What Ashley Chastain Woodard said previewing South Carolina softball season

A new era of South Carolina softball will officially begin in 13 days. The Gamecocks will open the 2025 season on Feb. 6 against Virginia.

On Friday, first-year head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard met with members of the media to preview the upcoming season. Below is a summary of what she had to say.

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— As she’s learned over the past six months, some things about Columbia have not changed at all. Really excited about kicking off the season in two short weeks.

— There’s always question marks going into any season. Something she’s excited about is the pitching staff. They’ve got five arms which is a little skim. But looking at the five they have, she’s really excited about staffing it. They really play to the matchup. Usage and innings will spread out in the early going.

— Really excited about the leadership, veteran players on this team. Highlights Brooke Blankenship as someone she’s been very excited about as a leader. They have a lot of players on the team that have learned how to lead and have developed into strong leaders.

— The offense will develop itself as it goes. They’ve got speed, they’ve got power. But the offense is something they’ll feel out as the season begins. That’s the biggest question mark is what the offense will look like.

— They’ve got the arms that can be workhorses on the mound. But that’s not something she’s exactly wanting to do this season. They want Sam Gress to throw more at the end and spread out the innings throughout the season. Nealy Lamb and Jori Heard could take on innings for them this year. Wants to utilize the whole staff here early. It makes preparation tougher for opponents when you’re able to spread out the innings.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Auburn WBB]

— They feel like they’ve put together a roster that’s going to be good for year one. Wants players that want to be here for their whole career and committed to what they’re doing over time. The coaching staff has worked hard for the future. The roster will be bigger. It’s been high volume, high speed since the summer.

— Feels like June was just yesterday in some ways. It’s been awesome reconnecting with a lot of different people. It’s been a lot of fun. Wants the players to feel the passion of South Carolina from her. Likes the players to interact with supporters and alumni.

— Every team is very different. For them, this was a new environment for a lot of players on the team. It does take time to build chemistry together. They need to learn how to play together and have those conversations to help bring them closer. The test of time has helped build all those things. It’s been really fun for her. It’s absolutely necessary to have a successful team. If you don’t have relationships and connections, those things don’t authentically exist. Thinks the team has those things.

— They have a lot of different identities on the team. but when they all got together, they tried to build one identity. Thinks they’ve broken through those different labels and are one together now. You see it when things get really hard and they can push through adversity.

[Win tickets: South Carolina-Texas A&M MBB]

— They see playing in the SEC as a great chance to establish themselves. You have to embrace the hard that comes with playing in this conference. There’s been a lot of team conversations about the game doesn’t know this opponent or that team. They try to stick to their process to avoid beating themselves. The passion she sees in the players is translating into a belief and that they can beat anyone.

— When you get a player on campus, it’s the feelings that they get from the people they spend time with. It’s important to showcase the facilities but also the wonderful people that believe this program is premier and championship level. You want to instill that feeling so they feel like they want to be a part of that. It starts with making people feel the same level of attachment and buy in for what South Carolina can do as to how to sell the program.

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