The Clemson Softball team would struggle to get runners in scoring position across the plate versus Southeastern Louisiana. Coupled with a rough night early in the circle by Tiger pitchers, the 2024 Clemson Softball season would come to a close in the second elimination game of the Tuscaloosa regional, falling to the Lady Lions 6-2.
Ellie Dubois would take the ball again against Clemson in this nightcap, looking to follow up her stellar performance the day before. She’d get McKenzie Clark on a shallow pop up to center to start the game. Alex Brown would ground out to short for the second out, but Maddie Moore would get a hit over second base to get her fifth hit of this regional. Valerie Cagle would want a challenge for catcher’s interference on the first swing of her at-bat, but the call of no interference would be upheld. She’d ground out to short on the next pitch to end the top of the inning. Brooke McCubbin would start the game in the circle for the Tigers in the bottom of the first, and would start off with a hit off of the first pitch to Ka’Lyn Watson. A bunt would move Watson to second, but Alia Logoleo would make a good play to get the runner out at first in the process. Logoleo would follow that up with a great over the shoulder catch in foul territory for the second out. The next hitter would get a single into left field but a good throw from Oda would hold the runner at third. Lexi Johnson would hit a tough bouncer to Moore, but Cagle couldn’t make the pick from her throw to first and Watson would score to give the Lady Lions an early lead. The next batter would hit a ball into deep right center to score the two runners on base to make it 3-0 SELA. A ground out would stop the bleeding and end the inning.
Lindsey Garcia would lead off the second with a hard hit to third, but Maria Detillier would make a good play on the ball to get her out at first. Julia Knowler would take her first pitch of the game into center field for a base hit. Logoleo would then send a ball into deep left to get a standup double and give Aby Viera two runners in scoring position and only one out. She’d ground out, however, to give the Tigers two outs for Arielle Oda. A rare strikeout by Oda would strand two more and leave the momentum over in the home dugout. McCubbin would be shown the short leash (1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER) as she’d be pulled for Mille Thompson in the second. Thompson would get a ground out to start the inning, but a high throw from Logoleo at third would make Cagle come off the bag and make the runner safe. Watson would be up, and she’d hit a deep ball way out over the left field for a home run and the 5-0 Lady Lions lead. The next two batters would ground out back to the circle to get Thompson out of the second.
Clark wouldn’t let this team go down without a fight, as she would hit a deep shot to the wall in right field to mark a triple to start the third. Brown would strike out for the first out, and Moore would pop out to shallow right. Cagle would then pop out to short to end the inning, and leave Clark stranded. Thompson would get the first batter to pop out to deep right, and follow that up with a strikeout on her patented changeup. She would hit the next batter, and Aubrey Greenly would rope a ball down the right field line for a triple to score the runner from first and make it 6-0 SELA. This would end the night for Thompson (1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 K) and bring back Regan Spencer who would get the third out on a fly ball to left.
The top of the fourth would be more of the same for the Tiger offense against Ellie Dubois, going 1-2-3 in the inning to retire the side. Spencer would get her first out of the home half of the inning on a line drive caught by Logoleo. Watson would be up again and hit a blooper into shallow right field to make her 3-3 on the night. The next batter would move her to second on a sacrifice ground out, and the following would hit a ball into shallow left field to move two runners into scoring position. With two outs, Spencer would strike out the batter and leave those runners stranded. The Tigers now had three innings to cut into the big deficit.
Viera would get an infield base hit on the first pitch from Dubois to start the Tigers off in the fifth. Kennedy Ariail (running for Viera) would steal second on a dropped ball to Oda by the SELA catcher. Oda would ground out to second but move Ariail to third with just one out. McKenzie Clark would then hit the first Tiger home run of the regional to deep left field and get Clemson on the board, 6-2. Brown would ground out to first for the second out. Moore would hit a hard ball back to Dubois that would take a long enough dribble to let Moore leg out a single. That would end the night for Dubois (4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 K), as she would give the ball to Cera Blanchard to try to get Cagle for the third out. She would – on a ground out to third – and end the visitor’s half. Spencer would get the Lady Lions 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, including two backwards-Ks to add to her career strikeout count.
Blanchard would answer Spencer in the top of the sixth with two strikeouts looking herself, with a pop out mixed in to retire the Tigers in order and move the game to the bottom of the inning. The bottom of the sixth would give the same result, as the Lady Lions hitters would go 1-2-3 and send the game to the final frame.
Viera would pop out for the first out of the seventh. Oda would strike out again for out number two, but Clark would draw a walk to keep the game alive. Jojo Hyatt would get one more at bat for Clemson as a pinch hitter, but she would ground out on the first pitch and end the season for the Tigers.
