South Carolina softball pushing higher in top-25 rankings
When she was hired last summer, South Carolina softball coach Ashley Chastain Woodard promised to work hard to “foster excellence” and field a team that will “compete” to improve its standing in the conference and national landscape. So far, so good.
Following a big weekend, the Gamecocks remain undefeated and now sit at 15-0 on the 2025 season as one of four undefeated teams in power conference softball. The 15-0 mark is the best start in the program’s NCAA history. Those wins have come in dominant fashion, too. So far this spring, South Carolina has outscored its opponents 127-22 and has won 10 games by run-rule.
The strong start to the season has garnered some well-deserved national attention for the Gamecocks.
After debuting at No. 24 last week, D1Softball ranked South Carolina No. 21 in their updated poll on Tuesday.
On3’s Softball America, an outlet that has ranked USC the past two weeks, moved Coach Chastain Woodard’s team up from No. 22 all the way to No. 17. The outlet is higher on the Gamecocks than all other major rankings.
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The ESPN.com and USA Today poll ranks South Carolina softball 21st in the country. That is a three-spot jump from last week’s No. 24 ranking.
Win tickets to USC-Clemson baseball (Sunday game in Columbia)
This week, South Carolina will hit the road for the first time all season. In fact, the Gamecocks will play all four of their games this week away from Columbia.
First, Chastain Woodard will return to Charlotte–the school she left to take the USC job–for a mid-week contest. The 49ers are 7-9 on the year, but they are riding a five-game winning streak heading into this week.
The Tuesday evening tilt will begin at 5:00 p.m. Fans can stream the contest on ESPN+.
Then, the Gamecocks will face their toughest test of the young season. South Carolina will travel to Durham, North Carolina for a three-game set against the Duke Blue Devils. Duke ended USC’s season last year in the NCAA Tournament regional round. This year, head coach Marissa Young has her team ranked inside the top 15 in most polls. The Blue Devils are 13-3 on the season, but all three losses were against ranked foes away from home. In contrast to the Gamecocks, Duke hasn’t played at home all season; their first game in Durham will take place on Thursday against Michigan.
The series opener on Friday will start at 6:00 p.m. Game two is slated for a 1:00 p.m. first pitch. Then, the series finale on Sunday will begin at Noon. All three games will be available for streaming on the ACC Network Extra, available on the ESPN app.
