The South Carolina softball team brought in six transfers from UNC-Charlotte this past offseason after head coach Ashley Chastain Woodard took the job here at South Carolina.
While these transfers added aspects like hitting from junior infielder Arianna Rodi and defense through junior catcher Lexi Winters, sixth-year pitcher Sam Gress has been another weapon for the Gamecock pitching staff.
Gress has appeared in 38 games this season and started eight of them. She has 64 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.55 and win-loss record of 8-4.
From Raleigh to Charlotte
Gress attended Central Dauphin in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In high school, Gress helped lead her team to its first state championship in softball and set records for most strikeouts in a single season with 208 and wins in a season with 20, while also playing golf and basketball.
She originally committed to North Carolina State out of high school, and spent three years as a member of the Wolfpack. As a freshman, Gress appeared in nine games and started four of them. In those appearances, she struck out 16 batters and posted an ERA of 1.27.
She made history against North Carolina A&T, as she became the first freshman at NC State to throw a no-hitter since 2004.
The following year, Gress would redshirt but still managed to play in 20 games and make 15 starts, but just three as a pitcher. Gress instead found herself at the plate 33 times during the season and hit .212 with one home run of, the only of her career.
In her final season at North Carolina State, Gress saw an increased workload on the mound as she pitched in 25 games and started 10 of them. Her strikeout total increased to 35, 14 more than her first two seasons combined.
Gress committed to Charlotte in 2022 to play under Chastain Woodard, who was a pitcher herself in college.
In her first year at Charlotte, Gress shined as she started in 31 of her 39 appearances. She finished the year with an ERA of 1.91 and was able to strike out 150 batters in one season while only walking seven. Her success was recognized with serval postseason awards, like First Team All-Conference USA Selection and Conference USA Newcomer of the Year.
The following year Gress made 33 appearances with 13 starts. While her strikeout count fell to 92, she did manage to keep her ERA to just 2.57 and get three saves on the season, which, at the time, was the most of her career.
Going garnet for last season
Gress was given a sixth-year of eligibility by the NCAA due to her freshman season being impacted by COVID-19. With that final year, Gress decided to follow Chastain Woodard and the rest of the Charlotte coaching staff to South Carolina, a decision that Gress said changed her life when she first transferred.
“Coach Ash and the rest of the coaching staff that came along with her, they completely changed my life two years ago when I entered the transfer portal in the first time,” Gress said. “They believed in me from the start and I just could not have imagined playing my last year with anybody else.”
Gress made her first start of the season against Virginia in the Gamecocks first game of the year. In that game, Gress recorded just one strikeout, gave up six hits and was relieved in the fourth inning.
In South Carolina's first ranked series of the year at then-ranked No. 8 Duke, Gress delivered. In the second and third game of the series, Gress struck out a total of nine batters across the two games while only giving up nine hits, as the Gamecocks would go onto sweep the Blue Devils in its first ranked series sweep of the year.
Just a few weekends later, the Gamecocks hosted then-ranked No. 12 Texas Tech in another ranked weekend series. Just like against Duke, Gress would not start a single game in the series, but managed to come in and deliver five strikeouts in the first two games to help the Gamecocks win the series.
"I think it's just my mindset," Gress said. "Just staying neutral in everything that I'm doing, not letting the moment, be too big, be too small, just staying in the middle ground, and just focusing on my routine when I'm out there and just staying in a competitive mind."
The Gamecocks next opponent would be Clemson in the first of two meetings between the two rival schools. Gress came into the game in the fifth inning to close things out and did just that by only giving up three hits and maintaining South Carolina's 6-0 lead.
The same weekend, the Gamecocks took on then-ranked No. 3 LSU in another ranked weekend matchup. Gress pitched in both the second and third games of the series and was able to strikeout seven batters in the first game of a Sunday double-header before closing out the third game by giving up just two hits in one inning.
Confidence in entire pitching staff
Gress is one of five pitchers listed on the South Carolina softball roster. With strong arms like junior Jori Heard and sophomore Nealy Lamb, the Gamecock pitchers have confidence in the staff's ability to make plays.
"It's our entire pitching staff," Gress said. "Just trying to pass the ball, trying to do it for each other, knowing that they have my back, I have their back ... Just knowing we're not alone out there. There's five of us as a pitching staff and just lets the pressure off a little bit.
The three main pitchers for South Carolina have started 32 of 38 games this season with each of the three striking out over 60 batters up to this point of the season and each having an ERA under three.
"It makes me feel confident," Heard said. "We can all do it as a staff. We have each other there, and we kinda talk about that today. We all are in it together, and we all have each other's back no matter what happens, and we all know we can all do the job."
Gress has began to find her groove of late, posting two games within the past week of seven strikeouts, her current season high, and getting credited for saves in both of those games. Chastain Woodard believes that this is the Gress she has always known and that she is starting to show people the best of her.
"She's just such a competitor," Chastain Woodard said. "She's a really competitive thinker, she just wants to win every time she gets the ball. And so I've known that about her for years, and I think people here are seeing her at her best right now."