Danielle Gibson

Personal: Gibson majored in psychology at Arkansas and is the oldest of three children in her family. She wore No. 41 at Arkansas because her father, Todd, wore it while playing basketball, and her younger sisters also wore No. 41. Gibson married her husband Mallie Whorton during the summer of 2021. She joined the softball coaching staff at the University of Georgia on September 2, 2022, as a volunteer assistant coach. Gibson has two dogs: a black lab named Lola and a corgi named Obi. If she were not playing softball, she would be a volleyball player or water sports enthusiast. Gibson took piano lessons as a child along with participating in cross country and track and field. She also played club volleyball growing up. Her hobbies include arts and crafts, shopping, and water sports. Gibson chose to wear No. 5 for Athletes Unlimited because the digits from her college number add up to No. 5. Her walk-up song is “Hypnotize” by The Notorious B.I.G.

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 Softball College Draft.

At Arkansas: 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).