Tigers are dominant in NCAA Tournament debut |
The runs came early and often in the first-ever NCAA Tournament game in program history for the Clemson softball team, as they opened the Tuscaloosa Regional with an 8-0 win on Friday afternoon against Troy. The Tigers will now take No. 3 national seed Alabama Saturday at noon on ESPN3.
The Clemson offense produced all eight runs via the home run on the afternoon. Alia Logoleo hit a three-run homer in the first, and Valerie Cagle and Marrissa Guimbarda went back-to-back in the home half of the third to double the Tigers' lead. Cagle lifted her second homer of the game in the bottom of the fifth to walk-off the game due to the run rule, 8-0. Cagle was impressive in her NCAA Tournament debut in the circle, allowing no runs on one hit in 4.0 innings of work while striking out 10. It is the 11th time this season the redshirt freshman has recorded double-digit strikeouts. Millie Thompson finished out the game in the circle for Rittman, allowing one hit in her single inning of work. “Anytime you advance in the postseason is special,” Clemson second-year head coach John Rittman said after the victory. “This is the time of year when every win is a big win. Getting this first one under our belt is huge and gives us an opportunity tomorrow to be in a position to hopefully get one step closer to a regional championship.” Clemson moves to 26-1 this season when scoring five or more runs as well as 34-1 on the season when hitting a home run, which they sent four over the fence at Rhoads Stadium on Friday afternoon. “I think hitting is contagious,” Rittman said. “I think today proved that. We got the big hit early, and when we hit a home run we usually win, and today was no different. We got some big hits in some critical spots and ended up putting the game away early.” The Trojans threatened Cagle in the circle early, putting runners on first and second with one out in the opening inning of the first NCAA Tournament game in program history. The redshirt freshman stayed calm, cool and collected, throwing six straight strikes and striking out the next two batters to get the Tigers back into the dugout unharmed. Clemson got on the board first in the home half of the first, taking advantage of back-to-back one-out walks to Ansley Gilstrap and Cagle before Logoleo launched her eighth homer of the season over the A in Alabama on the outfield wall in left field. “The emotions of winning our first tournament game are very high right now,” Logoleo said. “After all the emotions we went through since the selection show, I think today we came out and just played softball how we know too.” The Tigers took a 3-0 lead off of one swing, giving the Virginia native in the circle all the run support she needed. Troy got a runner over to third with two outs in the third, but Cagle responded back with her sixth strikeout of the afternoon to end the inning and get out of the jam with Clemson still leading, 3-0. The Tigers doubled their lead in the bottom of the third, hitting back-to-back home runs from Guimbarda and Cagle to increase the lead, 6-0. McKenzie Clark led the inning off with her ninth double of the season, and was brought home with the redshirt freshman from Virginia’s 16th homer of the season, a frozen rope line drive to left-center. Guimbarda sent her 13th long ball over the same part of the field, the third home run of the game for Clemson. Clemson took the game in run-rule fashion in the bottom of the fifth, as Cagle sent her second long ball of the game, and her 17th of the season over the left-field fence to secure Clemsons’ first-ever NCAA Tournament win. getting shipped to Tuscaloosa is an incredibly tough assignment for Clemson's first ever regional appearance but they have Valerie Cagle, so anything's possible AND NOW IT'S GUIMBARDA'S TURN ?? HAVE ?? A ?? DAY ?? VAL?? pic.twitter.com/7LPwZtzYfA
she's got 10 K's thru 4 scoreless IP and also hit this ridiculous home run. an absolute starpic.twitter.com/6ATbJOGknL
Our third home run of the game gives us a 6-0 lead in the third ??
?? ESPN3 (https://t.co/hA4Zh8T9FD) pic.twitter.com/b95ulhvwpF
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