Duke softball wins road series over No. 16 Florida State

Duke softball lost its second game of the season on Saturday, but the Blue Devils still took two out of three from their ranked ACC foes.

Duke softball traveled to Tallahassee this weekend for its first ACC road trip of the 2024 season.

Despite the No. 6 Blue Devils suffering their first loss since the season opener, Duke still left with a series victory over the No. 16 Florida State.

The Blue Devils rode into town with a 20-game win streak and showed no signs of slowing down on Friday night.

Duke star pitcher Jala Wright got the start on the mound and continued her exceptional form to begin the 2024 season. She hadn’t allowed an earned run in her previous 26 innings when she tossed her first pitch of the weekend, and she retired her first nine batters of the opening game. She struck out the entire side in the second inning, and after a leadoff single ended her perfect game in the fourth, she retired the side with her fourth strikeout of the day to end the inning.

On the offensive end, senior left fielder Claire Davidson launched a two-run home run in the opening inning to claim an early lead. She drove in another run two innings later when she tripled into left field, giving Duke a 3-0 advantage.

Davidson came to the plate for the third time in the fifth inning with two runners on, and she again laced a single into the outfield for her fourth RBI of the afternoon. Second baseman Aminah Vega doubled home two more runs in the very next at-bat, and Duke led 7-0 after four innings.

Shortstop Jada Baker picked up two RBIs herself in the middle of the game, first with an RBI single in the fourth inning before a solo home run in the sixth stretched the lead to eight. A two-run double from Vega later ballooned the advantage to 10-0 as she, Baker, and Davidson drove in every Blue Devils run.

Florida State’s bats finally awoke in the bottom of the sixth, picking up four runs (including the first earned run on Wright in nearly a month) after a handful of singles and walks. However, the Seminoles couldn’t pull any closer than 10-5 before the final out was recorded.

The road rivals bounced back on Saturday, however, to hand Duke its first loss since the season opener. Duke’s star sophomore Cassidy Curd started the second game in the circle, but Florida State chased her after just two innings. After an opening flyout, the Seminoles laced together four straight hits in the first inning, including two doubles and a triple, for a 3-0 lead before the end of the opening frame.

The Blue Devils’ offense could never get off the ground in the second game of the weekend, with only one baserunner (an Ana Gold walk in the first) across the first four innings. Florida State added a fourth run in the third inning, and a sixth-inning Duke rally could only muster two runs.

With the series on the line on Sunday, however, the Blue Devils came through.

After a Florida State run in the opening frame, Francesca Frelick rocked around the tying run in the second with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, Vega and Amiah Burgess brought in another run each to stretch the advantage to 3-1.

Duke still led 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Florida State refused to let the series end early. With the tying run on third base with only one out, however, Duke gave Wright the ball again.

The star pitcher forced a groundout (albeit surrendering the tying run due to contact) and a flyout to force an extra inning.

As was the story on Friday, Claire Davidson played hero once again. The Blue Devils led by two after a double by slugger Ana Gold, but the senior outfielder launched another home run to break the game apart in extra innings.

Florida State couldn’t score a run in the bottom of the eighth, giving Duke the series win and improving the Blue Devils to 22-2 on the season.

The Blue Devils play UNC Wilmington in a home doubleheader on Wednesday.

Clemson Softball Predicted to Finish Second in Conference, Cagle Named Preseason All-ACC

Clemson softball is projected to finish second in the ACC in 2024.

CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson Softball’s Valerie Cagle (P/UTL) has been selected to the Atlanta Coast Conference’s 2024 Preseason All-ACC Team, the league office announced Thursday. Additionally, the Tigers were predicted to finish tied for second alongside Duke after receiving 128 votes, include one first-place vote, from the league’s head coaches.

ACC Release

Cagle returns for her final year in the Orange and Regalia after being selected as the 2023 USA Softball Player of the Year. The redshirt senior is also the reigning ACC Player of the Year and garnered the honor in 2021 alongside being the 2021 ACC Freshman of the Year. In 2023, she started all 61 games and posted a .469 average with a .887 slugging percentage and .565 on-base percentage. She finished with a Clemson single-season record 83 hits, including 19 home runs, 15 doubles and one triple. In the circle, the Yorktown, Va., native held a 1.56 ERA through 38 appearances and tallied 25 victories with three saves. She put up eight solo shutouts through 193 innings with 188 strikeouts. Cagle also recorded the program’s first perfect game and an immaculate inning during the 2023 campaign.

