CLEMSON – Friday’s win in Game 2 of the Clemson Regional was very indicative of Clemson’s 2025 season to this point.
Though the 11th-seeded Tigers cruised to a 10-2 run-rule-victory over USC Upstate at McWhorter Stadium, the game had its trials and tribulations.
Clemson (45-12) got off to little bit of a shaky start.
At one point, the Spartans rallied off eight hits in nine at-bats between the second and third innings, loading the bases on two occasions and scoring two runs in the top of third inning.
However, it was not as if Upstate (39-15) was beating Clemson at the time, as much as Clemson was beating Clemson. The Tigers had four mental breakdowns and issued a walk that allowed the Spartans to grab the lead.
The Tigers’ start to the Clemson Regional was very reminiscent to how the 2025 season started, when they lost six of their first nine games, thanks in large part to self-inflicted wounds.
“There was a lot of adversity in that 3-6 start. We were finding ways to lose games,” Clemson head coach John Rittman said. “It was base running mistakes, it was fielding mistakes, walking people, errors. We were in every game. It was not like we were getting blown out, we were losing.”
And that is something the Clemson softball program is not used to doing.
“We had our backs against the wall two weeks into the season,” Rittman said. “Instead of this team being divisive, they got closer. They worked their tails off to improve.”
And they started to win. First it was 15 games in a row, then it was another streak after that, then another and another.
Since that 3-6 start, the Tigers are 42-6, which includes a 7-game win streak dating back to the Tigers’ regular season series finale when they swept Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“Then you get a couple of wins, and you get a little confident and they can see what happens,” Rittman said. “The younger players started meshing and got confidence. The you get production up and down the lineup, then you see this team is special.”
After Brooke McCubbin came in for starter Reese Basinger with one out in the third inning on Friday, the Tigers settled down. McCubbin retired the side with the bases load to prevent any more damage from being done.
Then in the bottom of the third inning, senior Maddie Moore tied the game with a two-out double to left centerfield to score Alex Brown, who had kept the inning going by drawing a two-out walk.
That was the shot in the arm Clemson needed to get things rolling.
In the fourth, Kylee Johnson gave the Tigers their first lead, 5-2, with a three-run home run to leftfield and then they produced four consecutive hits in the fifth inning, including three consecutive doubles to end the game thanks to the run rule.
“Anyone can produce at any given time,” Rittman said. “We are not relying on one pitcher or two or three hitters. It can be anybody on any given day.
“I think, once that moment hit, and then to win against Tennessee on the road, that was the confidence that said, ‘Hey we can win anywhere, and we can beat anybody on any given day.’”
Once the Tigers get the momentum going, as they have proven all season, they are hard to stop.
Up Next The Tigers return to McWhorter Stadium today where they will take on No. 2 seed Northwestern. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m. The winner will play Sunday at 1 p.m., while the loser will play at 6:30 p.m., tonight.