Tigers headed to Tuscaloosa feeling like they've come full circle

John Rittman, Valerie Cagle and the Tigers return to Tuscaloosa, site of the first NCAA Tournament appearance for Clemson back in 2021. (file photo)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon May 13 07:00:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – The Clemson softball team has ten seniors who are making their last postseason run, and they are all hopeful that run is deep and ends with a berth in the Women’s College World Series. However, head coach John Rittman wants his players to focus on the next game.

The Clemson softball team is making its fourth-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance with the latest selection to the Tuscaloosa Regional hosted by the No. 14-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide.

Clemson (34-17) will open the double-elimination regional on Friday against Southeastern Louisiana (45-13). First pitch is currently slated for 2 p.m. ET on ACC Network. Earning the No. 14 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Alabama (33-17) hosts USC Upstate (30-21) at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

The winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional will advance to a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Knoxville Regional.

“Super excited for our team to experience the postseason. Again, this is our fifth year of existence, and it never gets boring,” Rittman said Sunday after the NCAA Tournament announcement. “Obviously this season has had its ups and downs. We fought through some adversity and some injury, but like I told our team, we're battle-tested; we're ready for the postseason. We certainly look forward to the challenge of going back to Tuscaloosa. Our first-round opponent is against Southeastern Louisiana, so we'll start doing some homework on them. I know they beat Ole Miss, which is a common opponent of us, so we'll start working on the scouting report on them. And then, just like I said, I am very grateful to be a part of Clemson University and to have the support we have here. And I told our team, not everybody gets to experience postseason.”

In only the fifth season, the Tigers have been selected to the NCAA Tournament every year eligible making its first appearance in 2021 at the Tuscaloosa Regional before hosting the previous two seasons. The Tigers are coming off the ACC Tournament, where they defeated Virginia in the quarterfinals, 8-1, before falling to top-seeded Duke, 4-3, in 10 innings in the semifinal matchup.

“We've worked our tails off for this opportunity and just want them to feel blessed and grateful for the opportunity and then to get hungry about going to win another championship,” Rittman said. “Very excited for the NCAA regionals and really proud of our team and the way we've fought this year to get to where we're at right now.”

Rittman was reminded of his senior group, and he said he wants them to think about one opponent at a time.

“Obviously when you get to postseason, it's an exciting time of year. We have ten seniors that have been through an awful lot with our program, and it's like I tell our team we have to live in the present,” Rittman said. “The past is the past. And the biggest thing we have to do is try to avoid thinking about that. We've got to think about the next game, the next opponent, and keep our mindset on the present.”

McKenzie Clark said the Tigers feel like they are coming full circle – the Tigers played in the Tuscaloosa Regional during the freshman year for many of the seniors.

“I think we were pretty focused. We were determined like, okay, we have some names that we need to check off our list,” Clark said. “We need to start focusing now and get prepared. That starts this week. It's a full circle for the seniors and for a few of us that are graduating this year. We started at Alabama my freshman year and now we're finishing my senior year. It's really exciting stuff.”

Maddie Moore says this is a team that has “been around the block.”

“I think that's what's really great about this sport is that even though we have had some ups and downs, we have 23 girls that have our back,” Moore said. “I think that those ups and downs make us stronger and have us more capable to cope with those new emotions that we feel. I think going into this, we now know how to deal with everything. I think that's why we seem more relaxed because we've been here, we’ve been around the block a couple of times.”