‘Toughest week of the year’: South Carolina softball heads to SEC Tournament
South Carolina softball is looking to win its first SEC Tournament title in over 20 years this week in Athens, Georgia. First-year head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard and the Gamecocks are the No. 7 seed in the single-elimination tournament. South Carolina received a first-round bye and will play on Wednesday in the second round of the tournament. The Gamecocks will face the winner of the first-round game between No. 10 Alabama vs No. 15 Auburn. The Gamecocks enter the tournament with a 39-14 (12-11 SEC) record after getting a crucial series win over Alabama to close out the regular season. “The SEC tournament, I would argue, is the toughest week of the year,” Chastain Woodard said Saturday. “… It’ll be a tough week for us. The postseason kind of restarts everything. You kind of start over with a mindset of a 0-0 record. All the lessons and wins and losses along the way (during the) regular season, we hope, really serve you well in the postseason. … “We’ve got a lot of wind in our sails, and they’re really excited about the next couple weeks.”
Rundown of a historic season South Carolina was picked to finish last in the SEC’s preseason poll but wound up with the best finish the program has seen since 2018. The Gamecocks started 20-0, which tied the program record for wins to begin a season. The record was set when South Carolina started 20-0 in 1976. USC’s 13 league wins are the most the program has recorded since 2018. The Gamecocks finished with a winning record in the SEC for just the second time in the last 22 years.
“The group is special, and obviously we’ve had a lot of success this year,” Chastain Woodard said. “It’s just been an accumulation of a lot of hard work, a lot of tough decisions made along the way, a lot of hard work and the right people at the right time. Just proud of the program, proud of the staff, the players, everyone that supports the program day to day. It’s a tough league and to come out with 13 wins in year one, it’s special.” Chastain Woodard broke a program record on Saturday with the Gamecocks’ double-header sweep of Alabama. South Carolina’s 39 wins this year are the most recorded by a first-year coach in program history. The previous record of 38 wins was set by Judy Martino in 1979. If South Carolina were to win the SEC Tournament, it would be the third time in program history. The Gamecocks’ previous two wins came in 1997 and 2000. A look at the SEC field Oklahoma is a favorite to win the SEC Tournament and a national championship. The Sooners have won four straight national titles and are the No. 1 seed in their first SEC Tournament. Oklahoma is 43-7 (17-7 SEC) this year. South Carolina was swept by the Sooners when the two teams played earlier this season, though all three losses came by one run.
