Brianna Grace Ellis (born January 7, 2003) is an American

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

player for

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. She previously played for Auburn. She was named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year in 2025.

High school career

Ellis attended Memorial High School in

Hedwig Village, Texas Hedwig Village is a city in Harris County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,370 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The Spring Branch Memorial area was originally settled by German American, Germ ...

. During her freshman year she was Newcomer of the Year and Memorial High School's Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year. She finished her career with a career .421

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

with 80 hits, 99

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBI) and 104

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

in her three seasons. She was ranked as the nation's No. 20 recruit in the Class of 2021 by Extra Inning Softball. On November 11, 2020, she signed her national letter of intent with Auburn.

College career

Ellis began her collegiate career for Auburn in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. During her freshman year she played in 56 games, with 55 starts at first base. She hit .302 with 20 home runs, eight doubles, and 49 RBIs. She finished the season tied for the second most home runs in a single season at Auburn, and the most by a freshman. Defensively she committed three errors at first base with 251

putout In baseball statistics, a putout (PO) is awarded to a defensive player who (generally while in secure possession of the ball) records an out by one of the following methods: * Tagging a runner with the ball when he is not touching a base (a tag ...

s and 11 assists for a .989

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

. Following the season she was named SEC Freshman of the Year, and a top-ten finalist for the

NFCA National Freshman of the Year The NFCA National Freshman of the Year is an award given by Schutt Sports to the best college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. ...

. During her sophomore year in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, she started all 62 games, and had a .275 average, with 42 hits, eight doubles, 14 home runs, and 47 RBIs. She led the team with a .601

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

. Defensively she committed three errors at first base with 264 putouts and 12 assists for a .989 fielding percentage. On June 19, 2023, Ellis transferred to

. During her junior year in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, she appeared in 55 games, and hit .322, with 48 hits, seven doubles, 14 home runs, and 47 RBI. She led the team with a .651 slugging percentage and .444

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

. Defensively she recorded 359 putouts and 12 assists for a .989 fielding percentage. Following the season she was named to the All-SEC First team and SEC All-Defensive Team. During her senior year in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, she hit .457, with 58 hits, nine doubles, 26 home runs, and 72 RBIs. She posted a nation-leading 1.142 slugging percentage and .646 on-base percentage. During conference play she hit .397 with 11 home runs, 29 RBIs and 27 walks, with a .983 slugging percentage and .606 on-base percentage. Following an outstanding season, she was named SEC Player of the Year and named to the All-SEC First team and SEC All-Defensive Team. During the second round of the 2025 SEC tournament against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, she hit a walk-off grand slam to help Arkansas advance to the quarterfinals. With her home run, she set the single-season program record for home runs (26) and RBIs (72). She was also named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and Softball America Player of the Year.

Professional career

On May 3, 2025, Ellis was drafted second overall by the Talons in the 2025 AUSL College Draft.

Personal life

Ellis was born to Ron and Molly Ellis, and has one sister, Emily. Her father played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Bri 2003 births Living people Auburn Tigers softball players Arkansas Razorbacks softball players Sportspeople from Houston Softball players from Texas 21st-century American sportswomen