If one play late in a blowout victory could sum up a team, Sam Gress made it.
South Carolina’s ace pitcher dropped jaws and stopped hearts with a diving catch in the sixth inning of her team’s 9-2 victory over UCLA in game one of the Super Regional, bringing Beckham Field to its feet with the latest moment in her growing highlight reel.
“That was just an iconic moment,” head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard said. “I’m fine with it, I’m glad she made the out. Sam is just the heart and the soul and the grit of our team. I hope the NCAA takes that photo of her diving for that ball and puts it all over everything from here on out, because that’s what the postseason is about.”
Normally, the last thing you want your best pitcher to do is charge out of the circle and make a headfirst dive for a ball. Especially not with a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning on a ball that might have bounced into foul territory even if it dropped.
But Gress is not a normal pitcher, and as has been clear since February, this is not a normal team.
“Honestly the first thing I thought about was her cutting up her hand,” catcher Lexi Winters said. “Because she did it last week, also. Sam has so much grit, and she is going to do everything she can to win, to make the play, to give the team the momentum and the energy. And that’s exactly what she did with that play.
South Carolina, picked dead last in the SEC pre-season, just secured its first Super Regional victory in program history and is now one win away from the ultimate destination in college softball, the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. It would be the first time since 1997 the program has been, and nothing short of an improbable accomplishment.
Gress and fellow pitcher Jori Heard picked up right where they left off last week, holding UCLA’s powerful lineup to just two runs and two extra base hits. For the tournament the Gamecocks have only given up four runs in four games now, and the grit translates to both sides of the ball.
South Carolina scored its first seven runs of the game with two outs, a remarkable continuation of last week when it scored the final 11 runs of the regional all with two outs. Tally up the NCAA Tournament total and the Gamecocks have scored 19 of their 25 runs with two outs.
Winters opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning, a ball that hit the top of the wall in center field before sneaking over it. Brooke Blankenship — gritty as they come — battled through an 11-pitch at-bat before hitting an RBI single to make it 3-0. And Arianna Rodi, the superstar slugger, laced a two-run single in the second to make it 5-0 and knock UCLA starter Kaitlyn Terry out early.
Abigail Knight and Ella Chancey tacked on RBIs later along with another hit from Winters, an offensive explosion against one of the nation’s best pitching staffs.
“We’re not playing to not lose,” Winters said. “We’re playing to go to OKC. And I think that’s exactly what we did today. We grabbed all the momentum when we could, and if we felt anything kind of shifting, we went away and took it back.”
And then there was Gress. Before she even had a chance to make defensive heroics, she recorded the three biggest out of her career in the fifth. With two on and nobody out in the fifth and the game still in the balance at 5-2, UCLA was one swing away from tying it. Sluggers Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant — with a combined 47 home runs this season — were coming to the plate with the very solid Rylee Slimp behind them.
Strikeout, strikeout, pop-out. Inning over, and functionally game over at that point.
“It’s a big win,” Chastain Woodard said. “When you feel in your bones that you’re one win away, I don’t know if you can put words to it.”
Diving catches, clutch strikeouts, long at-bats and two-out knocks. This is 2025 South Carolina softball.
One win away from the end of the road.
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