Along with being named to the Preseason All-ACC Team, Cagle has also been named to the USA Softball Top 50 Watch List, the No. 1 player on D1Softball’s D100 Preseason Player Rankings, Softball America’s Preseason Player Rankings, D1Softball’s Pitcher Player Rankings, Softball America’s First Baseman Rankings and No. 4 on Softball America’s Preseason Pitcher Rankings.

Clemson will look to ‘Knock Down the Door’ during the 2024 campaign with the Orange and Purple scrimmage on Sunday, Feb. 4 at noon. This will be fans’ only opportunity to see the Tigers in McWhorter Stadium prior to the 2024 season beginning on Feb. 8 in Clearwater, Fla., at the NFCA Leadoff Classic. Clemson will be on the road for the first 11 games of the season before returning to McWhorter Stadium for the home opener on Friday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. against OIe Miss during the Clemson Classic.

Season tickets are sold out, but single game tickets can be purchased prior to arrival at McWhorter Stadium here. Not only are tickets available online, but they will also be available at the gate for walk-up sales on the day of each game. Fans are encouraged to visit the ticket table located outside the main gate of McWhorter to purchase their tickets. For more information, fans can call 1-800-CLEMSON (1-800-253-6766) or click here.

-Via Clemson Athletic Communications

Game times announced for the Norman Super Regionals between Oklahoma and Clemson

Game times announced for the Super Regionals between Oklahoma and Clemson.

Oklahoma has its next opponent: The Clemson Tigers visit the Sooners in the super regionals of the NCAA Softball Tournament. The Sooners play the Tigers on Friday, May 26 at 1 p.m. CT and Saturday May 27 at noon CT. If necessary, the two sides would play on Sunday, but that time is still to be determined.

Oklahoma dominated its regional, outscoring Hofstra, Missouri and California 38-3. It looked every bit the national title favorite this weekend in Norman.

Clemson has had a great year and has been very good in the tournament. It dominated UNC Greensboro, 17-2, and won two of three games against against Auburn to survive.

Clemson is a very talented team and should challenge Oklahoma. The Tigers boast the No. 14 scoring offense, averaging 6.13 runs per game in 2023. Their 1.35 team ERA is second in the nation only to Oklahoma, which has an 0.80 ERA. The Sooners have been a juggernaut, and the Tigers play in a tough ACC, so they’ll be battle tested.

The winner will advance to the Women’s College World Series.

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Clemson Softball announces their 2023 schedule

Clemson softball releases their 2023 schedule.

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson softball program is taking the next step towards 2023 after announcing the regular-season schedule on Tuesday, Nov. 8. The Tigers are set to play 53 regular season games, 28 of which will be played in McWhorter Stadium. Clemson will face 10 opponents over 18 games that finished in the NCAA RPI Top 50 of 2022, and 17 opponents over 36 games that finished in the NCAA RPI Top 100.

Season ticket renewals will begin Nov. 11 on ClemsonTigers.com. Renewals are available for $300 ($12 per game) for a reserved seat in Section 4, for $250 ($10 per game) for a reserved seat in Section 1-3 and Sections 5-7 and $150 ($6 per game) for a general admission berm ticket. Season-ticket holders will have until December 12 to renew their seats.

Single-game tickets will be available at a later date. If interested in season tickets, fans can be added to the waitlist here.

The Tigers are coming off their first NCAA Super Regional and second postseason appearance in only the third year of the program. Head Coach John Rittman led Clemson to a 42-17 overall record in 2022, and the Tigers made an ACC Championship game appearance in each of the last two seasons.

Rittman and the Tigers will open the 2023 slate in Miami, Fla., at the FIU Tournament. Clemson will play five games over the course of four days against tournament-host FIU, Georgia State and Kansas City beginning on Feb. 9. Clemson will also travel to Tampa, Fla., Feb. 23-26 for a tournament at USF playing tournament-host USF, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Michigan State, and Tennessee.

