The path is set.

South Carolina softball earned the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest mark in program history. It gives the Gamecocks the right to host the entirety of the postseason up to the Women’s College World Series at Beckham Field, including what would be the first home Super Regional in program history.

They have to get there first, though. And that means winning this weekend’s double elimination regional with Virginia, North Florida and Elon in town. It is a field lacking much postseason experience, with the Cavaliers making just their third ever trip to a regional, North Florida on its first and Elon on its second in program history.

“We’ve said the last couple weeks whether it be a loss or a win that our best days are still in front of us, our most exciting games are still in front of us,” head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. “And I think that’s going to be true over the next few weeks.”

Here is a look at the three teams coming to Columbia this weekend and the challenges they pose for the Gamecocks.

Virginia is the team in this bracket South Carolina has familiarity with. The Gamecocks and Cavaliers met as part of the Gamecock Invitational the first two games of the season, both walk-off wins for South Carolina by scores of 7-6 and 5-4.

“Virginia being our two seed, we played them twice in the regular season,” Chastain Woodard remarked. That feels like a year ago at this point…but we do have a lot of information on Virginia. We’re really excited to host them in Columbia.”

The Cavaliers went 37-17 overall and 14-10 in ACC play, and enter the postseason with a 6-4 record over their last 10 games.

Bella Cabral and Jade Hylton lead the offense, hitting .368 and .365 respectively. Hylton has also hit 17 home runs, one more than South Carolina’s team leader Arianna Rodi. Eden Bigham has pitched most of the innings with 138 on the year at a 2.38 ERA, while the next closest is Savanah Henley with a 3.26 ERA in 73 innings.

One area Virginia has really struggled this year is defensively. The Cavaliers have committed 56 errors and have a .963 fielding percentage, tied for 133rd nationally.

The Ospreys are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history after winning the Atlantic Sun, blowing through the conference with a 22-2 league record and a 45-13 mark overall.

It’s all about two-way superstar Allison Benning, who is within touching distance of becoming just the second player in NCAA Softball history to hit 20 home runs and win 20 games in a season. Benning already has the pitching part down with a 24-5 record and a microscopic 1.51 ERA in 153 innings, and has 19 home runs with a 1.502 OPS offensively. She also leads the country in walks drawn by a considerable margin with 70 bases on balls while no other hitter is even at 60.

Pitching is the strength of this team in general with the 11th-best team ERA in the nation. In addition to Benning, Kylah Berry has a 1.02 ERA in 61 ⅔ innings.

On the other hand, offense outside Bnning has been a real struggle. North Florida has only hit 33 home runs as a team, tied for 129th nationally, and is 90th in the country in runs per game with 5.34.

North Florida faced three SEC teams this season and lost all three games in run-rule fashion with two games against Florida and one against Arkansas.

South Carolina’s first opponent comes from the Coastal Athletic Association. Elon is 33-19 on the season and clawed out of the loser’s bracket of its conference tournament to make a regional for the first time since 2010.

Kaitlyn Wells leads the offense with 16 home runs and a 1.266 OPS, and McKenna McCard is the staff ace South Carolina will likely face on the mound Friday afternoon. She has a 1.98 ERA in 102 ⅔ innings, joining Taylor Cherry as the only other pitcher on the roster with over 45 innings.

Like most four seeds, Elon is a top heavy team with dangerous names to watch out for, but lacks the depth of power four schools.

The Phoenix did not face any SEC competition during the season, but lost three games against ACC schools Clemson, North Carolina and Duke, the latter two by run-rule scores.

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