A last-minute pitching change didn't stop South Carolina on Friday in the SEC softball tournament.
The third-seeded Gamecocks are into the SEC championship for the first time since 2001. Carolina, behind an impressive circle performance from Dixie Raley, beat seventh-seeded Arkansas, 3-1, in Columbia, Missouri.
USC (45-13) now awaits the winner of Florida-Tennessee in an 8 p.m., Saturday, final. ESPN2 will televise the game. The Gamecocks are seeking their first league title since 2000.
Raley tossed a complete game five-hitter. She struck out seven batters and stranded six Razorbacks, not allowing a run until the sixth inning.