Clemson softball adopting Swinney's windshield mentality heading into tough first regional |
The Clemson softball team has been playing with house money all year according to head coach John Rittman. The ACC Regular Season Champions will also have a chip on their shoulder in the NCAA Tournament this weekend in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, after the NCAA selection committee sent the Tigers to the No. 3 national seed Alabama as a 2-seed after a season where they went 42-6 and won the ACC in just their first full year of competition.
“I think the committee has a tough job,” Rittman said on Wednesday. “Certainly we made our case all year long, going 42-6 and winning the regular-season conference championship. Just very proud of our effort all season long. Like I told the team, you can control what you can control and we’ve done that all year long. We can sit around and be sad that we didn’t get the seed we thought we deserved, but that’s not going to get us anywhere.” Clemson will travel to Tuscaloosa Wednesday where they will await Friday’s opening-round game of the regional against Troy. The Trojans finished the season 36-15 and earned an at-large bid out of the Sun Belt Conference as a 3-seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional. This will be the second meeting in program history between the two teams, with the Tigers taking the first game last year in Kissimmee, Florida, 10-1. “We know that Troy is a very good team, and they're very capable,” Rittman said. “They played Alabama in a 2-0 game earlier this year and Alabama only had two hits off of them. We played Troy last year in a tournament, so we know a little bit about them. They have a pitcher that’s very good, riseball-curveball type of pitcher. Their record shows they’ve competed well all season long and that’s our biggest challenge right now, is Troy.” Friday’s opening round game will mark the first NCAA Tournament game in program history. The double-elimination style regional means that even if Clemson has a bad game, they are not done in the tournament and can still make it to the championship round and advance to a Super Regional. The Tigers will take some advice given to them from Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, who stopped by practice yesterday before Clemson heads off for the big tournament. “Anytime Coach Swinney talks, he makes you stop and listen,” the second-year Clemson head coach said. “He presented some great points to our team and to have him and his expertise and his knowledge and him talking to our team was very beneficial.” Rittman said that his team would be taking the “windshield mentality” that Swinney has coined over the years of looking ahead and focusing on what is upcoming rather than focusing on what is behind, this case being the seeding and not being selected to host a regional. The Clemson skipper also said that the fans that took to social media on Sunday night to show their support for the team means a lot to him and his players. “It shows the passionate fans we have at Clemson,” Rittman said when asked about the support the team received on Sunday. “We’re not where we’re at as a program without our fans. They’ve won a lot of games for us here (McWhorter Stadium) with their rallies and their cheers and their support. Hopefully in the future, we’re going to be able to pack this stadium and host a regional. The support they’ve shown our program is phenomenal and we are blessed to have the fans that we do.”F Clemson and Troy will kick off the Tuscaloosa Regional on Friday at 3 p.m. The winner of the game will play the winner between the No. 1 seed Alabama and the No. 4 seed Alabama State, while the loser will play the loser of the second game as well. The Clemson game can be seen on ESPN3.
Upgrade Your Account
Unlock premium boards and exclusive features (e.g. ad-free) by upgrading your account today.
Upgrade Now
