Why South Carolina softball team is confident it can build on 40-win season

A year ago, the South Carolina softball team had just finished back-to-back seasons where struggles in SEC play led to omissions from the NCAA Tournament, a change in fortunes that snapped a streak of seven straight trips to postseason play under coach Beverly Smith’s guidance.

Smith knew only one way to turn that around: Get to work.

She jumped feet-first into the transfer portal and landed four impact players: senior pitcher Donnie Gobourne from Florida Atlantic; junior catcher Jen Cummings from Washington; junior designated player Aniyah Black from Georgia; and sophomore shortstop Brooke Blankenship from Florida State. Filling areas of need, they fit perfectly into the lineup with key returning players in grad first baseman Jordan Fabian and junior outfielder Riley Blampied.

The result? The Gamecocks won more games in the SEC than the previous two seasons combined and returned to the NCAA Tournament. They parlayed a speed-and-defense approach — an SEC-best .978 fielding percentage (and league low of 35 errors) to go with a conference-leading 123 stolen bases — into a 40-win season, the first since 2018 and a 14-win improvement over 2022.

Most importantly, they got hot with the conclusion of the regular season by staging a dramatic run to the SEC Tournament championship game with three wins over ranked teams (Texas A&M, Georgia and Auburn) behind Gobourne’s electric arm, some timely hitting and a string of SportsCenter highlight defensive plays before dropping a tight title game to No. 4 Tennessee. Then came the bid to the Tallahassee NCAA Regional, where they defeated No. 3 national seed Florida State once before losing 1-0 to the Seminoles in the final game to fall just short of a Super Regional.

Buoyed by a 14-game winning streak in the pre-conference schedule that instilled confidence, the team found its competitive footing in a conference series win over perennial power Florida.

“We were really looking forward to our transfers, and when they came in, they meshed with us immediately. It was like they’ve been here for years,” Blampied said. “They really helped us, and it was a great year for all of us. About midseason, we just clicked and started winning some big games.”

Gamecocks roster comes together

Smith, who has compiled a 425-299 record in 13 seasons, began to see her hopes realized this season as the new and returning players embraced their various roles.

Blampied, who led the team with 42 RBIs and 13 doubles to go with seven homers and 17 stolen bases, moved from third base to the outfield, which allowed Smith to get junior Zoe Laneaux’s emerging bat into the lineup at third. Sophomore Emma Sellers, who played shortstop in 2022, took her strong defense to second base to make room for Blankenship, who provided her own standout defense and a team-high .300 batting average. Cummings, an on-base machine with a .497 percentage, shared catching duties with sophomore Giulia Desiderio, whose strong arm and rapport with Gobourne coincided with the pitcher’s dominating stretch of late-season innings.

“It was really easy to get everybody on the same page because the returners wanted to win,” Smith said. “We had no returning All-Americans or all-conference players. I told them, ‘If we’re getting through this, it’s going to be together, right?’ So that’s really what we preached all season long. And I know Donnie had a lot of success, but she also bought into the ‘it’s going to take all of us’ (mentality), and we won a lot of different ways this season.”

A variety of players stepped up in crucial moments, best personified by Fabian’s game-winning two-run homer against Auburn in the SEC Tournament semifinals and Black’s two-homer, five-RBI day that included a walk-off blast to run-rule Texas A&M and complete a series sweep. And sophomore left-fielder Marissa Gonzalez made spectacular game-saving catches against both Texas A&M and Georgia in the SEC Tournament that were seen over and over on television and social media.

“We had to get used to playing with each other and get more comfortable over time,” Desiderio said. “It really worked out. In the beginning of the year, I knew we were going to be decent — like better than last year — but as the year went on, everyone’s chemistry kept getting better and better. This team was special.”

The hard-throwing Gobourne, the team’s lone All-SEC performer, led the way in the circle with 14 wins, six saves, 2.24 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 134.2 innings. Senior right-handers Karsen Ochs and Bailey Betenbaugh also provided important innings over the stretch run as part of the six-person staff.

“Seeing the (fifth-year) seniors being able to have the opportunity to go back to a NCAA postseason tournament just made it so much more fun,” Gobourne said. “And then I think the run we had to continue to shock the world every game that we played just really opened our eyes a lot.”

USC looks to future

The high-profile victories against some of the nation’s best teams have everyone optimistically eyeing next season, even with the loss of Gobourne, left-hander Rachel Vaughan (2.60 ERA) and Fabian’s 10 homers, 32 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. In the fall, USC announced the signings of a pair of nationally ranked recruits: two-way player Reganne Bennett from Michigan and pitcher Sage Mardjetko from Illinois.

“They have great potential. So we’re going to expect them to come in and do great things for us, along with our pitchers who are already here,” said Blampied, whose versatility has allowed her to play every position except pitcher and catcher in her career.

“I plan to play wherever they put me next year, you never know. I’ve been a little bit of everywhere so I’m just ready to step up as a senior and be a leader for my last year and give it all I have,” she added. “And as a team, I see us in the SEC championship again and in the postseason.”

Desiderio believes the progress shown over the course of the season has energized the program.

“I know all the returning players are going to work hard over (summer) break and up their game. And I think we’ll just come back even better,” Desiderio said.

Smith is convinced this season could serve as the start of another streak of NCAA Tournament appearances.

“We’ve got a good core returning that had a lot of game time and success. I think of the run in the SEC Tournament when you talk about recruiting — all the games on the SEC Network and ESPN. That is really a two-hour recruiting pitch for our program so I’m excited about that,” she said.

And, of course, there’s the transfer portal. She smiled when discussing the possibilities of adding proven veteran players, just as she did a year ago.

“It’s everybody’s reality now. I think every coach is trying to fill holes on their roster with players from the portal,” Smith said. “And certainly we have a lot to sell at South Carolina. I feel like if we can get athletes to Columbia, then we’ve got a great shot to get them to join us. We just think the people make the place here, and that includes our athletes and locker room, and everybody that surrounds our program and athletics.”