Clemson’s ACC opener did not start well. Madi Duffel crushed a bases-loaded double down the left field line in the top of the first, and Georgia Tech had a 3-0 lead before most of the 1,903 fans at McWhorter Stadium had even sat down. That’s not how you want to start conference play.
But this Clemson team doesn’t panic. Not anymore. The No. 25 Tigers (15-7, 1-0 ACC) loaded the bases in the bottom half, Kiley Channell drove one in, and then Mac Pavese singled two more home. Pavese, by the way, went 3-for-4 with a homer against College of Charleston on Thursday. She’s been swinging it. Tied at three after one, and the game started over.
Nothing happened for a while. Three scoreless innings. Madalyn Johnson was dealing for Georgia Tech. Maness was matching her pitch for pitch. Felt like a 4-3 game brewing.
Then the fifth happened.
Georgia Tech’s pitching staff completely fell apart. Makayla Coffield walked three and threw a wild pitch. They pulled her for Katie Cunane, who walked two batters without getting an out. Pulled her too. Charlotte Smith came in and… walked two more. Also without getting an out. Three pitchers. Zero outs recorded. Clemson scored five runs in the inning and most of them just jogged to first base.
The stat line from this game is wild when you think about it. Nine runs scored. Seven hits. Ten walks. Clemson basically walked its way to a win. Marian Collins had two hits including a double. Sarah Breaux only got one hit all night but walked twice, reached four times, and scored. Corri Hicks doubled and drove in a run. They tacked on one more in the sixth for good measure. Different ways of getting it done, but the result was the same.
Here’s the thing about Sierra Maness, though. She gave up 10 hits. Ten. Georgia Tech was putting the ball in play all night. But Maness only allowed one earned run across all seven innings. The three runs in the first? Two of them were unearned because Clemson made a couple errors behind her. Willer got her for a solo homer in the seventh, but that was 9-3 and the game was over by then. She threw 126 pitches, struck out five, walked two, and left eight Georgia Tech runners on base. She was not sharp. She was stubborn. And she got it done.
This is a team that already knocked off No. 12 Mississippi State and beat No. 11 Georgia on the road. Now they open ACC play by coming back against a Georgia Tech squad that walked in 3-0 in conference. Not a bad Friday night at all.
Let’s be real… when Maness is willing to grind through 126 pitches and the lineup is drawing ten walks a game, this team is going to win a lot more than it loses in the ACC.
