Where South Carolina softball ranks ahead of Clemson matchup
For the first time since the beginning of March (and their first SEC matchup), South Carolina softball dropped a series this weekend. Battling in a top-10 road matchup against Arkansas, the Gamecocks won just one of three games in Fayetteville. Ashley Chastain Woodard’s team is now 32-10 overall and 7-8 in conference play on the season.
Though USC’s streak of ranked weekend opponents ends at seven, South Carolina will face a ranked mid-week opponent and a previously-ranked weekend foe in a three-game set from Saturday through Monday.
With the loss, the Gamecocks dropped to No. 3 in the RPI after occupying the top spot a week ago. Still, thanks to an impressive resume, Carolina only trails Texas A&M and Florida in the metric.
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Despite losing two of three, South Carolina didn’t fall much in the rankings. In fact, the Gamecocks remain a consensus top-15 club.
D1Softball was highest on USC last week, ranking Chastain Woodard’s team No. 6 in the country. Now, though, the Gamecocks sit in the No. 9 spot in the poll.
The top-25 ranking from Softball America includes South Carolina at No. 8. That marks a two-spot drop from last week, but the outlet is the highest on the Gamecocks in the updated rankings.
ESPN.com and USA Softball now consider USC the No. 12 team in the country. That is just one spot lower than their No. 11 ranking from last week.
When the USA Today/NFCA rankings updated, South Carolina softball had dropped three spots from 10th to 13th.
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South Carolina has a big mid-week contest coming on Tuesday before facing another quality opponent this weekend. The rival Clemson Tigers will host the Gamecocks at McWhorter Stadium, looking for revenge after USC owned the first meeting between the two teams with a 6-0 shutout in Columbia. Then, the Kentucky Wildcats will travel to the Midlands for three games on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
On Tuesday, South Carolina and Clemson will begin their rivalry contest at 7:00 p.m. ACC Network will broadcast the game, while the ESPN app makes it available for streaming.
Then, the Gamecocks will not play again until Saturday. The first two games of the UK series will not be on traditional television but will be available via streaming.
First pitch for the opener against Kentucky is slated for 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. Fans can stream the contest on SEC Network+.
Sunday’s game two will begin at 6:00 p.m. and also will be streamed on SEC Network+.
The series finale will start at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Because of the lighter schedule on Monday, the game will broadcast on SEC Network and stream on the ESPN app.
