It was all Tigers tonight in Columbia.
Clemson would start the game going 1-2-3 from the plate in the top of the first, but the top of the second would start off with a bang. First baseman Julia Knowler would step to the plate and absolutely crush a fastball out way over the left-center field to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead. Alia Logoleo, playing third base and hitting fifth for this game, followed Knowler with a single up the middle. A competitive at-bat from DP Lindsey Garcia would result in a pop-out for the first out of the inning, but Aby Viera would keep the scoring going with a hit out to deep right-center field that would score Logoleo from first and notch a stand-up double for Viera, Tigers 2-0. This would chase South Carolina’s Sage Mardjetko and bring on Jori Heard in relief. Heard would strike out Kylee Johnson and ground out Oda to retire the side.
Regan Spencer would get off to a good start as well. After a short first inning, including an athletic diving out by Arielle Oda, a deep fly ball to left center field to start the bottom of the second would result in a great catch by McKenzie Clark at the wall, and fire up the Tiger faithful. Spencer would follow it up with a strikeout of DP Aniyah Black. After a tough play wasn’t made by Maddie Moore on a ground ball, playing shortstop for this game, Spencer would force a pop out to the next batter to end the second inning quickly.
The scoring would continue for Clemson in the top of the 3rd. Maddie Moore would make up for her fielding mistake by hitting a home run over right field for her eighth of the year and a 3-0 lead for the Tigers. This would end Heard’s night, and in would enter senior transfer Alana Vawter for the Gamecocks. With how dominant Vawter was against Clemson in game one, South Carolina Coach Bev Smith did not want to risk the score getting any more out of hand early.
Alex Brown would notch a sliding double on Vawter’s first batter faced, followed by Clark getting hit by a pitch to put two on and no outs for Clemson. After this, Vawter would dig in. Knowler would hit into a fielder’s choice to move Brown to third, and Logoleo would move Kennedy Ariail (running for Knowler) over to second. Lindsey Garcia would strike out, however, and Clemson would leave both runners stranded in the top of the 3rd.
Spencer would make quick work of the Gamecocks in the bottom of the third, but Vawter would sit down the Tigers in order in the visitor’s side of the fourth. In the bottom of the inning, Spencer would get a pop out from first baseman Cummings, prompted quickly by an odd moment of Logoleo having to scrape off mud from her pitcher’s cleat in the middle of the next at-bat. Spencer would promptly strikeout Jones on the next pitch. Despite a drive to deep right center by Aniyah Black for a double, Warren would fly out to Johnson in right to end the Gamecock threat.
Maddie Moore would start the fifth with a hard-hit ball down to third base that would take an unfortunate bounce between the legs of Bryant to allow Moore to reach base safely. Brown would move Moore to second on a slow roller to Cummings at first, and Clark would get her first hit of the night on a line drive to right field. Clemson would have runners on first and third with one out, and Knowler up to bat.
After a competitive 8-pitch at-bat, Knowler would then hit a ground ball to first, who would then throw home to get the third base runner Moore out at home. After a challenge from Coach John Rittman, the out would be overturned and called obstruction on the catcher, Giulia Desiderio, to make it 4-0 Clemson. A couple fly outs would end the top of the inning.
Spencer and Desiderio would battle at the plate to start the bottom of the fifth, but the catcher would win this fight to draw Regan’s first walk of the night. After more struggles with Spencer’s cleats, she would get another strikeout, but Desiderio would move down to second and give the Gamecocks a runner in scoring position. Bryant would hit a ball hard over second base, but a solid throw from Clark in center would stop the runner from scoring. This would prompt Rittman to pull Spencer from the circle and effectively end her night (4.1 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 K). Taking the ball for the save would be senior left hander Mille Thompson.
With one out and two in scoring position for the Gamecocks, Thompson would get a groundout and a strikeout to end the inning and keep the shutout in tact.
Vawter made quick work of the Tigers in the top of the sixth. Thompson would follow that up in the bottom of the sixth with a strikeout, followed by a groundout to Maddie Moore at short. Black would step in and get fooled multiple times on the leftie’s changeup, leading to Thompson’s third strikeout in just six batters faced.
Alex Brown would continue her success against Vawter in the top of the seventh by hitting a line drive that got to the fence in right center, allowing Brown to make her way all the way to third with just one out in the inning. Clark would walk, leading to another opportunity for Julia Knowler. She would promptly hit another RBI single to drive in Brown from third and make the score 5-0 Tigers. Logoleo would then lay down a surprise squeeze bunt to score Clark from third and make the score 6-0. Cheers of “Clem-son- Ti-gers” would be heard from the away crowd on a suddenly tough night for the home Gamecock faithful.
Garcia would single off of a hit to the infield to load the bases. Viera would then hit into a sacrifice play at first to plate yet another runner and make the score a lopsided 7-0 Tigers. Johnson would ground out to finally end the top of the seventh.
Millie Thompson (2.2 IP, 4 K) would get her redemption from game one on this night that was all Clemson. After a silly-looking strikeout to get out number one, Johnson would make a running catch in right field to secure out number two. A groundout to Brown, playing second, would end the game and put an exclamation mark on this dominant Tiger evening.
Marking the 3rd straight game with multiple home runs from the Tigers, and another standout night from Regan Spencer, Clemson (28-11) would take the Palmetto Series win – and earn a bit of revenge in the process.
The Tigers will look to take this mid-week momentum into the weekend, as they face the #1/#3 Duke Blue Devils for three pivotal ACC games in McWhorter Stadium.
