Super Regional matchup set; South Carolina and UCLA to meet for trip to OKC
The first step was to host, the second was to win the regional. The third? Win two more games to get to Oklahoma City.
No. 8 South Carolina (43-15) plowed its way through the Columbia Regional with a perfect 3-0 weekend, capped off by an 8-0 win over North Florida on Sunday. It will advance to its first Super Regional since 2018, where it will take on No. 9 UCLA next weekend.
This will be the Gamecocks’ third-ever trip to Supers and their first time hosting at Beckham Field after going on the road in 2007 and 2018. It will be a best-of-three series with the winner moving on to the Women’s College World Series.
“Once you reach a certain point, your mind is, you know, ‘Hey, like we’re a few away from the biggest stage that this stage we’ve always dreamed of playing on,'” head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. “So I think we’ll definitely talk through that this week. I think at some point it becomes super motivating and inspiring that we’re so close.”
The series begins on Friday, May 23 with first pitch at 1 p.m. on ESPN2. Game two on Saturday, May 24 will also be at 1 p.m. If necessary, game three would be on Sunday, May 25. But a first pitch time hasn’t been announced yet.
UCLA, led by 19th-year head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez, won 47 games during the regular season and went 17-5 in its first year as a member of the Big Ten. As the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, the Bruins fell to the No. 8 seed Michigan in the Big Ten Championship, losing 2-0.
Despite coming up just short of a conference title, UCLA was selected to host a regional as the first team outside of being a top-eight seed. It dominated the Los Angeles Regional, run-ruling UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State in its first two games. The team finished off the weekend sweep on Sunday, once again run-ruling UC Santa Barbara 12-1 in the regional final.
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The Bruins have a long-standing history of success in the NCAA Tournament with 12 national championships, the most in college softball. Their last championship came back in 2019, though they’ve been to the WCWS three times since 2021, including last season.
Meanwhile, South Carolina hasn’t been to the WCWS in almost 30 years. The Gamecocks’ last trip to Oklahoma City was back in 1997. Before that, their only other appearances came in 1983 and 1987.
They also appeared in the WCWS in eight seasons between 1972 and 1981 during the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) years. This was before softball was one of twelve women’s sports added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981–82 school year.
South Carolina won 39 games during the regular season under Chastain Woodard, the most by a first-year coach in program history. It lost in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals but was picked as the final top-eight seed for the NCAA Tournament.
The Gamecocks went 3-0 in regional play, with a 5-2 win over Elon on Friday and two wins against North Florida to advance to the next round.
