Through its first 16 games this season, South Carolina softball finds itself undefeated and receiving national attention at the No. 21 slot of ESPN’s softball rankings. This historic start for the Gamecocks is the best the program has seen in the past three decades.
The Gamecocks’ success comes in head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard’s first season at the helm, while also seeing the emergence of numerous South Carolina batters and pitchers.
Sophomore infielder Karley Shelton, who has settled into the second baseman position and second in the batting order, has gotten into a groove early on in her 2025 campaign. Last year, Shelton spent her whole year at second base while her batting position scattered throughout the lineup.
During her freshman year at South Carolina, Shelton appeared in 50 games while starting 34 of them. Shelton recorded a .200 batting average with 21 hits, 14 RBI’s and a singular home run.
Heading into 2025, Chastain Woodard said she and Shelton are treating this year as a “Freshman year 2.0.” Shelton, a Lexington, South Carolina native, graduated high school a year early to enroll at South Carolina, and has worked to build confidence heading into her sophomore campaign.
“I’ve been working with a mental coach on the side every week, and that’s something that I wanted to level up in this year,” Shelton said. “I think it truly is something that has really helped me, and something that has really transformed my game.”
Now, just a year later, Shelton has nearly matched her hit and RBI totals, with 20 and 13 respectively, from 2024 and has already doubled her home run count from last season. Shelton’s two home runs, paired with nine doubles, leads the Gamecock roster for the most extra-base hits this year with 11.
Shelton has started every game this season while recording a .392 batting average. Additionally, Shelton has gotten on base over half the time this season, notching a .508 on base percentage so far in 2025.
The veteran second baseman said she looks to control her strike zone whenever she’s at the plate by attacking the pitches she likes and letting balls go by no matter what the umpire is ruling.
Shelton’s ability to get on base this season has resulted in her recording a team-high 24 runs this season for the Gamecocks while also recording five multi-RBI games this season.
“(I’m) doing whatever I can to help the team win and kind of just keeping the mentality that we have been working on week through week,” Shelton said. “Getting the bat to whoever’s behind me and knowing the person in front of me is doing the same thing.”
While as a team, Shelton said the Gamecocks are approaching this season with a “pitch-by-pitch” mentality.
“That’s something we’re really big on: being in the moment,” Shelton said. “(We’re) not thinking too far ahead or not thinking too far behind.”
Since the very beginning of the season, Shelton has made her presence felt for the Gamecocks as during South Carolina's 7-6 opening night victory on Feb. 6. Shelton put a ball in play that forced a throwing error by Virginia's first baseman to seal the comeback victory for the Gamecocks.
On Feb. 14, as part of a double-header against Georgia State and Miami (OH), Shelton recorded back-to-back games of two RBI's while also consisting of a two-run double against Georgia State and a two-run home run against Miami.
Then on Feb. 22 against Fordham, a single by Shelton scored two runs in the midst of a six-run inning by the Gamecocks to help seal the game.
Chastain Woodard discussed the flow of confidence that the batting tandem of redshirt junior utility player Quincee Lilio and Shelton have displayed so far this year. Lilio and Shelton are paired next to each other in the batting order, with Lilio batting in the lead-off slot with Shelton following.
“I do love working with Karley,” Lilio said. “We’re kind of the same hitter in a way, like what we like to go after and just stuff like that. So it’s definitely nice working next to her.”
While on the defensive side of the ball, Shelton has started every game at the second base position, where she has committed one error while recording a .982 fielding percentage.
“I think Karley is somebody that you’ll see lead us in the future,” Chastian Woodard said. “A frontline leader for us in the back half of her career, and I think she’s learning how to be that from the people that she’s around right now.”
What’s next?
South Carolina softball goes on the road for the first time this season to face the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina on Feb. 28. The first pitch of this three-game series is set for 6 p.m. and can be watched on ACC Network.