CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 14/9 Clemson softball team dropped the second game of the series to No. 6/6 Virginia Tech in McWhorter Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Following the 4-0 loss, Clemson drops to 12-5 on the year as the Hokies improve to 13-3.
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“We made some early mistakes that Virginia Tech was able to capitalize on,” said Head Coach John Rittman. “When you’re facing a tough pitching staff, it’s hard to get behind early in the game. Down the stretch we put together some better at bats, but it wasn’t enough to swing the momentum in our favor. This is a great learning opportunity for us on finding different ways to score against good pitching staffs that have strong offensive threats behind them. Tomorrow we have to come out ready to fight and find a way to salvage this series against a top-10 program. I like the way we’ve approached the games all week, we just haven’t executed it.”
Virginia Tech scored two unearned runs in the top of the first. The Hokies added another run in the third off a single to right field that scored the runner from second base.
Clemson started to push back in the third with Kyah Keller hitting a single up the middle to give Clemson some momentum. Sam Russ hit a two-out single into center field to put two on, but the Tigers weren’t able to capitalize and left them both stranded.
The Hokies tallied their fourth run, third unearned, off a single to the right field gap in the fifth. The inning ended with a great heads up double play turned by freshman pitcher Brooke McCubbin.
The Tigers made another attempt to strike in the sixth when McKenzie Clark popped a hit over the first baseman’s head for a triple but was left stranded as VT’s pitcher struck out the next two batters.
Sophomore Millie Thompson pitched three innings and picked up two strikeouts. She falls to 2-1 in the circle on the year. Freshman Brooke McCubbin pitched the final four innings and finished with one strikeout.
Up Next
Clemson returns to action tomorrow at 12 p.m. to conclude the series against Virginia Tech at McWhorter Stadium.
