CLEMSON, S.C. – No. 25 Clemson softball opened the Tigers Invitational with a split Friday at McWhorter Stadium, overpowering Wofford before surrendering a late lead to the Georgia Southern Eagles in a back-and-forth nightcap.
The Tigers rolled past the Wofford Terriers 9-1 in five innings to begin the afternoon, then fell 8-7 to Georgia Southern in a game that featured a flurry of home runs and a dramatic seventh inning.
Five Clemson players left the yard across the two games. Sophomore Corri Hicks got the power surge started in Game 1, while Mac Pavese, Marian Collins, Jamison Brockenbrough and Macey Cintron each homered in the nightcap.
Clemson 9, Wofford 1 (5 innings)
Wofford (14-3) scratched across an unearned run in the first, taking advantage of a Clemson miscue to grab a 1-0 lead.
The Tigers answered quickly. In the second inning, Hicks crushed a 265-foot shot over the center-field wall, driving in Collins and flipping the momentum. Clemson never looked back.
Brockenbrough sparked a two-run third with a bunt single to open the frame. Pavese reached on a fielder’s choice, and Julia Knowler followed with a sharp single up the middle to bring Brockenbrough home. Collins added a sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 4-1.
Clemson broke it open in the fourth with five more runs. After Hicks worked a walk, the Tigers strung together quality at-bats and timely hits. Brockenbrough delivered a two-run single, Pavese added an RBI knock, and Cintron ripped a triple off the right-center wall. By the time Collins capped the inning with another RBI single, Clemson held a commanding 9-1 advantage.
Freshman right-hander Lexie Hames handled the rest. Hames struck out seven, allowed just four hits and did not yield an earned run across five innings to secure her second win of the season. The victory marked Clemson’s sixth run-rule decision of the year and its fifth in the last six outings.
Georgia Southern 8, Clemson 7
The nightcap at McWhorter Stadium turned into a slugfest.
Georgia Southern (7-7) opened the scoring with a solo home run, but Clemson countered immediately. Pavese launched a game-tying homer in the first, and Collins followed with her fifth of the season to put the Tigers in front. An RBI single later in the inning pushed the lead to 3-1.
Brockenbrough added a solo shot in the second, her third of the year, and Hicks drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the margin to 5-1. After the Eagles chipped away with a two-run homer in the third, Clemson again answered.
Knowler doubled in the fourth, setting the stage for Cintron’s two-run blast, her first of the 2026 campaign, to make it 7-3. The four home runs tied a program record for homers in a single game, the 17th time in school history Clemson has reached that mark. The last came March 29, 2025, against California.
But the Tigers could not close it out.
Georgia Southern mounted a rally in the seventh, stringing together a run-scoring double and a pair of singles to tie the game before pushing across the go-ahead run. Clemson’s bullpen trio of Keira Crosby, Olivia Duncan and Sierra Maness combined for six strikeouts, but the late surge handed Maness the loss as she fell to 5-3.
For Clemson, it was a day that showcased its power and depth and a reminder of how quickly momentum can turn in college softball.