Clemson opens the home-portion of the season in McWhorter Stadium on Feb. 17 with the ACC/Big 10 Challenge, playing two games each against Northwestern and Ohio State. The Tigers will also host the Clemson Classic March 10-12 welcoming Bryant, Jacksonville and UNCG.

The Tigers open ACC play March 3 with a three-game series at home against Syracuse. Other ACC foes coming to Clemson include Virginia (March 17-19), Florida State (April 6-8) and Pittsburgh (April 21-23).

Clemson’s first ACC road trip comes March 24-26 when visiting Georgia Tech. The Tigers are also slated to visit Boston College (March 31-April 2), NC State (April 14-16) and conclude the 2023 regular-season at Virginia Tech (April 28-30).

Non-conference competition is highlighted by home-and-home series against Furman and in-state rival South Carolina. Other opponents coming to Clemson include Georgia (Feb. 21), Gardner-Webb (March 1), Mercer (March 8), Charlotte (March 15) and Winthrop (April 18). The Tigers will conclude non-conference play at Liberty on April 26.

All dates and times for the 2023 season are subject to change.

Ticket Information | Schedule (HTML) | Schedule (PDF)

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Notre Dame’s Karina Gaskins is ACC Player of the Year

Congrats, Karina!

Notre Dame is one of the better teams in the ACC this season, and one player now will the rewards of it now. [autotag]Karina Gaskins[/autotag], the Irish’s sophomore first baseman, has been named the conference’s player of the year. Gaskins has been instrumental in the 39-9 record the Irish are taking into the ACC Tournament. She is the third Notre Dame player to receive the honor, joining an exclusive club also occupied by [autotag]Cait Brooks[/autotag] (2019) and [autotag]Emilee Koerner[/autotag] (2015).

Gaskins leads the ACC in batting average (.433) and RBIs (57). Her 11 doubles and 12 home runs have contributed to her .803 slugging percentage. With a .562 on-base percentage, she also is projected to break the Irish’s single-season on-base percentage record, which was set by [autotag]Abby Sweet[/autotag] in 2021 at .537.

Gaskins also is the only Irish player on the All-ACC First Team. Sweet and four other players are on the Second Team, and freshman pitcher [autotag]Shannon Becker[/autotag] has made the Third Team.

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Notre Dame softball 22-6 after sweeping ACC foe

Starting to get hot…

The following is courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics:

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The University of Notre Dame softball team completed the three-game sweep over the Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday afternoon at Vartabedian Field, winning the finale 8-2. The series sweep is the first in just two attempts against Atlantic Coast Conference competition in 2022, and the first since sweeping Boston College in a three-game set to close the 2021 regular season. Notre Dame improves to 22-6 and 4-2 in ACC play with the win.

All three Irish pitchers combined for the victory. Alexis Holloway got the start, throwing 2.2 innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs and struck out three before giving way to Payton Tidd. Tidd worked the next 2.1 innings, allowing just two hits to go with a strikeout as she earned her seventh win of the season. Becker picked up her second save of the season, working the final 2.0 innings, allowing just two hits and struck out four.

Karina Gaskins was the catalyst for the Irish offense, going 3-for-3 with three RBI, three runs scored, drove in three and hit a home run. Emma Clark and Jane Kronenberger each added two hit games, Clark scored twice while Kronenberger drove in three with two doubles. Leea Hanks hit her first home run of the season to drive in two in the seventh. Abby Sweet, Joley Mitchell and Tidd all added a hit in the win.

The Irish didn’t waste any time, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning. After a single from Clark and a double by Sweet and a 20-minute rain delay, Gaskins dropped a single to shallow right to bring in the first run of the game. Kronenberger drove a double past the third baseman to score Sweet from third and Gaskins from first as Notre Dame took the 3-0 lead.

Notre Dame added a run in the top of the third as Gaskins was walked with two outs. Kronenberger lifted a high fly ball to left field where the wind pushed it back towards center field and it found the ground, bringing in a run.

A two-out rally got Pitt on the board in the bottom of the third inning. The top of the order got it rolling with a single up the middle before Cami Compson homered to left to cut the lead to 4-2, Irish.

The Irish extended the lead back out to three as Gaskins took an outside pitch the other way for her seventh home run of the season.

Notre Dame continued to add insurance runs in the seventh. Tidd led off with a single and scored when Hanks turned on an inside pitch for the two-run homer. Gaskins drove in another insurance run with a single in the seventh.

