When Clemson opened the 2025 season, expectations were not great. The Tigers had to replace seven starters, who helped build the softball program.
The season was supposed to be a rebuilding job. In fact, with seven new starters in the lineup, including four freshmen, Clemson was projected to finish seventh in the ACC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
Fortunately for Clemson, it did not take them too long to rebuild.
The Tigers closed the regular season by winning 38 of their last 44 games, finished second in the ACC standings and then went on and won their first ACC Tournament Championship on Saturday.
The Tigers were so excited about winning the ACC, they did not want the moment to end. So, they decided, as a team, they were not going to change out of their uniforms. They wore them all the way home from Brighton, Mass., which included a long plane and bus ride back to Clemson.
“We just wanted to keep those dirty uniforms on with our sweat and our tears, our happy tears. It was a great time,” third baseman Alex Brown said.
The good times continued on Sunday night, as Clemson learned it earned the No. 11 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host a regional at McWhorter Stadium in Clemson.
The Tigers (44-12) were selected as the one seed in the Clemson Regional and are set to face No. 4 USC Upstate (39-14) in their opening game of the double-elimination regional on Friday at 4:30 p.m., on the ACC Network.
The Kentucky Wildcats (29-26) will play Northwestern (29-18-1) as the number two and three seeds, respectfully, in the regional with first pitch slated for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
“I am super excited. I know everybody is,” Brown said. “Coach [John] Rittman said earlier, we may be a little bias, but we have some of the best fans in the country. That is something I look forward to it, knowing that all of these fans are supporting us. They get up in the berm and show their support, so I am looking forward to that this weekend.”
It goes without saying, after beating three of the top eight seeds in the tournament—No. 5 Florida State, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 8 South Carolina—the Tigers earned the opportunity to be at home this weekend.
“Our team has worked extremely hard this year for this opportunity,” Rittman said. “We won a hard-fought ACC Tournament, three games in which we were behind in every game, and we found a way to come back in all of them and win.
“I just really love the resiliency of this team. There is a lot of great leadership and a lot of really talented young players.”
And they are not too bad for a team that had no expectations at the beginning of the season.
Note: The winner of the Clemson Regional will advance to a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Austin Regional May 22-25. The Women’s College World Series will be played in Oklahoma City, Okla., May 29-June 5/6.
—photo courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications