COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the second straight year, the South Carolina softball team has punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with a trip to Durham on tap for the weekend.
The Gamecocks will face Utah Friday at noon in an SEC-Pac 12 matchup. The host school is seventh-ranked Duke who will face Morgan State from the MEAC in the other matchup.
Friday's game will be a rematch from a regular season contest in the Puerto Valletta College Challenge in Mexico, with the Gamecocks earning a 9-1 run-rule victory. South Carolina leads the all-time series 6-4 with Friday's game being the first meeting between the two teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Carolina has won nine games this year against teams that are ranked including Utah who was 13th when the two teams met in February.
The Gamecocks (34-22) are coming off a 3-2 loss to ninth-ranked Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. Carolina held a 2-1 lead going to the bottom of the seventh before the Aggies scored two to register the walk-off win.
But that game was another reminder of Carolina's tendency to play better once the post-season arrives and that's what the Gamecocks are counting on as they prepare for the road trip to Tobacco Road.
