She led the team in wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, batters faced, walks and hits per inning pitched during her freshman season. Now, South Carolina sophomore pitcher Leah Powell is gearing up for her second season of college softball.
Powell put up significant numbers last season among a pitching staff filled with veteran arms. She posted a 10-7 record in 28 appearances while recording a 2.76 earned run average in 15 starts.
The highlight of her season came in April 2021 when she pitched a complete game against No. 3 Florida. This gave the Gamecocks their first win in the series since 2013.
"I think my defense just played behind me and we just had confidence in our offense and our defense," Powell said. "It's really just trust the process and trust who's around you, and that's basically how we won."
Only a few weeks removed from one of her best outings, Powell went seven innings in the SEC Tournament against the Auburn Tigers, throwing 81 pitches in a 3-1 win in May 2021.
She impressed head coach Beverly Smith, who said Powell had "a really nice freshman campaign last year."
"She's very impressive, and she fields her position very well for her," Smith said. "She does a great job trusting the defense and getting ground balls for us."
Powell credited her improvements from last season to working on her pitching mechanics. She struck out 53 batters and allowed 12 home runs last season in 91.1 innings.
"I mean, I worked on my pitches a lot more than individually and cutting down to it, getting it consistently like 80% consistent with one pitch," Powell said.
Despite her past success, Powell said she's remained focused on the 2022 season and holds herself to higher expectations.
"I expect more wins. I expect my speed to go up. I expect my pitches to be moving a lot more and being consistent again with pitches," Powell said.
Even with a year of experience playing at the collegiate level, Powell said she expects this season to be different.
"I think it's going to be a lot more different this year because of COVID and having the fans back is really going to change the momentum, but this is college," Powell said. "It'll be fine with the big crowd — it'll help too — but it'll also be different."
One thing that will change for Powell this season is hitting for herself at the plate. Though she only made one plate appearance last season, resulting in a strikeout, her track record gives reason to believe she's capable of handling double duty.
While playing on the Evans High School varsity softball team in Evans, Georgia, she had a .348 batting average with 28 home runs and 118 RBI in her 404 career plate appearances.
Smith said having Powell take at-bats will be a "nice add" for her options in making the batting lineup.
Coming into the season, the Gamecocks are going to be carrying numerous veteran arms on their pitching staff. In addition to Powell, graduate student Kelsey Oh and junior Karsen Ochs are shaping up to be a "three-headed monster" in the rotation, according to Smith.
"They have the energy and that's all your defense can ask for," senior infielder Kassidy Krupit said. "When they come up there and have that energy, we're like 'Oh yeah we're going to get it today.'"
After finishing with a .500 record last year, Powell said she expects the team to fare much better this season.
"I feel like we improved a lot more than last year," Powell said. "I'm excited to see us actually put the work in we do for practice onto the field for game."