiring of D.J. Gasso in June as hitting coach. He is the son of seven-time national champion and University of Oklahoma head softball coach, Patty Gasso, whom Diefel served under as a grad assistant in 2008-09.
D.J. Gasso spent the past three seasons in the same position at the University of Utah and helped the Utes win the Pac-12 Tournament Championship and earn their first trip to the Women's College World Series since 1994 last spring.
Along with Gasso, Deifel also added two-time Razorback All-American Danielle Gibson Whorton as an assistant coach, who spent last season as a volunteer assistant at Georgia.
"I am excited to have a former Arkansas player (Gibson Whorton) back as a coach because she has obviously played for Coach Deifel and knows how to teach like her," McWhorter said.
"With Coach Gasso, I know that he can bring all of the knowledge that he has to continue and make everything better."
McWhorter made an immediate impact for the Lady Bears as a freshman and was one of two in her class to be named to the SBLive all-state softball first team that season. She compiled an incredible .45 earned run average and struck out 230 batters in 107 innings while holding opponents to a .098 batting average against. She was equally as dominant at the plate, finishing with a .508/ .624/ 1.05 slash line, as well as eight home runs and 39 runs batted in.
As a sophomore last spring, McWhorter followed with another great campaign, slashing .425/ .525/ .975 with nine home runs and 38 runs batted in. In the circle, McWhorter struck out 205 batters in 120.1 innings pitch and compiled a 1.69 earned run average.
"Lillie-Faye is more than just a pitcher for us, she has been, by far, our most productive offensive player as well," Woodlawn head coach Kyle Thaxton said. "She does not have to try to be a leader because everyone is naturally drawn to her ability and knowledge of the game."
While McWhorter has earned a great deal of exposure through her travel ball team, the Birmingham Thunderbolts 18U, her story is a great example of athletes from small towns going to play on the big stage. Woodlawn is a Class 2A school in Cleveland County with a population of around 100, so sometimes exposure is slim to none.
"I think this just proves that whether you play at a big or small school that you can still do whatever you want as long as you put the hard work into it," McWhorter said.
Thaxton beamed with praise while discussing what his ace pitcher has meant to the community.
"What Lillie-Faye has done and is doing means so much to Woodlawn as a whole," he mentioned. "Her work ethic is noticed by our younger girls and they want to be like her.
"She has taken time to help coach some of them and they see her as a celebrity."
Along with making a difference in the community, McWhorter and the Lady Bears also have the goal of accomplishing the ultimate prize - a state championship. The Lady Bears have been one of Class 2A's top teams over the past two seasons with 41 combined victories, but state tournament play has not been their strength as they have endured back-to-back first round exits (technically second last spring because they had a first round bye).
"As a team, we want to keep winning conference and regionals," McWhorter said. "If we just make it round by round next year to get a win in that first round game then I feel like we will be good."
Photo credit: University of Arkansas
--Kyle Sutherland
