The South Carolina Gamecocks aren’t just back in the NCAA Softball Tournament — they’re hosting it, and doing so with a reputation they’ve earned the hard way: the comeback team.
Under first-year head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard, the Gamecocks (40-15) turned in a resurgent campaign defined by grit, resilience, and the ability to bounce back. They’ve made a habit of rallying from behind, often after dropping the first game of a series — a dangerous game to play in a double-elimination format.
“Yeah, gosh, is that the tell of our tale this year, I guess?” Woodard said earlier this week. “You look back on all of our series, there’s a lot that we didn’t play well in Game 1, but then we came back strong. That’s not a trend we want to carry into postseason, though.”
South Carolina opens its NCAA Tournament run at 5:30 p.m. on Friday against Elon, the Coastal Athletic Association champion. The regional also features Virginia and North Florida. The Gamecocks are the No. 1 seed and host, meaning the road to the Super Regional could run through Columbia — if they can avoid early setbacks.
The Gamecocks dropped the opener in six of their 10 SEC series this season. Remarkably, they still managed to win three of those six. That ability to adapt and battle has turned them into one of the country’s most dangerous teams — but also one of its most unpredictable.
“You don’t want to let us get any momentum because we’re going to ride the wave,” said senior outfielder Emily Vinson. “Thursday we got run-ruled pretty bad [by Alabama], but to come back and win the series shows what our team is about.”
Still, regional play leaves little room for error. A single loss on Day 1 could mean having to win four games in two days — a grueling task, no matter how resilient the team may be. In 2018, South Carolina did just that, capped by Krystan White’s legendary walk-off homer to beat Liberty and reach the Super Regional.
This time around, they’d prefer to avoid that kind of drama. “We’ve proven we can fight back, but you don’t want to be in that position in the first place,” Woodard said. “Getting the first win sets the tone and takes pressure off your arms.”
The Gamecocks have shown flashes of dominance when starting strong. They ended the regular season by taking two of three from Alabama after a run-rule loss in Game 1. And they opened the season with a pair of come-from-behind wins over Virginia — the same team they could face again in the regional.
“I think our early games prepared us for this,” Woodard added. “We’ve learned how to handle pressure, how to stay together. That’s huge in a tournament setting.”
This regional offers more than a shot at the Supers — it’s a chance to redefine their identity. The Gamecocks no longer want to be the comeback kids. They want to be the team that controls the game from the first pitch.