Softball Opens at Clemson

 Team experiences abbreviated first season in new stadium

CLEMSON KICKED OFF ITS INAUGURAL SOFTBALL season this spring, with a 6-2 win in its opening game against St. John’s at UCF’s Black & Gold tournament in Orlando, Florida. Freshman righthanded 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 home run over the right-field wall to break a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning, which gave Clemson a 4-1 lead.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Clemson Head Coach John Rittman after the game. “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 [her] and JoJo Hyatt was 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.”
A sold-out crowd cheered on the team in its home opener on Feb. 12 against Western Carolina. Clemson dropped the first game of the double header 0-2 but roared back in the second game. Caymol did not allow a single hit and struck out 11 batters as the Tigers defeated Western Carolina 8-0 in five innings. Valerie Cagle hit a 252-foot home run to left-center in the first inning of the nightcap, and Clemson never looked back.
The new stadium was completed in January and features 1,000 fixed chairback seats, in addition to berm seating. The facility also includes a team clubhouse with over 12,000 square feet of conditioned space that houses a team lounge, locker room, sports medicine room, equipment room and coaches’ offices. The facility also features locker rooms for the coaches, umpires and visiting team.
With the shutdown of NCAA sports in March due to the novel coronavirus, the team experienced an abbreviated first season, finishing 19-8 overall and 5-1 in the ACC.