Guimbarda’s Walk-Off Hit Lifts Tigers Over NC State
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson redshirt junior Marissa Guimbarda roped an RBI-double off of the right-center field fence in the bottom of the seventh to win Friday’s nightcap at McWhorter Stadium by a final score of 4-3 over against NC State. With the win, the Tigers improved to 35-4 overall and 24-4 in ACC play and tallied their fifth straight win in the process.
Freshman righty Regan Spencer (6-0) secured the win after entering in relief of starter Millie Thompson in the top of the sixth inning.
Valerie Cagle had yet another outstanding game in the batter’s box, going 3-for-3, including her 13th homer of the season. She also reached base safely in all eight plate appearances between both of Friday’s contests.
Cagle’s homer opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first on a solo home run, her second homer of the day, which also marked the third straight game that Cagle hit a dinger in the first inning.
The Tigers added to their lead in the bottom of the second as McKenzie Clark also registered her second homer of the day and eighth of the season on a hard-hit line drive that cleared the left-center field fence. The two-run shot from Clark extended the Tigers’ lead to 3-0.
The Wolfpack evened the score, 3-3, in the top of the fourth after NC State sent a two-run shot over the left-field wall, which was followed by an RBI-single that trickled deep into the left-center field gap.
NC State continued to apply pressure on the Tigers in the top of the sixth as two singles and a sacrifice bunt put Wolfpack runners on the corners with one out. Then, Spencer entered in relief of Thompson and walked her first batter faced, but struck out the next two with bases loaded to get out of the jam.
Spencer got out of yet another jam in the top of the seventh after having one NC State runner in scoring position with one out, and then had two runners in scoring position with two outs. However, Spencer forced a pop up to first in foul territory to get out of the inning. The Wolfpack opted to intentionally walk Cagle in the bottom of the seventh to bring up Guimbarda, who then hit her home for the win.
NC State right-handed pitcher Sydney Nester (7-7) suffered the loss after entering Friday’s nightcap in the bottom of the third.
Up next, Clemson and NC State (24-15, 14-13 ACC) return to McWhorter Stadium on Saturday for game No. 3 of the four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. and is slated to stream on ACCNX.