UCF Athletics
Clemson Splits First Two Games of Inaugural Season
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Clemson Softball team (1-1, 0-0 ACC) won its inaugural game 6-2 over St. John’s Friday morning at UCF’s Black & Gold tournament in Orlando, Florida. Freshman right-handed pitcher Logan Caymol earned the program’s first-ever win in the circle and posted a game-high eight strikeouts. Freshman shortstop Hannah Goodwin belted an opposite field three-run homer over the right-field wall to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth, which gave Clemson a 4-1 lead.
“A lot of emotions obviously, setting history, and first game in 2020,” said Clemson Head Coach John Rittman after the game. “It's been a long time coming. As coaches, we've been here since late 2017. It's all coming to reality. Today was a great effort by our team. I felt that we had some great performances today, starting in the circle with Logan Caymol. The battery with she and JoJo Hyatt were terrific. We had some clutch hits - Hannah Goodwin breaking the game open with a big home run (and) Cammy Pereira providing a lot of spark offensively.”
St. John’s secured an initial 1-0 lead to open the game after Red Storm base runners on the corners stole home and second. In the bottom of the second, Cammy Pereira’s single through the left side, which resulted in Clemson’s first-ever hit, RBI and run scored (Bailey Taylor), tied the game, 1-1. Later in the sixth, Marissa Guimbarda and Goodwin were both hit by pitches with the bases loaded, which extended the Tigers’ lead, 6-2.
“I thought as the game wore on, we settled down at the plate, got the adrenaline out of us and started having some good at-bats, and came away with a victory.”
After defeating St. John’s in its inaugural outing, the Clemson Softball team (1-1, 0-0 ACC) fell 11-0 to Duke (1-0, 0-0 ACC) in the Tigers’ second game of the day. Brianna Butler earned the win in the circle for the Blue Devils, who scored seven runs in the third inning. Clemson junior infielder Bailey Taylor registered her first double of the season in the second inning to lead the Clemson effort.
In the first, Duke took advantage of two Clemson passed balls and an error, scoring two early runs. The Blue Devils then extended their lead to 3-0 in the second inning after Caroline Jacobsen scored on Kyla Morris RBI single to left field. Duke went on to cross the plate eight more times – seven in the third and once in the fourth.
Friday’s matchup between Clemson and the Blue Devils was not a designated conference game.
Clemson returns to the field at the UCF Softball Complex on Saturday, Feb. 8 to take on Indiana at 11 a.m. and UCF at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s contest against the Knights is set to stream on UCFKnights.TV. Live Stats can be accessed on the Tigers’ softball schedule page on ClemsonTigers.com.
For complete coverage of the Tiger softball team, follow @ClemsonSoftball on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.