Clemson softball is off to its best start in the program’s brief history.

The Tigers have won their first 10 games after wrapping up a perfect weekend at McWhorter Stadium, which was the most impressive part of their season so far.

Clemson hosted a pair of NCAA Tournament teams from last season as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Ohio State, which came into the weekend fresh off a win at Notre Dame, participated in the Knoxville Regional a season ago.

But it was Northwestern that many figured to be the toughest test for the fifth-ranked Tigers. Fresh off a run to the Women’s College World Series, Northwestern entered the season as the Big Ten favorite with a win over a top-10 Texas team already on its resume before its trip to Clemson.

But Clemson dominated the weekend, outscoring both teams 33-5 in four games. The Tigers started it by homering three times in a 15-2 win over Northwestern in five innings Friday and ended with another run-rule victory – a four-homer, 10-0 win over Ohio State – Sunday. 

“We have power up and down our lineup,” Clemson coach John Rittman said. “Obviously that first-inning onslaught with (Mackenzie) Clark, (Valerie) Cagle and (Caroline) Jacobsen hitting home runs took a lot of pressure off everybody, but we just hit the ball really well all weekend and faced some good pitching too.”

Sandwiched in between were more competitive matchups Saturday that required some clutch performances at the plate and in the circle. In its rematch against Northwestern, Clemson got a two-run homer from Cagle and a sac fly from Clark that proved to be the winning run in a 3-2 victory. 

Cagle also came on in relief of Millie Thompson to get the save, pitching 1 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief. Against Ohio State in the nightcap, the Tigers scored the final five runs to erase a 1-0 deficit in the second inning for a four-run victory. Cagle went the distance in the circle, twirling a three-hitter to improve to 5-0 on the season.

“Just like the way we’re playing right now,” Rittman said.

The four best wins on the Tigers’ resume so far could loom large for postseason purposes should Northwestern and Ohio State prove to be formidable teams in the Big Ten the rest of the way. Clemson, playing just its fourth season of softball, hosted a regional for the first time last season but has never played host to a super regional, something the Tigers could put themselves in position to do if they earn a top 8 national seed.

Of course, there’s plenty of softball still to play, including an entire ACC slate starting early next month. Next up for Clemson is another early resume-building opportunity at home against No. 14 Georgia on Tuesday before heading to Tampa to begin play in a tournament hosted by South Florida on Thursday.

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