When Ray Tanner came to South Carolina to coach the baseball team in 1997, the Gamecocks already had an ace on campus. Unfortunately for Tanner, she was pitching for the softball team.
Trinity Johnson was named the sport’s national player of the year that season and led South Carolina to the College World Series. On Saturday, Tanner, now the school’s athletics director, and the Gamecocks retired Johnson’s jersey at the Carolina Softball Stadium.
“Trinity is one of my first memories at the University of South Carolina,” Tanner said. “In the spring of 1997, they were rolling. They were packing them in.