Pitt put a couple runners on in the seventh, but Becker locked in and got the strikeout to preserve the victory.

Up Next

The Irish will return for 10-straight games at Melissa Cook Stadium. The Irish continue midweek play with a Tuesday matchup with UIC before taking on DePaul Wednesday evening.

Top ACC hitter Abby Sweet returning to Notre Dame for 2022 season

The Irish will return their biggest offensive threat in 2022.

Hours before Notre Dame learned its fate for the 2021 NCAA Tournament, it got some great news for the 2022 season. Senior outfielder Abby Sweet, the ACC’s top hitter with a .463 batting average, has announced that she will be part of next year’s Irish while pursuing her master’s degree. This will be her fifth and final year of eligibility:

Sweet, a senior from Newhall, California, also leads the ACC in on-base percentage (.556) and is third in the conference in slugging percentage (.739). She also has a conference-leading 16 doubles while being tied for third in hits (62) and tied for fifth in runs scored (41). Her 19 stolen bases are seventh in the conference, and she’ll gladly take that, too. She probably would not prefer to have the second-most hit by pitches (18), but it still helps her team.

Notre Dame has a 31-13 overall record and 20-10 ACC record. It figures to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team after being bounced from the ACC quarterfinals with a 4-1 loss to Virginia Tech.

Alexis Holloway highlighted in hometown collegiate athlete roundup

Notre Dame’s softball captain gets some love from her hometown newspaper.

If you subscribe to your local newspaper, chances are the sports section does a weekly update of area athletes who now play in college. That happened to Notre Dame pitcher Alexis Holloway, who headlined the latest such feature for The Times of Northwest Indiana by virtue of being from Crown Point, Indiana and the 2017 Gatorade Indiana Softball Player of the Year. The story talks about Holloway’s accomplishments on the field and as an aerospace engineering major at Notre Dame’s College of Engineering. Irish coach Deanna Gumpf is depicted in the story as reveling in her two-time captain’s activities away from the team:

“She is amazing – I mean she built an airplane. What she’s doing is extremely rare. I don’t believe there are many people in the country that can do what she’s done.”

To be fair, Gumpf likely referring to the remote-controlled airplane Holloway is building with her group, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

Holloway, one of four seniors, is 10-6 with a 2.62 ERA and a team-high 87 strikeouts this season. In Sunday’s 5-1 win over Virginia, she threw her team-leading eighth complete game of the season. As a hitter, she is batting .256 with two homers and nine RBIs.

Four consecutive at-bats, four homers?!? See Notre Dame’s Gaskins going off

Gaskins went homer happy

Although the Notre Dame softball team doesn’t get much love, that needs to change after an absolutely massive performance yesterday. Freshman Karina Gaskins had an afternoon to remember against Georgia Tech in the second game of their doubleheader.

The infielder had four consecutive at-bats with the best possible outcome, homers.

https://twitter.com/ndsoftball/status/1373435437839175682?s=21

They weren’t all solo shots either, Gaskins totaled 10 RBI’s on her four long-balls leading the Irish to a victory in the second game, earning a split of the doubleheader.

In total the Irish hit six homers over the two Saturday games, but Gaskins’ individual performance was the highlight of the day. The softball looks to take the series this afternoon as their rubber match is set for a noon eastern start in Atlanta.

Notre Dame’s Sweet Named ACC Player of the Week

Playing at the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, California, Sweet recorded 10 hits, six runs, eight RBI and a home run in six contests.

Notre Dame softball centerfielder Abby Sweet (junior, Hart High School/Newhall, California) was named the ACC Player of the Week for her efforts this weekend that helped the Irish to a 3-3 mark and included an upset win over No. 16 Arizona State.

Playing at the Mary Nutter Classic in Palm Springs, California, Sweet recorded 10 hits, six runs, eight RBI and a home run in six contests.  She also slugged a remarkable .850 while totaling 17 bases, hitting four doubles and stealing four bases in four tries.

Notre Dame sits with a 10-5 overall record and will travel to Duke this weekend for three games against the Blue Devils to kickoff ACC competition.  The Irish ranked third in the Pre-Season ACC Coaches Poll that was released in late January.