Late Rally Propels Tigers to Series Victory
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The No. 21/20 Clemson Tigers strung together a season-high 16 hits to propel Clemson to an 11-6 victory against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Saturday afternoon. Clemson’s 16 hits is the fifth-most by the team in its five-years of action and moves the Tigers to 31-14 (13-7 ACC) this season, while Notre Dame falls to 23-30 (7-13 ACC).
Clemson was led at the plate by Alex Brown, Alia Logoleo and Arielle Oda, who tallied three hits apiece. It marks the 16th, 10th and sixth time, respectively, the trio have recorded multi-hit games this season. Maddie Moore and McKenzie Clark joined them with multi-hits games, as the two finished with two hits each, while Julia Knowler, Valerie Cagle and Aby Vieira rounded out the Clemson offense with one each.
Similar to Friday night, the Tigers were able to get on the board in the top of the third inning. Oda opened the inning with a single to mark the third inning that Clemson got the leadoff batter aboard. She advanced to second as Moore reached on a fielding error, and both advanced as Brown loaded the bases with a single. Oda was able to score as Clark notched her fifth sac fly of the season, 10th of her career, with a knock into center to make it 1-0 for the Tigers.
Clemson extended its lead in the fourth after Lindsey Garcia led off with a walk, Logoleo singled down the right field line and Oda drew a walk to load the bases for the second time. Moore sent a sac fly out to right field to plate Garcia from third and advance Logoleo. Brown added her second hit of the day with an RBI single to left field to make it 3-0.
Notre Dame jumped on the board and took the lead in the bottom of the fourth after four singles and a Clemson error allowed the Fighting Irish to plate four runs before Clemson’s defense was able to end the inning. Notre Dame added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out home run to make it 6-3 for the Fighting Irish after five.
The Tigers were able to get two runs back in the top of the sixth after Oda clocked her second hit of the day with a hard shot back at the pitcher. Moore stepped to the plate with no outs and sent the third pitch of her at bat out of right center for a two-run shot. This was Moore’s ninth homer of the year, 22nd of her career, and brings her season RBI count up to 33.
Clemson made a successful rally in the top of the seventh that saw 12 batters see a pitch that led to six runs scoring off six hits. It began with Vieira dropping a single over the infielders’ heads, Oda sending one through the left side and Moore walking to load the bases. Brown tallied her third hit of the game with a single through the left side to score Julia Bomhardt, who was running for Vieira to even things at 6-all. Clark followed with a single to score Oda, take a 7-6 lead and leave the bases loaded with only one out.
Knowler picked up two RBIs as she drove an 0-2 pitch into right field that had Moore and Brown scoring. She advanced to second on the throw that was looking to catch Brown coming home, but with the throw being off, Clark was able to round third and add another run for the Tigers in the series of events. Cagle added a single, and Garcia reached on a fielder’s choice to keep two runners on with Logoleo at the plate for the second-time in the seventh. The Nashville native picked up her third hit of the game with an RBI single back up the middle to score Cagle and put Clemson ahead 11-6 heading to the bottom of the seventh.
The Clemson defense was able to pick up three outs, including a fly out, strikeout and ground out to secure the win and seal the series victory.
Cagle made her first start and appearance in the circle since April 2. She pitched her seventh complete game of 2024 and struck out six of the 30 batters she faced while only conceding one walk. She improves to 8-5 on the year following the win.
Up Next
The Tigers conclude the series against the Fighting Irish tomorrow at 6 p.m. on ACC Network.