Tigers complete sweep of Cavaliers with another dominant effort

Cagle led the Tigers from the circle again. (ACC file photo)

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Sun Mar 07 14:44:54 GMT-04:00 2021

Behind another complete game inside of the circle from Valerie Cagle, the No. 25-ranked Clemson softball team completed the four-game sweep of the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville, 8-1 on Sunday afternoon. Cagle earned her eighth win and eighth complete game of the season. The eight wins is the most wins in the nation as of right now by any pitcher. The redshirt freshman utility pitcher/outfielder spread out seven hits and one earned run across 7.0 innings of work.

Clemson finishes the sweep with a 13-2 record and is now 8-2 in ACC play, good for the most wins in conference play. The Tigers also move to 27-0 under head coach John Rittman when scoring five or more runs, a feat the team has accomplished 10 times this season already. Rittman and staff also moved to 7-0 against Virginia since last year's inaugural season.

Ansley Gilstrap was perfect at the plate in the concluding game of the series, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs, a double and a triple. The graduate senior was just a home run away from hitting for a cycle. Catcher JoJo Hyatt hit her first home run of the season in the third inning to get the Tigers on the board. Freshman outfielder McKenzie Clark recorded her second triple in as many days as well.

Virginia took the lead early in the game, getting to Cagle for a run in the home half of the first inning. A double, a steal and a walk put runners on the corners with one out and a ground out sent the Cavalier runner home for the first run of the game.

Clemson answered with three runs of its own in the third inning to take the lead, 3-1. Hyatt led the inning off with a solo home run to tie the game. Clark hit her second triple in as many days two batters later and Gilstrap drove her fifth run of the season after singling to left field to take the lead. Grace Mattimore added another run after the Tigers loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly out to the center fielder and driving in Gilstrap from third.

With two outs in the next inning, Clemson added two more insurance runs to extend its lead, 5-1. A walk and an error by the Cavalier third baseman put runners on first and second, Gilstrap stayed hot at the plate and smacked a bases clearing triple to right-center, her second and third RBIs of the afternoon.

Virginia threatened in the sixth inning, putting runners on second and third with two outs, but a groundout to Alia Logoleo at third base ended the jam.

The Tigers extended their lead even more in the top of the seventh, plating three runs to lead 8-1. Logoleo picked up her seventh RBI of the series and Morgan Johnson singled up the middle to score two, her fourth and fifth RBIs of the last two days.

Clemson will not play a midweek game this coming week and will welcome Furman into McWhorter Stadium next weekend for a three game series starting on Friday at 5 p.m.

?? Head Coach John Rittman (@rittmanjohn) on this weekend’s four-game sweep at Virginia... pic.twitter.com/1Y7aqgF9Qg
— Clemson Softball ?? (@clemsonsoftball) March 7, 2021