South Carolina Softball: Gamecocks’ first postseason trip since 2019 ends in regional
By Kevin Miller
The South Carolina softball team started the 2023 season strong. The Gamecocks began the year 21-2 before conference play began, but a tough conference stretch saw USC go just 9-15 in the SEC and drop two mid-week games to Clemson. However, what followed the conclusion of the regular season was special. The unranked and 10-seeded Gamecocks entered the SEC Tournament as an NCAA Tournament bubble team that was expected to bow out in the first round against a ranked Texas A&M Aggies squad out for revenge after losing to Carolina a month earlier.
Beverley Smith’s squad, though, had other plans. The Lady Gamecocks shutout A&M in an extra-inning affair in round 1 of the SEC Tourney and then knocked off 13th-ranked Georgia in extras. #17 Auburn was next, but South Carolina softball won again, this time 3-2 (which was three more runs than they scored in their two losses combined to Auburn in April. In a tremendously unlikely change of fortune, the Gamecocks were headed to the championship game.
In the SEC Tournament Championship Game, the Gamecocks did not finish writing their storybook-esque tournament run as the #4 Tennessee Volunteers beat Carolina by a score of 4-2. Despite the loss, the Gamecocks secured an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, an invitational they had been excluded from since 2019.
In game 1 against the Knights of UCF, the Central Florida bats got to Donnie Gobourne, something teams had not done much this year against the first-team All-SEC pitcher. The Gamecocks fell 6-1.
Game 2 was against the 4-seeded Marist Red Foxes. The Carolina pitching staff of Rachel Vaughan, Joe Heard, Bailey Betenbaugh held the Foxes to just one run through six innings before Gobourne locked down the save to preserve a 2-1 victory.
Game 3 was an opportunity for revenge against UCF, and the Gamecocks did not disappoint. Betenbaugh delivered a complete game of 1-run ball, and her offense sent 10 runs across home plate. Marissa Gonzalez capped off the scoring with a 2-run bomb in the top of the 7th inning as the Gamecocks rolled to an easy victory.
The nationally-ranked Florida State Seminoles were waiting for the Gamecocks in the winner’s position. Because of the double-elimination rules of the NCAA Tournament’s regional round, Carolina would have had to knock off Florida State twice in order to advance to the Super Regionals.
Gamecock pitching utterly dominated the Seminoles in game 1 as Karsen Ochs and Donnie Gobourne combined for the 2-hit shutout. Ochs and Gobourne sat down the final 18 Seminole batters in a row, and four Gamecocks crossed home plate to give the underdogs a 4-0 victory and force a winner-take-all game 7 in the regional.
The pitching dominance switched sides in the deciding game of the regional. The ironically-named Kathryn Sandercock dominated the Gamecocks for a perfect game. Carolina gave up its only run on a throwing error on a bunt en route to the 1-0 loss.
The defeat is bitter for South Carolina softball, but the postseason success (both in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament) was sweet. Beverly Smith’s team had a great run that they hope to build on in 2024.