South Carolina softball earns first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019, will face UCF

COLUMBIA — After a historic performance in the SEC Tournament, South Carolina softball earned its first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament since 2019.

The Gamecocks (37-20) are the No. 3 team in the Tallahassee regional hosted by Florida State. They will face Central Florida (39-19) in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN2), and the Seminoles will play Marist on the other side of the bracket.

South Carolina is coming off of a Cinderella run in the SEC Tournament, reaching the championship game for the first time since 2018. The Gamecocks finished runners-up to No. 4 Tennessee after upsetting No. 13 Georgia and No. 16 Auburn in the quarter and semifinals respectively. Coming in as the 10-seed, they were the lowest seed to ever reach the conference final.

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The Gamecocks are anchored by ace pitcher Donnie Goubourne, an All-SEC first team selection. She owns a 2.15 ERA and has struck out 189 batters in 120.2 innings pitched, the third-most strikeouts of any pitcher in the SEC. On offense, sophomore Florida State transfer Brooke Blankenship leads the team with a .313 batting average, and fifth-year Jordan Fabian has hit a team-high 10 home runs.

The last time South Carolina appeared in the NCAA Tournament, it reached the regional finals but was eliminated by Florida State. The Gamecocks last reached the Super Regional in 2018, where it fell to host Arizona State.