Photos by Patrick Boling and Virginia Athletics
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Clemson Softball team (10-2, 5-2 ACC) won its seventh consecutive game in a 9-1 victory over Virginia (6-6, 2-4 ACC) Friday evening at Palmer Park. In the circle for the Tigers, Valerie Cagle earned the win to improve to 7-1 on the season. Clemson recorded a pair of home runs from Cagle and Alia Logoleo, who made her first plate appearance of the season and went 2-for-3, including a grand slam on her first career home run, and tallied a game-high five RBIs. With nine runs scored in Friday’s victory, the Tigers are now 25-0 all-time when scoring five runs or more.
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In her first plate appearance of the season, Logoleo ripped an RBI single to centerfield to give Clemson a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Then, Grace Mattimore smacked a ball to opposite right field to score Logoleo and extend the Tigers’ lead to 2-0. Clemson struck again in the top of the third as Cagle blasted her fourth home run of the season on a two-run shot over the centerfield wall. Dating back to last season, Cagle, a native of Yorktown, Virginia, now has four home runs in four games played against the Cavaliers.
After Logoleo recorded the program’s fifth grand slam in the top of the fifth, infielder Kyah Keller hit what appeared to be the Tigers’ second home run of the inning, but the ball kicked off the center field wall, allowing Morgan Johnson, who was on second, to score with ease. Keller’s RBI double was the first extra-base hit of her career.
Virginia’s Morgan Murphy suffered the loss and fell to 1-1 on the season.
Up next, the Tigers and Virginia return to Palmer Park on Saturday for a doubleheader. First pitch of Saturday’s opening game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on ACCNX.For complete coverage of the Tiger softball team, follow @ClemsonSoftball on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.
