Maybe the moment was too big.
Maybe it was something else.
Regardless, Clemson was not in the right frame of mind to start Game 3 on Saturday night.
Though the Tigers were officially charged with one error, they had more miscues than that, which helped No. 6 Texas advance to the Women’s College World Series, while Clemson is left to wonder “what if?”
The Longhorns took advantage of every one of the Tigers’ mistakes in a 6-5 victory in the third and decisive game of the Austin Regional at McCombs Field in Austin, Texas.
Texas advances to play the winner of the Georgia-Florida Super Regional in the CWS next Thursday. As for the Tigers, their great run comes to an end with a 48-14 record.
The night before, Clemson was 60 feet away from advancing to its first CWS in program history, as the Tigers had the go-ahead run at third base with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 2.
However, Clemson could not get the winning run across, and Texas plated two in the top of the 10th inning to set up their Game 3 win on Saturday.
In Game 3, the Longhorns (51-11) grabbed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after Leighann Goode doubled down the third baseline off Clemson starter Reese Basinger with no outs to bring in two runs.
With two outs, Ashton Maloney singled up the middle, just past a reaching Marian Collins t short, to bring home the third run of the inning.
The Tigers got on the board in the top of third inning. With two outs, Macey Cintron singled through the left side. Maddie Moore, who reached on a fielding error earlier in the inning, came home and just beat the tag at home plate.
Replay upheld Moore’s slide, and the Tigers trailed just 3-1.
However, Texas up its lead to four runs in the bottom frame of third, thanks to an RBI sac-bunt from Katie Stewart and then on a wild pitch that brought Joley Mitchell home for a 5-1 advantage.
The Tigers tried to come back in the top of the fourth inning with a couple of runs off Texas starter Teagan Kavan. Jamison Brockenbrough and Moore brought in the two runs before the Longhorns called on reliever Mac Morgan to close the door in the fourth.
Texas added one more insurance run in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a Clemson error and a wild pitch to make it a 6-3 game at the time. The error and the wild pitch proved to be costly in the end.
Moore was solid in relief, as she pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings and did not allow a hit until the seventh inning. However, Alex Brown got on with an error to start the seventh, and then with one out Julia Knowler hit a two-run home run to straightaway center to pull the Tigers within a run at 6-5.
Though the Tigers fought back like they have all year, it just was not enough in the end, as the Longhorns hung on for the win.