No OKC for USC: UCLA ends Gamecocks’ storybook softball season
South Carolina softball’s storybook season is over.
The No. 8 Gamecocks lost 5-0 to No. 9 UCLA on Sunday in game three of the Columbia Super Regional at Carolina Softball Stadium. With the win, the Bruins advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. The Gamecocks were trying to return to the WCWS for the first time since 1997.
The Gamecocks, picked to finish last in the Southeastern Conference, ended the season 44-17 overall under first-year coach Ashley Chastain Woodard.
“I just have so much gratitude for the year and the season,” an emotional Chastain Woodard said afterward. “Ending a season is never easy and you work really hard to play as long as you can. I just am filled with so much gratitude and so much pride. I’m just so proud of the program, I’m so proud of the players and just this first year of laying the foundation of who we’re going to be from here on out. It was really special.”
Game recap
UCLA got on the scoreboard early in Sunday’s game.
The Bruins rattled three consecutive singles off of South Carolina pitcher Sam Gress to start the game. The third single came from Jordan Woolery, who hit the game-deciding walk-off homer Saturday.
Woolery’s single brought home UCLA’s first run of the day and gave the Bruins an early 1-0 lead. Gress walked the next batter to load the bases with no outs. She was able to get out of the early jam and avoid further trouble after forcing one batter to fly out and another to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Gress had to work through a few more jams for the remainder of her outing but was relatively unscathed. She kept UCLA off the board in the second, third and fourth innings but was on the hook for the run the Bruins scored in the fifth after she left the game.
UCLA made it a 2-0 game after Woolery, once again, delivered an RBI single. Her base knock brought home Jessica Clements. Jori Heard replaced Gress in the pitchers circle right before Woolery’s at-bat, ending Gress’ outing after 4.2 innings pitched in which she allowed five hits and two runs.
Kaitlyn Terry pitched a gem for the Bruins, limiting South Carolina to two hits in the game, one coming in the second inning and the other in the third.
The Gamecocks’ best chance on offense came in the bottom of the sixth, but nothing ultimately came of it.
Quincee Lilio was hit by a pitch to start the inning, giving the Gamecocks a base runner. Karley Shelton and Arianna Rodi followed and sent long fly balls into right field that died at the warning track for outs. Both attempts looked to be game-tying home run material, but the wind kept the balls in the park.
UCLA swapped Terry for All-Big Ten talent Taylor Tinsley in the pitchers circle after the two close calls, ending Terry’s outing after 5.2 innings of pristine work.
Lexi Winters then singled with two outs, seemingly starting a two-out rally that South Carolina has trademarked this postseason, but Ella Chancey struck out a batter later to end the inning.
“We just didn’t get the job done on the field,” Chastain Woodard said. “I felt like offensively, we just didn’t have enough production. You can see that from the box score. We didn’t walk enough. We struck out too much. Hats off to Terry and Tinsley, they had a really great day and sometimes that happens. Unfortunately, today, it just didn’t go our way at the plate.”
Things got away from Heard and the Gamecocks in the top of the seventh and the deficit eventually became too much to overcome for South Carolina. UCLA added three runs on five hits while Heard was on the mound to extend the Bruins’ lead to 5-0.
Heard was replaced by Nealy Lamb after those runs, ending her outing after 1.2 innings in which she gave up seven hits and two earned runs. Lamb struck out a batter and forced a pop out to get out of a bases-loaded jam and end the inning.
The Bruins (54-11) advance to the Women’s College World Series and will face 16-seed Oregon in their opening game.
Columbia Super Regional softball scores, schedule
Full bracket can be seen here.
Game 1: South Carolina 9, UCLA 2
Game 2: UCLA 5, South Carolina 4
Game 3: UCLA 5, South Carolina 0
This story was originally published May 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM.
