Softball Advances to Super Regional with 5-1 Victory Over Kentucky

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson Softball team defeated the Kentucky Wildcats (31-28), 5-1, to claim a Regional title in McWhorter Stadium and advance to the Super Regional round for the third time in program history in just five full seasons. The Tigers (47-12) improved to 9-1 all-time in home NCAA games, and defeated each of the three teams – USC Upstate (10-2), Northwestern (1-0) and Kentucky (5-1) – by allowing just three runs.

Reese Basinger (17-5) earned the win in the circle, and Brooke McCubbin retired all four batters she faced to record her fourth save of the season. Freshman Marian Collins went 3-for-3 with a walk, and went 8-for-9 with two walks in the three games overall. Fellow freshman Taylor Pipkins launched a three-run homer to extend Clemson’s lead to 3-0, while Julia Knowler, Maddie Moore and Kylee Johnson each drove in a run.

The Tigers, the 2025 ACC Champion, advance to play No. 6 National Seed Texas (48-10) in Austin, Texas at the Red and Charline McCombs Softball Field. Dates and times of the super will be announced at a later date once all regionals are completed.

On Sunday, both programs looked to do some damage in the second inning as Clemson loaded the bases with two outs and Kentucky advanced a player to third with two outs. Both pitchers forced fly outs to left field to end the inning unscathed.

The Tigers broke open the scoring in the top of the third inning off of Julia Knowler’s program-record 18th double of the year. She drove in Alex Brown, who singled and advanced on a wild pitch earlier that inning. The Wildcats tried to respond in the bottom of the frame after once again getting a runner on third, but Basinger sat Hallie Mitchell down with her second inning-ending strikeout to leave her stranded. Basinger finished the day with three strikeouts, all of which were the final out of their respective innings (first, third and fourth).

Clemson extended its lead in the fourth after Collins and Pipkins delivered at the plate. Collins drew a five-pitch walk to leadoff the inning, and Pipkins blasted her fourth home run of the year 232 feet out of left center to make it 3-0 with no outs. Senior Maddie Moore delivered an RBI double down the right field line to score Brown to make it 4-0 after four. This extended Moore’s program-record RBI count to 66, while Brown extended her program-record runs scored count to 66.

Kentucky got one back in the bottom of the sixth to chase Basinger, bringing in McCubbin. The Tiger hurler got Ella Emmert swinging to limit the damage.

The Tigers tacked on a run in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out, and Macey Cintron scored from third on a Kylee Johnson fielder’s choice.

Eight pitches were all that were needed for McCubbin to retire the bottom of the seventh with three groundouts to seal the 5-1 victory for the Tigers.