No. 21 Clemson hangs on to beat No. 18 Stanford, wins road series

No. 21 Clemson secured a critical ACC series win over No. 18 Stanford in its first-ever West Coast conference road trip. The Tiger bats came alive late to earn the 7-6 win over the Cardinal.

Clemson had yet to find a hit against Stanford starter Alyssa Houston entering the fifth inning. But it only takes one to get hot. Taylor Pipkins led off with a double, followed by a single from Jamison Brockenbrough and Alex Brown reaching on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. Maddie Moore did Maddie Moore things, hitting a bases-clearing triple. She’d score on a sacrifice fly from Julia Knowler to make it 4-2.

Stanford answered right back. Taryn Kern hit her second home run of the game to cut the deficit in half. River Mahler tripled herself and came in to score the game-tying run on a slow chopper off the bat of Jade Berry.

Marian Collins and Kylee Johnson kept the Clemson bats going. A single and double to start the sixth put the Tigers back in business. Collins scored on a Pipkins sacrifice fly. Brockenbrough and Brown drove in two more to push the lead to three.

Stanford quickly loaded the bases in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring one on another sacrifice fly. However, Brooke McCubbin limited the damage to the one run and escaped the jam.

McCubbin got into trouble in the seventh, allowing three straight singles after recording the first out. She induced another groundout that put the game-tying and winning run in scoring position. Clemson decided to walk Kern, and it was the right choice. McCubbin got Emily Jones to fly out to center to end the game.

Clemson heads back east to pay a visit to NC State, while Stanford goes north for a non-conference series at Boise State.

Softball America April Position Power Rankings
P | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | UTL

The post No. 21 Clemson hangs on to beat No. 18 Stanford, wins road series appeared first on On3.