‘A special group’: South Carolina softball advances to NCAA Super Regional
For the first time since 2018 South Carolina softball will be playing in the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals.
The Gamecocks advanced to the supers on Sunday after beating North Florida 8-0 in five innings.
As the No. 8 national seed in the tournament South Carolina will host the super regional at Carolina Softball Stadium next weekend. South Carolina will face No. 9 national seed UCLA, who won the Los Angeles Regional on Sunday.
This is just the third super regional appearance for the Gamecocks in program history.
“I don’t know if I have words, to be honest,” South Carolina head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. “I’m just really proud of everyone that is involved with the program. It takes a village to do something like this and it’s a special group. I’m really excited that we’re going to be right back here a week from now.”
Pitchers’ duel to start
Most of Sunday’s regional finale between South Carolina and North Florida was very similar to the game between the two teams on Saturday.
The starting pitchers were the exact same for both teams, South Carolina sent Sam Gress back out and North Florida opted for Allison Benning again. Gress threw 75 pitches in 4 2/3 innings in Saturday’s matchup while Benning threw 110 pitches in 5 2/3 innings (that was after throwing 107 pitches in seven innings versus Virginia the day before).
Benning was able to keep South Carolina’s offense under wraps for the first three innings of the game Sunday. The Gamecocks made consistent contact, but couldn’t get the ball to drop between North Florida’s defenders, rendering them hitless in those three frames.
Gress’ pitching produced similar results. In her four innings of work she allowed just three hits and kept the Ospreys off the scoreboard.
“Sam (has) kind of like the refuse to lose mentality,” Chastain Woodard said. “I think that always plays her stuff up, like she always gives herself a chance to get outs no matter what the ball is doing. So I thought she was locked in. I thought it was the right choice for her to open up the game again.”
Offense breaks through
On Saturday, the Gamecocks waited until the sixth inning to crack the seal on the scoreboard. But on Sunday, South Carolina broke through in the bottom of the fourth after Ella Chancey started a two-out rally.
“Anything can happen in postseason ball,” South Carolina right fielder Abigail Knight said. “It just really comes down to who can perform in those high pressure moments and we’ve trained all year about how to handle pressure.”
Chancey reached on an error and stole second a few pitches later. Brooke Blankenship smacked a single, South Carolina’s first hit of the game, and Chancey scored after North Florida’s catcher muffed the throw to the plate..
Knight followed Blankeship’s single with an RBI single of her own, to give South Carolina a 2-0 lead.
“We’ve been hitting a lot of balls hard and hits are contagious,” Knight said. “So Brooke right in front of me, made me feel good about getting a run in (and) it takes some pressure off.”
Jori Heard took over for Gress in the fifth inning and only needed 10 pitches to retire the three batters she faced.
The Gamecocks continued to pour it on in the bottom of the fifth inning. South Carolina scored six runs on six hits in the frame. All of the runs in the fifth inning came with two outs, as did all of USC’s runs.
“(Abigail) Knight was in the dugout calling us the two-out bandits,” Chastain Woodard said with a smile.
Lexington High grad Karley Shelton started the two-out rally in the fifth inning with a single up the middle. Arianna Rodi brought Shelton home with a double to make it 3-0. Rodi’s RBI was the 324th South Carolina recorded on the season, breaking the program’s single-season record.
Benning came out of the game after Rodi’s RBI, ending her outing after 4 2/3 innings where she allowed four runs after 98 pitches. A very emotional Benning received a standing ovation from the crowd as she exited the game.
White Knoll High grad Lexi Winters followed Rodi with a RBI single into center to give South Carolina a 4-0 lead. Blankenship, Knight and Emma Sellers rattled off three-straight RBI singles to make the score 8-0 and end the game early via a eight-run mercy rule.
Columbia Super Regional
Who: South Carolina vs UCLA
When: May 23-25
Where: Carolina Softball Stadium
Schedule
May 23: 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
May 24: 5 p.m.
May 25: TBD (If necessary)
Columbia Regional results
Game 1: North Florida 2, Virginia 1
Game 2: South Carolina 5, Elon 2
Game 3: South Carolina 3, North Florida 0
Game 4: Virginia 12, Elon 0
Game 5: North Florida 6, Virginia 5
Regional final: South Carolina 8, North Florida 0
This story was originally published May 18, 2025 at 2:57 PM.
