USC softball having historic season. Arianna Rodi’s bat a big reason why
Arianna Rodi had a breakout season for Charlotte 49ers softball last year. She hasn’t missed a beat since transferring to South Carolina.
She started all 57 games of her sophomore campaign in 2024 at first base and put together a .353/.469/.788 slash line at the plate for the 49ers. Rodi hit 22 home runs, a mark that ranked No. 5 in the country, along with 55 RBIs.
Then her coach, Ashley Chastain Woodard, left the Queen City and returned to her alma mater to become the new head coach at South Carolina. Rodi and five other 49ers players followed.
It was an easy decision for Rodi, and though she always figured she’d graduate from Charlotte, she now realizes South Carolina is where she was “meant to be.”
“I’ve said this a lot of times, but I could be anywhere with them and I’d be like, ‘Let’s go,’ ” Rodi said. “So it’s not really about the place, but it’s about the people that you surround yourself with that makes the program successful. I’ve had previous success with them, and we’ve been successful together, so I knew I had to follow them.”
Rodi’s play a year ago earned her a First-Team All-American nod by Softball America. When Rodi arrived in Columbia, there was a question about whether she’d be able to translate the success she had at the mid-major level to SEC softball.
One look at her stats and it’s easy to say she’s done just that.
“I think that she kind of silenced all of those question marks with some really big hits for us this year,” Chastain Woodard said.
Her bat as a junior has been lethal in 2025. She sports a .333 batting average and leads the team in RBIs (50) and slugging percentage (.739).
This weekend, the Gamecocks will host an NCAA Tournament regional for the first since 2018 and, as the No. 8 national seed, have a shot at hosting a super regional should they advance.
While there may have been some internalized pressure to repeat her success from last year, Rodi said her confidence in her abilities ultimately wiped away any self-doubt she might have had about transitioning to the SEC level.
“Honestly, I didn’t try to treat it any differently than I have in years past,” Rodi said. “It’s the game of softball. It doesn’t know jerseys. Just trying to keep my process the same led me to the success last year, and not (being) too worried about what conference I’m doing it in, or what teams I’m doing it against.”
Rodi’s power at the plate has been crucial for the Gamecocks this year. She’s hit 16 home runs, a USC program single-season record. Rodi’s two homers against Alabama in the SEC Tournament last week tied and broke the record.
Her OPS (on base plus slugging) of 1.228 is No. 10 in the SEC, and her homer count is tied for sixth-most of any player in the SEC.
She’s also patient in the batter’s box. She’s drawn a team-high 46 walks, tied for the second most in the SEC.
“Any time she gets in the box, I think there’s a ton of belief that she can score runs in one swing,” Chastain Woodard said. “It’s just with the power, I really like her in the three spot behind (Quincee Lilion) and (Karley) Shelton, because you can bank on one of them being on. So I just feel like that puts Ari in a situation to score multiple runs at a time.
“... Whether we’re down by a few or we’re up by a few. She just always gives us a chance to score runs.”
While Rodi excels on offense,. she’s also got a knack for the defensive side of the ball.
Her fielding percentage has risen from .980 a year ago to .996 this year, and her errors have dropped from eight last season to just two in 2025.
“I pride myself on being a well-rounded player,” Rodi said. “Focusing on defense because, yes, teams can put you in the lineup for offense, but obviously they’re going to notice that there’s a hole defensively. So I pride myself on being a great first baseman. Then the little things like base running and just overall being a good teammate are things that the normal person wouldn’t see on a daily basis, but it really matters.”
Both Rodi and Chastain Woodard say the strides she made as a freshman at Charlotte helped her become the player she is now.
Rodi started as the 49ers’ designated player in 2023 but lost the role as her freshman season progressed. Still, Rodi’s potential was so evident that Chastain Woodard essentially sent her to spend the rest of her freshman campaign behind Kassidy Krupit at first base.
Krupit is a former Gamecock who spent her final year of college ball playing for Chastain Woodard at Charlotte, eventually becoming a graduate assistant with the 49ers. Krupit is now director of player development and analytics for the Gamecocks.
“I had to learn to deal with failure for the first time in a long time,” Rodi said. “I wasn’t playing every day, so in the moment I was very hard on myself and being like, ‘Why aren’t you playing? Why aren’t you getting better?”
“... I sat behind (Krupit), who was playing first base at the time, and I learned so much from her and just learned so much about the game and how college softball actually works. And I wouldn’t change anything now because of where I am today.”
Rodi and the Gamecocks will kick off their run to the Women’s College World Series on Friday when they take on Elon at 5:30 p.m. in the NCAA Tournament’s Columbia Regional. Rodi said she’s taking the postseason “one game, one inning, one pitch at a time.”
If Gamecock fans are lucky, they’ll see one of those at-bats (or maybe even two) result in a home run from Rodi this weekend.
“I’m not going to promise anything,” Rodi said through a laugh. “But I’m hopeful. Just gonna catch some barrels.”
