Guimbarda homers again as Tigers sweep Elon

Guimbarda hit her fifth homer of the season. (Photo courtesy Clemson Athletics)

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Sun Feb 28 14:27:44 GMT-04:00 2021

Marissa Guimbarda hit her fifth home run of the season and the Clemson softball team won its sixth game in a row on Sunday, completing the sweep of Elon 8-0. Valerie Cagle once again shut down the competition from inside the circle, picking up her sixth victory of the season and sixth complete game of the campaign as well. The redshirt freshman tossed 5.0 innings, allowing no runs and striking out four batters.

During the sweep of Elon, the Tigers did not surrender a single run to the Phoenix. The Clemson pitching staff only allowed 10 total hits and sent 15 total batters back to the dugout via the strikeout.

“Valerie (Cagle) came out and had two great performances for us in the circle,” head coach John Rittman said after the victory. “Regan Spencer gave us a great outing yesterday as well.”

Clemson moves to 9-2 on the season and is set to travel to Charlottesville, Virginia for a four game ACC series with the Virginia Cavaliers next weekend, March 5th-7th.

Clemson outhit the Phoenix 10-2 and Ansley Gilstrap and Guimbarda both recorded multi-hit afternoons.

It did not take long for the Tigers to get on the scoreboard, scoring three runs in the first inning of the game. After McKenzie Clark was hit by a pitch to begin the rally she stole second and was in perfect scoring position for Gilstrap who singled to left field and gave Clemson a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Guimbarda sent her fifth home run of the season and second of the series over the center field fence, making it a 3-0 ball game before Elon could blink.

In the third inning, Cammy Pereira hit her first triple of the season, scoring Arielle Oda from first and increasing the Tiger lead to 4-0.

Clemson tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning, increasing its lead to 6-0 over the Phoenix. Cagle recorded a RBI double down the right field line and Guimbarda picked up her third RBI of the afternoon on a single through the left side of the infield, scoring Cagle from second.

Morgan Johnson hit her first home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth, a two run long ball to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead and the series sweep by run rule.