Clemson Softball, ranked 11th on the year, takes on North Carolina in a three game set this weekend at McWhorter Stadium. The Tigers are 17-6 overall, 2-1 in the ACC. They will take on North Carolina who is 19-4 overall, 2-1 in the ACC. Clemson Softball is on a 5 game winning streak after yesterday’s win over Gardner Webb. The Tar Heels are coming off a series win over Virginia last weekend.
The North Carolina Tar Heels are bringing some big bats to Clemson on Saturday. Alex Coleman, Destiny Middleton, Abby Settlemyre, Carson Sneed, Sanaa Thompson, Skyler Brooks, and Isabela Emerling are all hitting well so far this season. Everyone of these ladies hits over .371. Sanna Thompson leads the team batting .557. She is followed closely by fellow Tar Heel Alex Coleman who hits .556. When they are not hitting for average Isabel Emerling is hitting for power, leading the team in home runs with 8, and 30 RBI’s. North Carolina appears to have a top notch line-up, or maybe they just haven’t faced a decent pitching staff. That changes when they face Clemson on Friday.
2023 Player of the Year Valerie Cagle will face off against the Tarheels in game one most likely. Cagle is sporting a 1.92 ERA so far this season with 73 strikeouts, a 7-4 record and two saves. Cagle has eight starts and nine out of the bullpen for a total of seventeen appearances on the year. Of course as valuable as she is on the mound she could be even better at the plate. A discussion we will get to after we discuss the pitching of Millie Thompson, Regan Spencer, and Brook McCubbin.
Clemson’s Senior standouts Regan Spencer and Millie Thompson, along with Junior Brook McCubbin, have pitched fabulously this season. Spencer has appeared in eleven games and is maintaining an amazing 0.67 ERA. Spencer has nineteen strikeouts this season, she is also second on the team in innings with 31.1 IP’s. Spencer has a perfect 3-0 record on the year in eleven appearances this year with only three of those being starts. Millie Thompson, a left hander, from Bedford VA comes in with a 1.62 ERA. She has a 2-0 record on the season and has accumulated twenty strikeouts in twenty-six innings. She has four starts along with five appearances out of the bullpen, for a total of nine trips to the mound on the season.
The final pitcher on the list for discussion is Brook McCubbin. McCubbin is second in starts on the year to only Valerie Cagle. McCubbin has started seven games, and has come out of the bullpen three times, for ten appearances on the year. The hurler has a 3.55 ERA this season, and is 5-2 with one save on the season. McCubbin has struck out twenty-six on the year, again second on the team to Cagle. McCubbin has an ERA a point and half above Cagle’s right now, but I’d expect the former Gatorade player of the year to improve those numbers in short order.
Now that we have covered the pitching staff it is on to the Offense. Clemson Softball is hitting .299 as a team this season. Leading the offensive charge is of course Clemson Softball player All American Valerie Cagle. Cagle, who plays both pitcher and in the utility position, is hitting a team leading .380. She also leads the team in RBI’s with twenty-five, and total bases with fifty-three. Cagle, who was National Player of the Year last season, is off to another hot start.
McKenzie Clark is staying right with Cagle in the batter’s box so far this season. Clark hits .362 second on the team and leads the team in home runs with six on the season, one ahead of Valerie Cagle’s five. Clark is also leading the team with a .710 slugging percentage, and a .484 on base percentage.
Clemson softball lead-off hitter Alex Brown is a terror for opponents on the bases. Brown is only eighth in on-base percentage, with players who played in 13 or more games, but leads the team in runs scored with twenty-six. So when she gets on base she scores. She also ties Clark for second with 25 hits on the season.
Clemson Softball has outscored their opponents 136 to 58 on the season. Averaging a 5.9 runs a game to their opponents 2.5. They have faced the likes of Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, N.C. State, Minnesota, Oregon, Indiana, Missouri, and Ole Miss. North Carolina comes in having faced only maybe two opponents that could be taken seriously. They lost to Kentucky, but did take the series against Virginia last weekend. They may be 20-4, but against who? Welcome to Clemson.
