For the second time in NCAA history, a D-I athlete completed the most difficult task a hitter could accomplish in a single game: hit a home run cycle. Arkansas sophomore Danielle Gibson smashed a solo shot, two-run homer, three-run homer and a grand slam in a 15-3 win over SIU-Edwardsville on Saturday.
While she didn’t break history with her accomplishment on its own, she did separate herself from the other cycle-hitter by doing this all in just four innings. Even more impressive is that this performance came just hours after her team took a 3-1 loss to Drake, where Gibson went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. It’s clear that she was just overcorrecting for the hit her batting average took after that game.
Gibson became the sixth person in NCAA history to hit four homer runs in a single game. She would have had a chance to go for the record in the fifth inning, but the game was unsurprisingly called before that inning could be played thanks to the NCAA’s run rule.