South Carolina softball reacts to Los Angeles regional draw for 2026 NCAA Tournament

In May 2025, South Carolina softball sat in front of the NCAA Softball Selection Show, mostly knowing its fate. At 40-15, the Gamecocks were all but assured a home regional. Additionally, they had a shot at hosting a Super Regional.

364 days later, South Carolina sat in front of the TV at Hickory Tavern in downtown Columbia, S.C., with a different feeling. With a 30-26 record and an opening-round exit in the 2026 SEC Tournament, the Gamecocks knew their NCAA Tournament journey would leave Beckham Field behind.

In 2025, South Carolina sat one out away from Oklahoma City on their home field. For 2026, the road to OKC starts over 2000 miles away in Los Angeles, facing a familiar opponent.

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The Gamecocks locked in a spot in the Los Angeles regional against the No. 8 national seed, the UCLA Bruins, on Sunday evening. The familiar opponent has been a source of heartbreaking losses for South Carolina over the past year.

During the 2025 NCAA Super Regionals, South Carolina saw itself one out away from a trip to Oklahoma City. Facing the Bruins, South Carolina saw its 4-1 lead turn to nothing as UCLA roared back to even the three-game set. The Bruins went on to completely slam the door on the Gamecocks, shutting them out 5-0 to advance.

When the Gamecocks had their first chance to avenge that series loss during the 2026 season at the Mary Nutter Classic, deja vu struck as UCLA completed yet another seventh-inning comeback, winning 5-4 after trailing 4-0 entering the final inning.

Head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard knows that with baggage like that, preparing the team mentally is as important as physically.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of emotion going into it for us,” Chastain Woodard said. “I think it’s really important that we separate the past from the right now.”

The second-year head coach and her staff plan to make sure the players aren’t carrying too much emotion throughout the week.

“I just think about the players that were here last year, just making sure that we touch base with them throughout the week,” Chastain Woodard said. “Just that they’re playing with the right mentality. And if it’s a little chip on their shoulder, I’m good with that. I just want to make sure mentality [and] emotions are in check.”

Chastain Woodard believes that playing them early in the season helped the team separate the heartbreak of 2025 from now. Additionally, many players on the 2026 team didn’t experience the super regional loss.

However, before South Carolina can reflect on that, attention turns to Cal State Fullerton. The Gamecocks open the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the Titans.

“We can’t overlook early in the regional with our eyes set just on UCLA,” Chastain Woodard said. “We’ll have to scout all our opponents, but I definitely think there’s a mentality that we need to take out there. We’ll have a conversation about it.”

Catcher Lexi Winters is fully focused on Friday evening’s matchup.

“I think we’ve worked really hard on our mental side of the game all year,” Winters said. ” … I’m sure we have plenty of preparation for when that moment comes, but we have to play Cal State Fullerton first. We got to take on that game first.”

Chastain Woodard credited the Big West conference champions on an amazing season to this point. The Titans’ 24 wins in conference play marked a Big West conference record.

Additionally, Fullerton picked up regular-season wins against Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Oregon. The Titans also picked up a close extra-innings loss to Oklahoma early in the season.

“I think they’ve always been known to have a good arm and can hit,” Chastain Woodard said. ” … They’ve got really good players out from the west coach that want to stay west.”

Beyond the opponent, Winters is excited to be heading back to California this season.

“We get to go back out to the west coast like we did at the beginning of the year … We’re going to have some good competition, so it’ll be awesome,” Winters said.

The Gamecocks plan to depart on Tuesday to get acclimated to the time change ahead of Friday’s opener.

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