Clemson Softball Week 4 in review: Tigers drop three amidst first ACC matchup

Clemson softball entered its fourth week of competition coming off of a strong showing at the Clemson Classic with five wins in the book and being named tournament champs. The Tigers started off the week strong with a more-than-convincing win over …

Clemson softball entered its fourth week of competition coming off of a strong showing at the Clemson Classic with five wins in the book and being named tournament champs. The Tigers started off the week strong with a more-than-convincing win over the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs, but into the team’s first ACC series matchup of the season against a top-10 opponent in Virginia Tech, Clemson struggled to manufacture runs along with some costly errors, ultimately dropping its first series of the season.

“It was a tough weekend, but there was a lot we can learn,” head coach John Rittman said following Sunday’s loss. “There were a lot of positives. When you play a schedule as tough as ours and you learn from your losses, it is going to bode well for you. I liked the way we competed and pitched. We made a few defensive mistakes over the course of the three games that hurt us. Without these mistakes, it would have been a very evenly matched series. We are a young program that continues to fight and battle and will learn from these games moving forward.”

The Tigers opened up play last week with a mid-week matchup on Tuesday at McWhorter Stadium, where they faced Gardner-Webb. Redshirt sophomore Valerie Cagle and graduate Marissa Guimbarda hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning to earn Clemson the 6-0 shutout win over the Bulldogs. Regan Spencer earned the win, improving to 3-0 on the season in the circle for the Tigers.

With her home run on Tuesday, Guimbarda improved to 52 career home runs which situates the Georgia native within the top five on the NCAA active player list for most career home runs.

On Friday, Clemson opened up its first ACC weekend matchup of the season with No. 6 Virginia Tech at McWhorter Stadium. What began as a battle of the aces in the circle between Cagle and Keely Rochard quickly came to a close in the fourth inning once the Hokies got the bats rolling, scoring six runs. The Tigers tried to put together a rally both in the fifth and seventh, but ultimately fell short by a score of 6-1.

Cagle took the loss in the circle with four strikeouts through 3.0 innings. Virginia Tech’s Rochard earned the win for the Hokies.

In game two, Clemson dropped its second game of the weekend series on Saturday by a score of 4-0. Errors proved to be costly for the Tigers, having three of the four opposing runs scored unearned. Millie Thompson started in the circle for the Tigers, pitching three innings and picking up two strikeouts. With the loss, Thompson moved to 2-1 on the year.

Sunday’s series finale began as a rematch of Friday’s pitching face-off between Cagle and Rochard, both of whom kept the game scoreless through five innings of play.

Virginia Tech took the lead for good in the sixth, scoring three of its four runs thanks to a three-run homer to center field by Morgan Overaitis. Clemson looked to respond with runs scored in the sixth and seventh, but that proved not enough. Clemson succumbed to the series sweep in game three by a score of 4-2.

Cagle took the loss, pitching 6.1 innings, shifting to 5-4 on the season in the circle. Rochard earned the win along with freshman Emma Lemley, who tabbed the save for the Hokies.

The Tigers (12-6 overall, 0-3 ACC) look to bounce back this week, hosting Mercer for a mid-week matchup on Wednesday, March 9, at McWhorter Stadium with first pitch set for 6 p.m. Later in the week, Clemson will host yet another tournament this weekend at McWhorter Stadium with opponents in Liberty and Illinois. The Tigers open up play at the Tiger Invitational on Saturday, March 12, versus Liberty. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on ACCNX.

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What defensive coordinator Matt House Brings to LSU

What does Matt House bring to the table?

The LSU Tigers hired Matt House as their defensive coordinator recently; he is currently coaching linebackers with the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Matt House history

House started as a graduate assistant at Michigan State in 2001-2002. In 2003 he was a defensive assistant at North Carolina. After his time at North Carolina, House coached defensive linemen at Gardner-Webb. House spent the next few years coaching in the NFL and college before joining Kentucky in 2016 as inside linebacker coach and special teams coordinator.

In 2017 House became defensive coordinator at Kentucky under head coach Mark Stoops. In House’s first year, the Wildcats gave up 28.2 points per game and 426.9 total yards per game. But in 2018, the defense vastly improved. That year, Kentucky went 10-3 and ranked 12th in the final AP poll.

The defense was one of the best in the country; they only gave up 16.8 points per game and only allowed 186.3 passing yards per game in touch SEC conference. In addition, Kentucky forced 1.5 turnovers per game.

Before being the defensive coordinator at Kentucky House, was DC at Pittsburgh for three years and FIU for one year. In his last year with the Panthers, the defense ranked No.34 in the country. At FIU, House coached a solid red-zone defense and held opponents to less than 14 points four times.

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What he brings to the table

House uses multiple defensive fronts between the 4-3 and 3-4 scheme. He likes his defensive line to get in the backfield and create negative plays. Having coached linebackers, House believes in strong linebacker play. He wants to mix things up between zone and man in the secondary.

One of House’s strong points is player development; as the years go by, his defense gets better along with player development. For example, at Kentucky, he helped linebackers Courtney Love and Jordan Jones make the All-SEC second team in their first years as starters. While at Pittsburgh, House coached Aaron Donald and had a hand in his development.

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