Prior to the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday, the saying in the Clemson dugout was, “Why not us?”
At the time, the second seeded Tigers trailed No. 3 Virginia Tech by seven runs and had just allowed a four-run top of the sixth inning.
“You know, it was, ‘Why not us?’ What do we have to lose at this point. Just go in there, be confident and swing at good pitches,” second baseman Maddie Moore said on the ACCN after the game.
That is exactly what they did, and it worked.
Clemson was disciplined, only swung at good pitches and came back. The 10th-ranked Tigers rallied to plate eight runs in the decisive sixth inning, lifting them to an improbable 10-9 victory over the 20th-ranked Hokies.
The Tigers’ seven-run rally was the largest this season by an ACC team.
Clemson (43-12) brought 15 hitters to the plate, thanks to three hits, an error, one hit by pitch and five walks.
“My team…they never quit. They got that bring it on attitude,” Clemson head coach John Rittman said. “They are down seven runs and found a way to come back. Brooke [McCubbin] came out and could throw strikes when their pitchers couldn’t and that was the difference in the game.”
Virginia Tech (40-11) struggled to throw strikes in the sixth inning in part due to a downpour at Harrington Village in Brighton, Mass. In particular, reliever Emma Lemley issued five consecutive free passes, which allowed the Tigers to tie the game.
Sophie Kleiman came in for Lemley and walked Julia Knowler, scoring Jamison Brockenbrough with the go-ahead and ultimately game-winning run. Knowler drove in two other runs earlier in the inning, while Marian Collins doubled to leftfield to drive in two runs, as well.
“They are just resilient. They really have the ability to just flush stuff,” Rittman said.
It would have been easy for the Tigers to quit after giving up four runs in the fourth inning, thanks to an error that allowed the Hokies to keep the inning alive. They scored three more runs after the error.
All four runs allowed in the fourth were unearned, while the Hokies scored seven unearned runs overall. Clemson committed five errors overall.
“Just slow down and play the game. Try to make throws be as short as possible and get as close to your target as you can,” Moore said. “Keep your feet moving, try to get the best grip on the ball, stay confident and just keep going.”
Rittman felt Friday’s win over the Hokies was a perfect illustration of the entire 2025 season. They got off to a rocky start but did not quit and found a way to win the game in the end.
“Once we started to get on a roll and they started to believe, you get what you got today and that is that never quit attitude,” the Clemson coach said. “They have been through so much…this was nothing today.
“It helped with the rain, and it helped that Virginia Tech did not throw strikes there. We were fortunate, but I am glad we came out on top.”
Clemson returns to the ACC Championship game for the first time in three years to take on the top-seeded Florida State Seminoles on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., on ESPN.
—photo courtesy Clemson Athletic Communications