We all know the story by now. After starting the 2025 season 3-6, Clemson’s softball team has won 44 of their last 50 games.

Along the way, the Tigers knocked off the No. 1-ranked team in the country (at Tennessee) for the first time in their young history. They beat a top 5 team in Florida State away from home, and top 10 teams in Georgia and South Carolina.

The win over the Seminoles helped No. 11 Clemson win its first ACC Tournament Championship, and last week the Tigers took care of business by winning their third NCAA Regional in five years.

However, third baseman Alex Brown said none of those are the moments that got the Tigers to where they are right now… and that is playing No. 6 overall seed Texas in the Austin (Texas) Super Regional.

“The Cal game, coming back and walking it off at home was big to me,” she said. “That really propelled us into all of these extra inning wins and beating all these tough opponents.”

The Cal game Brown is talking about came on March 29 at McWhorter Stadium in Clemson. It was the second game of the series, and they trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Jamison Brockenbrough and Brown tallied back-to-back singles to put the winning run aboard with one out, and then Julia Knowler drew a full count walk to load the bases with two outs, setting up freshman Macey Cintron. On a 1-1 count, Cintron drove the third pitch she saw into deep right field to score both Brockenbrough and Brown.

The walk-off victory created a large celebration at home plate and, as Brown said, it gave them the confidence that they are never out of a game and can beat anybody.

“That was the turning in my eyes of believing we can beat really great teams,” Brown said.

Since that Game 2 win over the Bears, the Tigers rallied late in Game 3 to knock off Stanford and take that series. They rallied and then got a walk-off homer from Marian Collins to beat the Gamecocks in nine innings.

They came from behind to beat Tennessee in nine innings in Knoxville, then rallied from behind to knock off Georgia Tech in the last game of the regular season.

In the ACC Tournament they got a late grand slam from Taylor Pipkins in a come-from-behind victory over Virginia and then rallied from seven runs down in the semifinals to knock off Virginia Tech. In the championship game, Kylee Johnson smashed a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to beat Florida State in comeback fashion.

In last week’s Clemson Regional, they used a suicide squeeze play in the top of the ninth inning to squeeze past Northwestern, 1-0, on their way to winning the regional.

“This team is gritty. That is the word I have used all year to describe us,” said catcher Aby Vieira, who scored on that game-winning squeeze play to beat Northwestern.

The Tigers (47-12) last lost on April 19 and have won 10 straight games, and eight of those 10 wins have been against different competition, and all were NCAA Tournament teams.

Clemson is 18-1 in its last 19 games, which started with that win over Stanford on April 6. Can the Tigers get two more wins this week at Texas and advance the program to its first Women’s College World Series?

No. 11 Seed Clemson (47-12) at No. 6 Seed Texas (49-10)

GAME SETUPS

• 🆚 Opponent: at Texas
• 🗓 Date/Time: Thursday, May 22 • 9 p.m. ET
• 📍 Venue: Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, Texas
• 📺 Watch: ESPN2
• 📊 Stats: Live Stats 
• 📻 Listen: WCCP FM • ONLINE

• 🆚 Opponent: at Texas
• 🗓 Date/Time: Friday, May 23 • 9 p.m. ET
• 📍 Venue: Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, Texas
• 📺 Watch: ESPN2
• 📊 Stats: Live Stats 
• 📻 Listen: WCCP FM • ONLINE
• ✨ Home: Clemson will be the designated home team

• 🆚 Opponent: at Texas (IF NECESSARY)
• 🗓 Date/Time: Saturday, May 24 • 9 p.m. ET
• 📍 Venue: Red & Charline McCombs Field • Austin, Texas
• 📺 Watch: TBA
• 📊 Stats: Live Stats 
• 📻 Listen: WCCP FM • ONLINE