South Carolina softball seeded No. 2 in Durham regional of 2024 NCAA Tournament

COLUMBIA — South Carolina softball is NCAA tournament bound for the second straight season, marking the ninth appearance under coach Beverly Smith.

The Gamecocks (34-22) are in the Durham regional with No. 10 overall seed Duke, Morgan State, and Utah. They will open with Utah (34-20), which lost to UCLA in the Pac-12 title game, on Friday (noon, ESPN). The Gamecocks defeated the Utes 9-1 on Feb. 15 in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. South Carolina had 10 hits in the win.

The Blue Devils (47-6) play Morgan State (35-18) on Friday (2:30 p.m., ESPN+). The regional is double elimination and continues Saturday with the championship game on Sunday.

The Gamecocks lost 3-2 to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

South Carolina softball pitcher Alana Vawter was named to the All-SEC Second Team. Vawter spent four years at Stanford before deciding to play her fifth year for the Gamecocks. Vawter is 16-12 with 99 strikeouts.

On offense, senior Riley Blampied led the Gamecocks in the regular season with 54 hits and six home runs. Blampied started her career at South Carolina at third base before moving to outfield in the middle of her junior year. Last year, she led the team in RBIs, doubles, triples, and slugging percentage.

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In 2023, the Gamecocks finished 40-22 and lost in heartbreaking fashion to Florida State 1-0 in the NCAA regional final.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: South Carolina softball No. 2 in Durham regional of 2024 NCAA tournament