OKLAHOMA CITY — Reigning from the University of Arkansas, Bri Ellis makes her mark in history as the program’s first-ever USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award winner after receiving the prestigious honor at tonight’s 2025 NCAA Softball Women’s College World Series banquet in Oklahoma City. The award has recognized outstanding athletic achievement by Division I softball players across the country for the past 23 seasons, with Ellis representing the fifth position player recipient since the award’s inception in 2002.
“This award means so much to softball history and to be cemented into softball history forever is unreal,” said Ellis. “It means so much and I’m super proud of myself and my team. I thank them for helping me because there are no individual awards without team success. All of my coaches were super important in my process and I will thank them until the day I die,” she added.
Bri Ellis has had an outstanding season at the plate, leading the nation with a slugging percentage of 1.142 and an on-base percentage of .646. Throughout the 2025 season, Ellis held a batting average of .457 with 58 hits, which included nine doubles and 26 home runs, over 72 RBI plate appearances, totaling 145 bases. Her OPS of 1.788 is on track to become the best in NCAA history since the metric was first recorded in 2016.
A dominant presence on offense, Ellis holds single-season program records for home runs (26) and RBIs (72) at Arkansas and has tied the SEC’s single-season record for home runs. She is the first player since 2010 to finish the regular season ranked in the top two for both home runs per game (2nd, 0.51) and walks per game (2nd, 1.24), hitting a home run once every 4.88 at-bats.
Nationally, she ranks among the Top 10 for batting average (.457 – 8th), home runs (26 – 3rd), on-base percentage (.646 – 1st), RBIs per game (1.31 – 9th), slugging percentage (1.142 – 1st), and walks per game (1.16 – 2nd). Her impressive performance across multiple categories secured Ellis the 2025 SEC Player of the Year title, while also earning First Team All-SEC and All-SEC Defensive Team honors.
Along with Ellis, the Top 3 Finalists for the 2025 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year included Nebraska’s 2025 Big Ten Pitcher & Player of the Year, Jordy Bahl, and Texas Tech’s Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, NiJaree Canady.
Click here to view lists of Finalists selected for the 2025 PoY Award »
Previous winners of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year include Stacey Nuveman (UCLA – 2002), Cat Osterman (Texas – 2003, 2005, 2006), Jessica Van der Linden (Florida State – 2004), Monica Abbott (Tennessee – 2007), Angela Tincher (Virginia Tech – 2008), Danielle Lawrie (Washington – 2009, 2010), Ashley Hansen (Stanford – 2011), Keilani Ricketts (Oklahoma – 2012, 2013), Lacey Waldrop (Florida State – 2014), Lauren Haeger (Florida – 2015), Sierra Romero (Michigan – 2016), Kelly Barnhill (Florida – 2017), Rachel Garcia (UCLA – 2018, 2019), Jocelyn Alo (Oklahoma – 2021, 2022), Valerie Cagle (2023) and most recently, NiJaree Canady (2024).
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year is voted on by coaching representatives of nine Division I Conferences in the 10 USA Softball Regions, members of the media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country as well as past winners of the award.
Paired with the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, USA Softball is also in its 23rd season of presenting the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, which is released every Tuesday throughout the regular season. Follow along with Division I NCAA Softball all season long at USASoftball.com.