No 20-0 this time: After breakout in 2025, South Carolina softball drops 2026 opener

Almost exactly a year ago, things were different in some ways for South Carolina softball. In other ways, they were eerily similar.

On Feb. 6, 2025, USC was playing its first game under new head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard. Down four runs in the bottom of the seventh, the Gamecocks came back and toppled Virginia. It was the first of 20 straight wins and the start of a 44-17 season that ended at the NCAA Super Regionals.

On Feb. 5, 2026, the Gamecocks were once again down four runs in their season opener, on the verge of losing to another team from the Commonwealth — Virginia Tech. The difference? Mainly expectations.

USC was ranked No. 12 in the country going into 2026 after its breakout season, and it jumped up to 10th in the SEC preseason poll. It was clear the nation had put stock into what Woodard and USC achieved in her first year at the helm.

Another difference this time: The Gamecocks couldn’t complete the comeback and fell to the Hokies 8-4 on Thursday.

“I would take 20-0 again, but clearly that’s not an option now,” Woodard joked after the loss. “But I’ll take 19-1, you know?”

Woodard knows all about the outside expectations. But she also knows this team is different, and said it’ll take time for them to learn the things they need to before “just one game” becomes a big game or a lot of games.

“This team is different people, and this team is really good, and this team can do the same things that last year’s team did,” Woodard said. “I think we’re going to learn a lot. I do think we’re going to win a lot, but we’re going to learn a lot every time we lose.”

USC’s roster, while built on a foundation of the five returners who made the opening day batting order, is starkly different from last year’s team. Woodard and her staff brought in 14 new faces, and four of those newcomers made the opening day batting order as well.

The Gamecocks started with a returner on the mound in Jori Heard, who allowed one run in her first four innings while tossing three strikeouts. Newcomer Josey Marron pitched a clean frame behind Heard and USC jumped out to a 3-1 lead through five innings.

Kennesaw State transfer Emma Friedel took the mound in the sixth and gave up a home run on her first pitch. She later walked in a runner to make it a 4-3 game. Woodard brought Heard back in to close the frame, but the Hokies tacked on five more runs in the process.

Friedel was charged with five earned runs — three were given up after she was pulled from the game — and the loss without recording an out. Fellow returner Nealy Lamb took over for Heard in the seventh and finished the game with two strikeouts.

“I would guess (Friedel)’s probably pretty embarrassed about how she performed,” Woodard said.

Woodard said her approach after the game with Friedel was to remain positive. One performance won’t keep Friedel from getting the ball in big situations down the road, the coach said.

It wasn’t just the newcomers who had first-time jitters in the loss. Quincee Lilio, last year’s starting center fielder, played her first official game at left field. The staff made the decision this offseason to shift her over and put Tori Ensley in center.

Virginia Tech was able to hit a double and a 2-RBI triple into left field during the game, both just out of Lilio’s reach. The plays were both ruled base hits, but Woodard acknowledged after the game it wasn’t Lilio’s best defensive work.

“We ultimately made the decision to commit to that and move her over there, because Tori is so rangy at center, and you want your most range at center, and so it kind of shifted her over to left,” Woodard said. “I do think there’s a level of like, she’s slightly uncomfortable over there, even though we have trained her over there for months ... I think she’s a really good player, and I don’t think she’ll play defense like that again, but I do think the reads were a little funky.”

USC will play four more games this weekend, including a rematch with the Hokies on Saturday. Take it from the coach who won 20 straight last season: A different outcome in this year’s opener is far from a season-ender. Woodard said her players know to shrug it off, too.

“I think they really wanted to see kind of how I would react to how they played, and I’m in it with them. I’m like, ‘Hey, like, we learned a lot,’” Woodard said. “I think that they were a little bit like, ‘OK, we’re disappointed in ourselves that we didn’t win the game, but OK, it’s behind us, and we got to be better tomorrow,’ and I do think we will be.”

This story was originally published February 5, 2026 at 10:58 PM.