May 21, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Coming off of an impressive come from behind victory against No. 20 Oregon in the final game of the NCAA Columbia Regional, the South Carolina Gamecocks (38-24) will now prepare for their first NCAA Super Regional. The Gamecocks will travel to Evanston, Ill. to face the No. 2 national seed Northwestern Wildcats (48-11), May 25-26 in a best-of-three series. Friday’s game is set for 4 p.m. (ET) and Saturday’s game is slated for 2 p.m. (ET) with an “if necessary” game following. The winner of the series will advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla., May 31-June 6.

“We are excited and looking forward to the opportunity to play in our first super regionals and represent South Carolina and our family and friends,” said head coach Joyce Compton.

The Gamecocks are one of three unseeded teams, and the only No. 4 seed, to advance to the Super Regional round. Of the seven SEC teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament, five, including the Gamecocks, are still competing. Northwestern hopes to return to the Women’s College World Series where they finished as the runner up team in the 2006 championship game.

Overall, South Carolina leads its series against the Wildcats 5-3 with the last meeting coming in 2004. The Wildcats eliminated South Carolina from the Tucson Regional 5-3 and ended their campaign.

Northwestern also hosted a regional and advanced after going 3-0, picking up wins against Wright State and Illinois State twice.

South Carolina made it to the Super Regional in part due to the efforts of McKenna Hughes, Jessica Josker and Melissa Hendon. Hughes scored the winning run in the Gamecocks first elimination game against N.C. State and Jessica Josker drove in the winning runs in the final three wins. Hughes went 5-for-11 with four runs and hit .455, while Josker went 8-for-18 with three runs and five RBI to hit .444. Hendon recorded her 20th win in the deciding game against Oregon and became the first Gamecock pitcher to post 20 wins since 2002.

All games will be broadcast live via audio Internet and can be followed through Gametracker on www.uscsports.com. Free streaming video will also be available for all games.