'What an honor it is to follow her in battle': Ashley Chastain Woodard's belief in South Carolina comes to fruition

The party only just began when Abigail Knight crossed home plate and ran straight into Audrey Wilson’s arms. The players ran to the middle of the infield to celebrate something that hadn’t been done in years.

An 18-minute press conference with the media briefly interrupted the postgame celebration. Once that ended, music began to blast in the locker room, most notably to the tune of “Sandstorm” by Darude.

In between the start and end of the celebration, the team gathered around and mobbed head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard. They jumped around and hugged with smiles plastered all over their faces.

“These are moments and weeks that you never forget,” Chastain Woodard said.

Picked to finish last in the SEC in the preseason, South Carolina softball has far exceeded anyone’s expectations. After winning 39 games during the regular season, the Gamecocks are two wins away from a trip to the Women’s College World Series after sweeping through their home regional this weekend.

For Chastain Woodard, this isn’t a surprise; she knew this was possible. She saw what they could do starting back in the summer when she first arrived. She saw they were good enough to host, even become a top-eight seed, which they’ve now done.

The craziest part about all of this is that she’s doing it in one season. She came aboard after the 2024 season to take the program to new heights. Her team has won more games than any first-year coach in program history. South Carolina is not only back in a Super Regional for the first time since 2018, but it’s also going to be hosting a Super Regional for the first time.

“I’m really happy for these guys because they, you know, this is it. They don’t get to play much after this is over,” Chastain Woodard said. “So, just to be able to go out like this, you always want to give them this experience. As a coach, you dream of giving them this experience. And so to see it come to fruition is, you know, like I said, at some point in the summer, I guess I’ll process it all, but we still got ball to play.”

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Chastain Woodard’s belief in the program is felt everywhere. Not just by her but by the players who bought into her vision as well.

“I think from the summer, learning her story and that she played here,” said Brooke Blankenship, one of five players remaining from last year’s team. “And now she’s leading her alma mater, it’s just so inspiring to all of us, I think, and the traditions that we’re creating here.”

“I know this is a dream come true for her, so I can’t imagine how she must be feeling right now also,” said Knight, who followed Chastain Woodard from Charlotte. “She’s the best that I’ve ever played behind. So I mean, what an honor it is to follow her in battle and our coaching staff. I wouldn’t want to be behind anybody else.”

This story isn’t over yet, though. Chastain Woodard hopes her team will continue into Oklahoma City and end with hoisting a national championship trophy.

But first, there’s still business to attend to as South Carolina will host UCLA at Beckham Field this weekend. It’s a best-of-three series with the winner moving on to the WCWS.

Naturally, thoughts of their biggest goals will creep into their heads. Chastain Woodard said she’ll do her best to keep the players in the moment. She also wants them to embrace what they’ve done so far and what they’re still chasing after.

“I think once you get inching closer to where you want to go, I think it puts a lot of wind in your sails. So we’re going to talk a lot about it,” she said. “We want to make plans to go to Oklahoma at the end of the Super Regional next weekend, and so I think it’ll put wind in our sails. I’m not super worried about them being in the present moment, because at this point, they know what we’ve got to do.”

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