ATHENS, Ga. — They say the postseason is a clean start, and no one took it to heart more than Arianna Rodi.

South Carolina softball’s slumping superstar entered the game locked in a 4-for-24 slump, a power hitter with just one home run in her last 10 games after 14 prior.

One homer in about two weeks, then two in 23 minutes.

Rodi went 3-for-4 with a game-winning two-run home run and then another two-run blast an inning later as No. 7 seed South Carolina beat No. 10 seed South Carolina 6-2 at Jack Turner Stadium to extend its stay at the SEC Tournament.

"It's a program win," head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. "To get this first one out of the way in the tournament is huge."

The win was South Carolina’s (40-14) 40th of the season, only the third time the program has reached that threshold since 2003. It was also yet another quad I win for the NCAA Tournament resume as the Gamecocks continued cementing their status as an NCAA Tournament regional host and are pushing to get a top-eight seed and home games at Beckham Field all the way through the first two weekends.

Alabama (37-21) immediately jumped out to a lead when Audrey Vandagriff hit a lead-off home run out to left field, and the Crimson Tide tacked on another run off an error later in the inning. Just a week ago Alabama blew South Carolina out in the opening game of the series with a 10-run second inning, and with runners on second and third, only one out and two runs already across, it looked like the opening inning of the postseason could spiral as well.

But Sam Gress locked in, slammed the door and preserved a chance for her offense to claw back into the game. She made a sharp play to bounce on a comebacker and looked the runner back at third to hold her there for the second out, then a pop-out after a lengthy at-bat ended the inning and kept the damage at 2-0.

The Gamecocks put one run back on a fielder’s choice after Karley Shelton’s one-out double set the table in the first inning and tied the game in the third on Ella Chancey’s RBI double. The teams traded blows and stellar defensive plays as Gress and Alabama’s Jocelyn Briski dueled through the middle innings.

"That was really special for me," said Chancey, an Athens, Ga. native playing in front of friends and family. "The game before us went into extra innings, obviously, and so I got to run into a few people. And it was people back home from my highschool community who have grown up with me, but also all my family was here, and sojust being able to do that like in front of them, in front of the people who have been with me from day one in my softball career, that was really special.”

A pitcher’s duel, until it became the Rodi show.

Her two swings in consecutive at-bats turned a 2-2 game into a comfortable 6-2 lead, a pair of mighty wallops out to nearly identical spots in left field. The second homer was Rodi’s 16th of the season, breaking the program’s single-season home run record for an individual player and all but confirming South Carolina’s spot in the quarterfinals.

“It means a lot," Rodi said. "I really wasn't trying to chase those numbers at all, just trying to let it happen and let it come to me. But just proud of everything, all the hard work I've put in, and grateful for my teammates who are there for me in every waking moment and put me into those situations.”

Jori Heard secured the last six outs out of the bullpen, the completion of a combined five-hitter.

"I thought her stuffgot better as she went," Chastain Woodard said about Gress. "And the plan all along was to bring Jori in from the bullpen. That was scripted out. We were looking for that matchup to grab throughout thegame, and it was the right time to bring her in."

As they look to continue building their resume before Selection Sunday, the Gamecocks will get a shot at Texas A&M tomorrow night, the team currently holding the No. 1 spot in RPI.

First pitch is set for 8 p.m. on SEC Network, but will be contingent on the first three quarterfinals of the day all finishing on time.

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