John Rittman’s vision of turning Clemson into one of the premier softball programs in the country is moving at warp speed.
In just two seasons of existence, Clemson has won 63 games under its head coach’s guidance, which included a coronavirus-shortened season of 27 games in 2020, the Tigers’ first as a program. Last season, the Tigers got their biggest taste of success.
Clemson won the ACC regular-season title and came up a win shy of also capturing the conference tournament championship. The Tigers made their first-ever NCAA Tournament before seeing their historic season end in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
Clemson’s next chance to build on what it’s done during the infancy stage of its program is looming. The Tigers will begin the 2022 season Thursday against Florida Gulf Coast in the FGCU Kickoff Classic in Fort Myers, Florida.
And, for the first time, they’ll do so with some real expectations. With preseason All-American Valerie Cagle and preseason all-ACC outfielder McKenzie Clark leading the way, Clemson came in at No. 14 in the D1Softball preseason top 25, a five-spot jump from where the Tigers ended last season in the same rankings.
Clemson was also picked to finish second in the ACC in the coaches preseason poll behind Florida State, last season’s Women’s College World Series runner-up.
“Last year, we kind of snuck up on some people,” Rittman said. “This year, we’re probably going to have a target on our back. That’s something we’re going to have to learn to deal with as the season goes on. But I’m very impressed with our leadership, the way we’re handling ourselves in practice and preparing for this year.”
Cagle is back for her sophomore season as one of the top two-way players in the country. The ACC’s reigning Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year led Clemson with a .404 batting average and hit 17 home runs. In the circle, she posted an ACC-best 1.16 earned run average and finished second in the league in wins (28) and strikeouts (267).
While Cagle will once again be Clemson’s ace after throwing the second-most innings in the ACC last season, she’s not the only experienced arm on the roster. Fellow sophomores Regan Spencer, Emma Whitfield and Millie Thompson are also back after being part of a staff that posted a 1.50 ERA.
Spencer and Thompson combined to go 15-1 in more than 120 innings last season. Rittman said there are some freshmen who are also making a case to get the ball at times this season.
“We’ve got some depth in the circle, and that’s going to bode well for us for this long year and getting ready for a tough conference schedule,” Rittman said.
Clemson is also returning a number of other significant contributors from a season ago, including outfielder Marissa Guimbarda, shortstop Ansley Gilstrap, second baseman Cammy Pereira and catcher JoJo Hyatt. Clark hit .355 last season while Guimbarda posted a .309 average. The duo combined to hit 22 homers for a team that went yard 66 times.
The Tigers, who will start ACC play with a home series against Virginia Tech beginning March 4, might be able to mix in a little more finesse with that power this season with the addition of N.C. State transfer outfielder Sam Russ, the Wolfpack’s all-time stolen bases leader (103).
“We have some speed,” Rittman said. “We can take some extra bases and put a lot of pressure on the defense.”
Cagle said she’s interested to see how the newcomers mix with the holdovers as the season unfolds. But with so much talent and experience back from last season, the Tigers have their own high standard.
Rittman and some of his players said it’s time for the Tigers to leave what happened last season in the past.
“All the stuff we did last year was great. It was awesome,” Cagle said. “All the preseason honors we’ve gotten is good recognition, but that stuff, it’s preseason and it doesn’t matter.
“We have high expectations. Higher than anyone’s going to put on us. So just focusing more internal on our own expectations.”
It’s not something Clemson is shying away from now that it’s gone from the hunter to one of the ACC’s hunted.
“We know that we can’t sneak up on anyone anymore, but knowing that we can’t do that and knowing we can possibly be the bigger dog is extremely exciting,” Clark said.
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