South Carolina’s Ashley Chastain Woodard earns National Coach of the Year honor
South Carolina head softball coach was named the National Coach of the Year by D1Softball on Wednesday morning.
Chastain Woodard just wrapped up her first year at the helm of the Gamecocks’ program with a 44-17 record. A former Gamecock pitcher, she returned to Columbia and helped guide her alma mater to its third-ever NCAA Tournament super regional and the first since 2018.
South Carolina in the SEC preseason poll was picked to finish last in the league this season, but Chastain Woodard was able to turn things around in Year 1 and earn USC a national seed in the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina hosted both a regional (first time 2018) and a super regional (first time ever) this season.
The Gamecocks finished with a 13-11 mark in SEC play, just the second time in the last 22 years that South Carolina tallied a winning record in conference play.
Chastain Woodard broke the program record for wins by a first-year coach that was previously set by Judy Martino (38) in 1978.
USC tied the program best with a 20-0 start this season and finished the year with four series wins over top-15 opponents and six series wins over top-20 opponents.
The team also tied or set five program records this year under Chastain Woodard. The Gamecocks set new season records for runs (363), RBIs (342), walks (256), doubles (98) and fielding percentage (.980). First baseman Arianna Rodi also set a new single season program record with 17 home runs this year.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 9:53 AM.
