One that got away: UCLA rallies past South Carolina to force Game 3 in Supers
South Carolina softball was one out away the program’s first Women’s College World Series trip since 1997.
The Gamecocks will have to wait another day.
Down 4-1, UCLA scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to swipe a victory from the jaws of defeat at Carolina Softball Stadium. Jordan Woolery hit a two-run, walk-off home run to give the Bruins a 5-4 win.
“Really disappointed we couldn’t get the job done there at the end,” first-year coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. “… This kind of feeling, this adversity really tests who you are as a team.”
South Carolina and UCLA will now play a winner-take-all game Sunday at 3 p.m. (televised on ESPN2) to decide who will advance to the WCWS.
Bats strike early but go quiet
South Carolina was able to get on the board right away in the top of the first inning. Though the Gamecocks are hosting the super regional, they were designated as the visiting team Saturday.
Quincee Lilio, USC’s leadoff hitter, started the game with a single and Lexi Winters brought her home with a single of her own a few batters later. Winters’ RBI gave South Carolina an early 1-0 lead.
Pitchers reigned supreme on both sides of the game for the next three innings.
South Carolina ace Sam Gress kept UCLA off the scoreboard early in her outing in the pitcher’s circle. Gress allowed two hits in four innings, and the one time she got in a jam she forced UCLA into pop-outs and slammed the door with a strikeout.
The Bruins went with their All-Big Ten ace Taylor Tinsley in the pitcher’s circle. Tinsley allowed just one hit after South Carolina scored in the first inning, until Winters came up big in the fifth.
Lexi Winters strikes again
South Carolina has thrived in two-out situations all postseason, and things were no different Saturday.
Winters came up to bat with bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth and launched a single down the left field line, scoring two runners. The RBI single gave South Carolina some cushion and a 3-0 lead. Winters finished the day with a team-high three hits.
Jori Heard came in to pitch for Gress in the bottom of the fifth. The junior struck out the first batter she faced but gave up a solo home run to Sofia Mujica. The homer cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 3-1.
Heard hit the next batter but was able to get out of the inning after forcing UCLA’s Savannah Pola, one of the better hitters in D-1 softball, to ground out.
South Carolina responded in the top of the sixth. The Gamecocks loaded the bases for Lilio after a pair of singles from Brooke Blankenship and Emma Sellers were followed by Mya Flindt getting hit by a pitch. Lilio dropped a ground ball right between UCLA’s catcher and pitcher, who both hesitated to go after the ball. When the catcher eventually picked it up, a run had scored, giving South Carolina a 4-1 lead. Lilio was safe at first.
A base-running blunder ended the sixth inning early, resulting in two runners being left on base for the Gamecocks. Karley Shelton reached on a fielder’s choice after Emma Sellers was thrown out at the plate. Shelton then abandoned first base, resulting in the third out of the inning.
“Unfortunately, Karley’s version was that she thought there was two outs,” Chastain Woodard said. “So she thought the out at home was the third out of the inning. That was an unfortunate mental mistake on her part. I’ll stand behind her on sometimes those things happen. But we had some momentum there — who knows if we would have scored some more.”
UCLA steals it late
Heard kept the Bruins off the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning, but things got away from South Carolina in the seventh.
After walking the first batter of the inning, Heard allowed a triple and single. Both hits brought home runners and cut South Carolina’s lead to 4-3.
South Carolina put Gress (14-10) back in the game to get the final out. The decision did not pay off.
Woolery, one of the best power bats in the country, came up to the plate and sent the first pitch she saw over the wall in left field for a two-run homer, her 23rd long ball of the season. This one clinched the 5-4 win for UCLA.
After the game, Chastain Woodard said the lead-off walk was “really unfortunate.”
“The eight and the nine hole put the ball perfectly in the field (after the walk) and they hadn’t done that until that time,” Chastain Woodard said. “We had defended them and gotten them out really well all weekend, as in much of the lineup. Bringing Sam in, she was the matchup. It’s just trying to change their momentum. They had had a lot of momentum at the time, and it just didn’t work out.”
Woolery had yet to record a hit in the series before the game-winning homer.
“Coach always says the game comes back around,” Woolery said. “I’ve had a rough two days, so trusting that eventually was going to come through and I just wanted to have my teammates’ backs today.”
Columbia Super Regional softball scores, schedule
All games played at Carolina Softball Stadium. TV or streaming details listed where available. Full bracket can be seen here.
Game 1: South Carolina 9, UCLA 2
Game 2: UCLA 5, South Carolina 4
Game 3: South Carolina vs UCLA, Sunday, 3 p.m. (ESPN2)
This story was originally published May 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM.
