Danielle Gibson Whorton

Personal: Gibson Whorton is the daughter of Ruth and Todd Gibson and the oldest of three children in her family. She majored in psychology at the University of Arkansas. She chose to wear No. 41 throughout her career in honor of her father, who wore the number while playing basketball. Her younger sisters also continued the tradition by wearing No. 41. She married her husband, Mallie Whorton, in the summer of 2021. In July 2023, Gibson Whorton was named assistant softball coach at Arkansas after serving as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Georgia during the 2023 season. She has two dogs—a black lab named Lola and a corgi named Obi. She credits Arkansas head softball coach Courtney Deifel as someone who has made a meaningful impact on her life. As a child, she took piano lessons and participated in cross country, volleyball, and track and field. Her hobbies include arts and crafts, shopping, fishing, and water sports. Her walk-up song is “Hypnotize” by The Notorious B.I.G. Gibson Whorton considers her proudest accomplishment to be becoming a mom to her son, Whitley Whorton, in November 2024.

2023 Championship Season: Gibson claimed third place on the final leaderboard by accumulating 1,822 leaderboard points. She ranked sixth in the circuit with 1,210 win points and collected 392 stat points to stand fifth in the league. Gibson was tied with Alyssa Denham for second place in the circuit with 220 MVP points and five-game MVP commendations. In the final week of the season, she compiled a 2-1 record as a team captain. Gibson was the league leader with a .721 slugging percentage and 12 runs scored. She also paced the circuit with 31 total bases. Gibson was a starter in all 15 games and ranked third in the league with a .395 batting average and 17 hits. She posted a .491 on-base percentage to rate second among the league's hitters. Gibson was tied with Taylor Edwards for the league lead with five doubles. She belted three home runs while pacing the league with 14 runs batted in. Gibson collected a league-best five games with multiple runs batted in. She recorded at least one hit in eight of the final nine games, including a seven-game hit streak from August 9-25. Gibson posted a .500 batting average (11-for-22) during the seven-game streak with 11 hits, including three multi-hit outings. She earned the MVP 2 distinction against Team Faraimo at AU Pro Games at the Little League Softball World Series on August 9 after belting three hits, including a home run, with three RBI and 210 leaderboard points. Gibson secured the MVP 1 notice in the Week Three finale against Team Romero after going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, and three RBI. She earned Game MVP honors in three consecutive games from August 19-25. Gibson drove in two runs and hit a double against Team Urtez for the MVP 3 award on August 19. She hit a solo home run and scored twice against Team Nickles on August 20 for the MVP 1 commendation. Gibson opened Week Five with an MVP 2 performance against Team Flippen with two hits and two runs batted in. She tallied 11 games with 100 or more leaderboard points, including a streak of seven consecutive efforts from August 9-25. 

2023 AUX Season: Gibson achieved 15th place on the final leaderboard with a total of 858 points. This included 640 win points. Throughout Series Two, she earned 420 leaderboard points. She was one of only seven players who managed to hit .400 or better during the season. Additionally, she tied with Amanda Lorenz for the league lead, setting a new AUX single-season record with six doubles. Gibson also drove in six runs and tied for third place in the league with 14 hits. She had a strong start to the season, hitting safely in the first nine games. However, on June 25, she went 0-for-3 against Team Garcia. From June 14 to June 19, she had an impressive streak of four consecutive multi-hit games, accumulating nine hits and driving in five runs. On June 18, she went 3-for-4 with a run batted in against Team Taylor. She also had a notable performance on June 19, registering two doubles against Team Filler.

2022 Championship Season: Gibson was a talented rookie who placed 18th on the leaderboard with 1,336 points. She ranked among the league leaders with 1,060 win points and started 12 out of 14 games, batting .278 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. Gibson finished the season with a hit in six of her final eight games, including a season-high three hits against Team Chidester to close Week Two. She also drove in three runs against Team Mulipola to close Week Three after going 2-for-4 with a home run. Additionally, she had three runs batted in against Team Chidester in the Week Five opener.

2022 AUX Season: Gibson made her pro debut and compiled 714 leaderboard points. She was a starter in eight games and hit .259 with seven hits, including two home runs. She was inactive for the final series. Gibson hit her first professional home run against Team Eberle on June 15 with a solo shot in the second inning. She added a solo shot in the third inning to become the first player in AUX Softball history to post two home runs in the same game. Gibson opened the season with a six-game hitting streak and was one of 13 players selected in the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball College Draft.

College Experience: Gibson was a four-year letter winner at Arkansas after spending her freshman season at Arizona State. She appeared in a total of 248 games, including 189 at Arkansas, and had a career batting average of .366 with 60 home runs and 220 runs batted in. Gibson finished her Arkansas career as the Razorbacks’ career leader with 180 runs batted in. She belted 10 or more home runs in four of her five seasons, including a career-best 20 home runs as a redshirt senior. Gibson led the Razorbacks to back-to-back Southeastern Conference titles in 2021 and 2022. She earned First-Team NFCA All-America honors in 2022 after claiming Second-Team distinction in 2021. Gibson was also a member of the 2022 All-SEC First Team and a Top-10 finalist for the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award. She was a Second-Team CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree in 2022 and a two-time SEC All-Defensive Team pick. Gibson was a 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. She led the Razorbacks in batting average (.445), hits (81), doubles (14), home runs (20), and runs batted in (70) during the 2022 campaign. Gibson led the SEC in runs batted in and total bases while ranking second in hits. She was also one of five players in the circuit to hit 20 or more home runs. As a redshirt junior, Gibson posted a .355 batting average and claimed a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. She started all 25 games during the COVID-19 shortened season and hit .295 with 23 hits and 14 RBI. Gibson garnered NFCA All-Region Third Team distinction as a sophomore. She became the second NCAA Division I softball player to hit for the home run cycle, including the first player to do it in a four-inning span, when she blasted four home runs against SIU-Edwardsville on February 23, 2019. Gibson also became the sixth player in NCAA Division I softball history to hit four home runs in a single game. She finished her sophomore season as the Razorbacks’ leader with a .640 slugging percentage, 12 home runs, and 110 total bases. Gibson started 58 out of 59 games as a freshman at Arizona State and was one of three freshmen to earn First-Team All-Pac-12 Conference honors in 2018. She was also named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team and paced the Sun Devils in home runs (12), doubles (12), extra-base hits (24), and slugging percentage (.633).