Rodi, Lamb headline South Carolina softball transfer class

Ashley Chastain has made the Gamecock roster her own, both figuratively and literally. Chastain brought over her entire staff from Charlotte and a good portion of the roster to her alma mater. Softball America All-America Arianna Rodi, First Team All-AAC honoree Ella Chancey and AAC Defensive Player of the Year Lexi Winters are among that bunch. Chastain also landed Nealy Lamb (Charleston Southern) and Quincee Lilio (Oklahoma). Here is how the South Carolina softball transfer class shakes out.

Arianna Rodi

Rodi is the top hitter coming over from Charlotte. The Softball America First-Team All-American at first base hit 22 home runs last season, finishing seventh in the country. She found the long ball against quality pitchers such as Olivia Lackie, Makenna Reid, Lyndsey Grein, Emily Winstead and Kara Hammock

According to Synergy Sports, Rodi hit 14 of her home runs on curves and screwballs. She fared well versus pitchers working the edges of the plate. Her heat map and spray chart reflect this. Rodi barreled pitches across the strike zone and homered to nearly every corner of the field as seen below.

Chastain will need Rodi to anchor the lineup as a good portion of this roster makes the jump into SEC play full-time. We’ve already seen Rodi grow, becoming an All-American in her first season as an everyday starter last season.

Ella Chancey

Chancey was Rodi’s partner in crime across the diamond at third base. She’ll likely be protecting Rodi in the heart of the order. South Carolina didn’t hit many home runs last season but all six players who had four or more blasts last season have departed.

The rising senior has had a bit of a rollercoaster-type arch to her career. Chancey set the Charlotte freshman home run (11) and RBI (38) record in 2022. She had a down year at the plate as a sophomore before rebounding last season with 18 extra-base hits. That’s difficult in its own right to know you can be successful and come back to do it again following less success.

Chancey swung-and-miss 7% more in 2023 than she did when you combined the 2022 and 2024 seasons. She may also have had bad luck during her ‘down’ season. Chancey hit a higher percentage of line drives in 2023 than any other season.

It’s easy to imagine Rodi and Chancey locking down the corner infield spots with Brooke Blankenship and possibly Karley Shelton at second base.

Lexi Winters

Winters should lock down the starting catcher role. The reigning AAC Defensive Player of the Year helped the Niners control the run game last season. Winters allowed just 18 stolen bases all season, and only one in conference play. As a team, the Niners tied for the 14th-fewest stolen bags allowed in Division I (20) and by far the fewest in AAC (three). Winters committed two errors and had a .991 fielding percentage.

A first look at Winters’ .203 career batting average might lead you to believe she doesn’t add a ton at the plate. However, she improved her batting average from .170 as a freshman to .230 her sophomore year. In two seasons at Charlotte, she hit 10 doubles and 11 home runs to contribute to the team’s power numbers.

Abigail Knight

Knight was a nice find for the Charlotte staff from the transfer portal in 2023. She started all 57 games for the Niners after four years at Boston College – she has a sixth year of eligibility due to COVID year and missed the 2022 season due to injury. Knight primarily played left field where she could easily slot into in Columbia. She did not commit an error and added three outfield assists. Knight doesn’t provide a ton of power, but she hit 12 doubles last season and five home runs in 2023. Her bread and butter is to get on base. She walked 25 times, leading to a .412 on-base percentage which included a 21-game reached base streak.

Quincee Lilio

That’s a lot of potential and unknown to Lilio. Once a highly touted recruit from the Athletics Mercado organization, Lilio never cracked the Oklahoma lineup consistency – a tough proposition. She has a .211 career average in 71 at-bats but will have ample opportunity to start right away for Chastain. Lilio spent time at second base, the outfield and the designated player spot while in Norman.

Sam Gress

Jori Heard is the only pitcher who returns to the South Carolina roster. Chastain needed more arms for the staff. Gress pitched over 300 innings for Chastain the past two seasons at Charlotte after starting her career at NC State. She was the ace in 2023 with 23 wins and a 1.91 ERA, throwing 227.1 innings and 21 complete games. Gress threw less this past season dealing with an injury. Although her ERA rose, both her WHIP and batting average against dropped.

Gress threw either a fastball or rise ball nearly half the time while at Charlotte. She supplemented that by throwing a screwball and a drop ball quite often. Her changeup is her outpitch. Most of Gress’ pitches average out around 65 mph but she pulls back the velocity on her changeup by a lot as it comes in around 50 mph. That fools hitters to swing out in front or even freeze as strike three floats by them.

Gress seems the most likely candidate to lead South Carolina in innings next season based on the experience and trust with Chastain.

Nealy Lamb

If Gress isn’t the innings leader, Nealy Lamb will have done just fine with her transition to the SEC. Lamb dazzled last year winning the Big South Pitcher and Freshman of the Year award at Charleston Southern. The Cades, South Carolina native finished the year with a 1.78 ERA, .176 B/AVG, 10 complete games and four saves. She is capable of being a trusted starter or piece from the bullpen.

It’s not a secret what Lamb will throw at you. She threw either a rise ball, screwball or curveball around 90% of the time last season. Lamb tossed her rise ball the most but when she faced left-handed hitters, the usage of her screwball jumped to 56%. She relies on her spin to get weak contact, indicated by a 24% of pop-ups she induced. Teams also had 17 extra-base hits against her.

The word of caution for Lamb’s expectations, however, is that she didn’t have her best outings against Power Five programs. She surrendered eight runs in a combined seven innings against Florida State and Georgia Tech, two of the best offenses last season. In those two outings, and a correlation with the rest of her poor results, was nine walks. When she gives up free passes, she runs herself into trouble. That is the first area she’ll need to improve on.

Kadie Becker

Becker threw 15.2 innings last season as a freshman at Charlotte. She mostly pitched a combination of a fast ball and changeup. While she had a 4.02 ERA, she allowed five runs in her first two outings and only recorded three outs. The rest of the season she allowed four runs in 10 appearances.

There’s a decent chance that the innings are mostly consumed by Gress, Heard and Lamb with Becker and incoming two-way Olivia Kotowski mixed in. The South Carolina softball transfer class is the foundation of the roster and will influence how Chastain’s first season leading her former program goes.

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