West Coast woes: Gamecocks softball routed by UCLA to end NCAA run
For the second year in a row, UCLA has eliminated the South Carolina softball team from the postseason.
The Gamecocks dropped Sunday’s regional championship game 15-1 to the Bruins in Los Angeles and ended their season at 32-28 after allowing UCLA to score 13 combined runs across the fifth and sixth innings.
Last year, USC and UCLA were the No. 8 and No. 9 overall seeds in the tournament, respectively, and met in the super regional round in Columbia.
South Carolina won Game 1 and was one out away from advancing to the Women’s College World Series in Game 2 before UCLA hit a walk-off home run. The Bruins then won Game 3 to eliminate the Gamecocks on their home field.
USC had no such luck Sunday. The Gamecocks entered the game already having lost to UCLA once on Saturday and needing to beat the No. 8 overall-seeded Bruins twice at Easton Stadium to advance to the super regionals.
But star UCLA hitter Megan Grant broke the game open in the top of the fifth inning with a grand slam that drove in four runs, extended UCLA’s lead to 6-0 and added to her NCAA record total for single-season home runs (40).
South Carolina got on the board with one run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Bruins more than doubled their lead with nine more runs in the top of the sixth inning to put the contest completely out of reach.
The game ended via run rule after six innings since USC trailed by eight-plus runs.
“Everything that we went through and how we grew this year, that’s going to propel us forward to take the next step,” coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said postgame.
South Carolina-UCLA game recap
After winning its Friday regional opener against Cal State Fullerton, USC lost a winner’s bracket game 7-2 to UCLA on Saturday. That loss put the Gamecocks in “win or go home” mode in the double-elimination format.
South Carolina got the first of three necessary wins late Saturday, beating Cal State Fullerton a second time in a game that didn’t end until 1:38 a.m. Eastern.
But USC faced a tall task against UCLA (50-8), which dominated the Big Ten this season and is one of the best offensive teams in the country.
South Carolina missed out on early opportunity Sunday when it stranded two runners on base in the bottom of the second inning. UCLA responded by hitting a two-run homer off USC starting pitcher Jori Heard in the top of the third.
Momentum changed for good when Grant smashed her 40th home run of the season into deep left field to put UCLA up 6-0 two innings later.
Grant hit the home run off Heard, but UCLA had loaded the bases against Gamecocks pitcher Emma Friedel, who came in for Heard after three innings. Chastain Woodard pulled Friedel after just 22 pitches and brought Heard back into the game; she allowed the home run on the third pitch of her return.
“She just attacked the zone,” USC catcher Lexi Winters said of Grant. “She saw the ball and she hit it, as any good hitter would.”
USC softball plans to use portal to improve
UCLA’s scorching nine-run sixth inning, which included two two-run home runs, only added to the offensive onslaught. The Bruins hit 13 of 31 (.419) in the game.
South Carolina’s three pitchers (Heard, Friedel and Nealy Lamb) combined to allow 13 hits and 13 earned runs against three strikeouts, while UCLA ace Taylor Tinsley went the distance and only allowed two hits in six innings.
USC finished with 12 fewer wins and six fewer SEC wins in 2026 than it did during Chastain Woodard’s 2025 debut season. It’s worth noting the Gamecocks played the third-hardest strength of schedule in the country within a loaded conference.
“As a staff, we’ll go and evaluate this season as a whole as we move into this next recruiting season, which includes the portal coming up” Chastain Woodard said. “We’ll go to work and make sure that we have the pieces and the tools that we need moving forward.”
2026 Los Angeles Regional
Friday, May 15
Game 1: South Carolina 7, Cal State Fullerton 4
Game 2: UCLA 12, Cal Baptist 11
Saturday, May 16
Game 3: UCLA 7, South Carolina 2
Game 4: Cal State Fullerton 3, Cal Baptist 2
Game 5: South Carolina 4, Cal State Fullerton 2
Sunday, May 17
Game 6: UCLA 15, South Carolina 1
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 9:50 PM.
