Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

tigermaniac® · 2024-10-11T13:47:59.676Z

to see a blurb or 2 on how we look, probable positioning, etc. It's a true rebuilding year for our tigers and I'm excited to see this team take the field.

DougKingsmoreCrusade

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Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Oct 13, 2024, 11:16 PM [ in reply to Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love ]

Following up on this further; she was the 2-way player who looked up to Valerie Cagle and had the tragic house-fire a while ago. Here's an old post about it with an article: https://www.tigernet.com/clemson-forum/thread/very-good-article-on-clemson-softball-commit-addi-linton-2288773

The way I had seen her described in articles led me to believe she was a top-10 level prospect, and at least one old list I saw from 2-and-a-half years ago had her regarded as such, at #4 in the nation: https://www.legacyandlegendssoftball.com/post/legacy-legends-softball-2025-player-rankings-anna-hinde-ranked-as-the-1-overall-prospect

However, the current rankings would indicate a more modest appraisal. She's the 74th-ranked prospect in the 2025 class, and the 19th best pitcher, which is her primary position. She's a 4-star with a 92 overall rating: https://www.on3.com/db/addisyn-linton-245393/

For comparison, Clemson's other two 2025 commits are Lexie Hames and Mac Pavese. Hames is the 15th-ranked player in the 2025 class, and the #7 pitcher. Pavese is the 75th-ranked player in the 2025 class and the 31st infielder. They are both 4-stars, Hames rated at a 97 and Pavese rated at a 92: https://www.on3.com/college/clemson-tigers/softball/2025/commits/

With the loss of Linton, that leaves Clemson's 2025 class ranked in a 4-way tie for 12th nationally: https://www.on3.com/db/rankings/team/softball/2025/

That is a tough loss, and I'm not trying to do the whole "she wasn't very good anyway" cope that all fans do when a player decommits, but it does appear her stock has slipped some in the last 2 years. There was a lot of fanfare around her commitment and her story last year, and with her being a 2-way player, the Cagle comparisons were bound to get Clemson fans excited, even though that's almost certainly an unfair comparison to put on any recruit. But between all of that, the housefire story, and the excitement she had expressed about joining the team, that just makes her decommitment sting extra hard. Reminds me a lot of what happened with Jaylan Beckley a few months back.

However, it's interesting that I've heard no mention at all of the other prospects, especially considering that Lexie Hames is ranked significantly higher than Linton is, and Mac Pavese is essentially dead-even with her. Linton is from Tennessee, and her other finalist was the Volunteers before she picked Clemson, so you wonder if that may be where she's headed. It makes you wonder if last year's disappointing season was what prompted her to reconsider. Maybe not, I guess we'll never know. "Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." I guess that could mean a lot of things. Maybe competing for playing time on a better roster like Tennessee's? But I don't know, maybe I'm reading into it too much.

So the bottom line for Clemson is essentially this: the Tigers still have their #1 and their #2B, but they just lost their #2A. Like I said, still hurts, but honestly I'm more surprised because I didn't realize that she wasn't actually the highest-rated Clemson commit for '25. It will be very interesting to see how Rittman and co. handle the next few years with the team at a crossroads like this, and this situation only adds to the intrigue. Hopefully he can find a few more 2025 players to give the class some more depth at least.

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Here are my observations:

- the competition has been pretty poor so it isn’t real clear how our pitching and hitting will hold up against better competition
- there are a ton of new faces on the team with 7 freshmen and 3 transfers
- the defense looks comparable to what we’ve had the last few years. Right now our line up seems to be (in batting order)
3B - Brown
OF - Brockenbrough (TN transfer)
2B - Moore
1B - Knowler
C - Vieira
SS - Collins (Freshman)
DP - varies
OF - Ariail
OF - Johnson
- I can’t really tell who is playing which OF position. Not sure any of them can read the ball off the bat like Clark could though.
- our batting order is very heavy in lefties. Moore, Ariail, and Johnson are only righties (starters)
- i don’t think we have a Jr year-Cagle type on our pitching staff (ie someone likely to almost win a game single-handed)
- our pitchers haven’t been hit much but I suspect that is more reflective of the competition than it is in having “shut down” pitchers
- if I had to guess right now I’d think McCubbin, Basinger (Winthrop transfer), and Melnychuk (LaTech transfer) are probably the starting “weekend rotation”. Cintron (Fr) has potential too.
- from what I hear, there is more cohesion in the dugout this year - and much less drama, we’ll see if that continues. That would be a good thing as the drama hurt our performance last season.
- it may be wishful thinking but we seem more willing to take a single over “HR or bust”. I’m not convinced it stays that way though since Rittman is the one that pushes HRs and doesn’t like “small ball”
- Brown and Brockenbrough are both “slap hitters”
- I like the addition of Kelly Torres on the staff as a grad asst. She played catcher at Duke and should help our catchers

Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Just curious, does "God's Plan" have a big NIL package elsewhere?

She needs a shoe deal***

Re: Clemson Fall Softball...Any reports from fans that have attended? I'd love

Ive been to all the fall games

Thanks for the synopsis...pitching has me worried the most, then hitting

Honestly

Re: Ive been to all the fall games

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