South Carolina Facing Uphill Climb for Third Consecutive National Title

Winning one national title is something that most schools dream about. Actually winning two? That's an impressive accomplishment for sure. Want to know what would be a more impressive one--winning three.

The South Carolina Gamecocks were definitely behind the eight ball when it came to winning a third national title. They only returned three everyday players from the 2011 squad. They were not very good in their own conference this season going 18-11. As the No 8 seed going into Omaha the expectations were not high for them.

Against the odds they managed to fight there way back into the finals for a third straight year. Their opponent--the Arizona Wildcats. Unlike the Gamecocks who limped into the NCAA Tournament losing five of their last seven games (including the SEC tournament), the Wildcats were red hot to end the season, and have remained hot through the tournament.

The Gamecocks got a pretty good taste of how good the Wildcats are in Game One of the best of three series Sunday. The offense could not do much against pitcher Konner Wade who threw his third straight complete game as the Wildcats won 5-1.

South Carolina had it easy the last two years sweeping UCLA and Florida. If they are going to have a chance to three-peat they will have to find a way to do something with what offense they are able to generate; they only got six hits off Wade and one run.

Game Two is tonight at 8P ET.