Ashley Chastain Woodard expresses excitement about South Carolina's pitching staff

Every sports team, regardless of the level they play at, enter their seasons with questions needing to be answered. Do they have what it takes to make the postseason, or even win a championship? Which players will shine with more playing time? And will any newcomers make an early impact?

South Carolina’s softball team is no different. Following a 2024 season during which the Gamecocks went 36-24 overall and 8-16 in SEC play, the team’s roster experienced significant change. 15 of South Carolina’s 21 current players will be new to the program this year. So will its entire four-person coaching staff, headlined by first-year head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard.

[Join GamecockCentral: $1 for 7 days]

Chastain Woodard understands that she and her team will face lots of questions as she ushers in a new era of South Carolina softball. But this uncertainty does not dampen her enthusiasm for one area of the Gamecocks’ roster: its pitching rotation.

“Looking at the five (pitchers) that we have, I’m really excited about staffing it,” Chastain Woodard said.

South Carolina’s pitching staff currently includes five players: Jori Heard, Sam Gress, Nealy Lamb, Kadie Becker and Olivia Kotowski.

Chastain Woodward acknowledged that depth at the position is “a little short” heading into the season. But she envisions each hurler having a role once it begins.

“If you follow us all season long, you’re going to see that we really play to the matchup. We staff the games. You’re going to see all five of them on the field,” Chastain Woodard said. “Usage and innings, I think, we’ll spread out early in the year. We play a lot of games through February.”

For the last two seasons, South Carolina has had one pitcher serve as a “workhorse” who pitches considerably more innings than her teammates. Last year, Alana Vawter pitched 188 2/3 innings – 70 2/3 more than the Gamecocks’ second-most-used pitcher. Donnie Gobourne‘s 134 2/3 innings pitched the year prior were 61 more than Karsen Ochs, who had the team’s second-highest innings total (73 2/3).

Win tickets to Sacred Heart Game 1: Season opener, Paul Mainieri’s debut

Chastain Woodard, however, prefers to employ a more matchup-oriented strategy against opponents this year.

“I definitely think that we’ve got arms that can be a workhorse, if that’s the strategy that we choose,” Chastain Woodard said. “It’s not the strategy I prefer at this point in our game. I think we’ve got so much data and so much information that we really would like to progress into more of a matchup.”

Utilizing such a strategy provides South Carolina with a unique advantage, Chastain Woodard said.

“If the innings and the usage is spread out, they really have to prepare for all five of them, versus, ‘Okay, we’re definitely going to see Lamb, Heard or Gress,'” Chastain Woodard said. “I think that’s an advantage just in preparation for opponents.”

Regardless of how South Carolina manages its pitchers, the team has multiple quality arms at its disposal.

Heard enters the 2025 campaign coming off her best individual season – and is the Gamecocks’ lone returning arm. Last year, she pitched to a 7-2 record, 1.88 ERA and 0.99 WHIP across 85 2/3 innings pitched. The highlight of her season came on March 2, when she threw a seven-inning perfect game against Bethune-Cookman.

“The really exciting thing about Jori is that she’s progressively gotten better every year,” Chastain Woodard said. “She’s the best she’s ever been right now, so she’s somebody else that can take on innings for us.”

Win tickets to Sacred Heart Game 2: Ray Tanner Field dedication ceremony

Gress and Lamb headline the contingent of pitchers who will be newcomers this year. Gress previously plied her trade at UNC Charlotte, where Chastain Woodard previously served as head coach. She posted a 2.57 ERA and 14-10 record while holding opponents to a .210 batting average across 122 1/3 innings pitched. Lamb, meanwhile, had an accomplished freshman year where she led her conference with a 1.76 ERA. She also became the first player in conference history to be named Big South All-Freshman, Freshman of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and First-Team All-Conference in the same year.

“Sam Gress has a ton of innings and experience at a high level. I’m really excited about her. I think we want her to throw more at the end and just be able to spread out innings the first half of the season and be able to make sure we keep everybody as healthy as possible,” Chastain Woodard said. “I think Nealy Lamb could take on a large amount of innings for us eventually as the season progresses.”

Becker, a sophomore who also transferred from Charlotte, and Kotowski, a true freshman, round out the Gamecocks’ pitching staff.

But with the start of the season just one day away, Chastain Woodard remains focused on the bigger picture that extends beyond just the pitching staff – turning a group of individuals who once played for different teams into one cohesive unit.

“For us, connections, relationships, interactions – all of those things have been super key since the summer,” Chastain Woodard said. “(We’re) just making that we share our vision for the program, what we see the program looking like moving forward and making sure we’re instilling that in all those people every single day.”

Visit The Insiders Forum, our exclusive Gamecocks-only, no-trolls message board!