Clemson defeats Kentucky 5-1 to advance to 3rd Super Regional in 4 seasons
CLEMSON, S.C. (Clemson SID) – The Clemson Softball team defeated the Kentucky Wildcats (31-28), 5-1, to claim a Regional title in McWhorter Stadium and advance to the Super Regional round for the third time in program history in just five full seasons. The Tigers (47-12) improved to 9-1 all-time in home NCAA games, and defeated each of the three teams – USC Upstate (10-2), Northwestern (1-0) and Kentucky (5-1) – by allowing just three runs.
Reese Basinger (17-5) earned the win in the circle, and Brooke McCubbin retired all four batters she faced to record her fourth save of the season. Freshman Marian Collins went 3-for-3 with a walk and went 8-for-9 with two walks in the three games overall. Fellow freshman Taylor Pipkins launched a three-run homer to extend Clemson's lead to 3-0, while Julia Knowler, Maddie Moore and Kylee Johnson each drove in a run.
The Tigers, the 2025 ACC Champion, advance to play No. 6 National Seed Texas (48-10) in Austin, Texas at the Red and Charline McCombs Softball Field. Dates and times of the super will be announced at a later date once all regionals are completed.
On Sunday, both programs looked to do some damage in the second inning as Clemson loaded the bases with two outs and Kentucky advanced a player to third with two outs. Both pitchers forced fly outs to left field to end the inning unscathed.
The Tigers broke open the scoring in the top of the third inning off of Julia Knowler's program-record 18th double of the year. She drove in Alex Brown, who singled and advanced on a wild pitch earlier that inning. The Wildcats tried to respond in the bottom of the frame after once again getting a runner on third, but Basinger sat Hallie Mitchell down with her second inning-ending strikeout to leave her stranded. Basinger finished the day with three strikeouts, all of which were the final out of their respective innings (first, third and fourth).
Clemson extended its lead in the fourth after Collins and Pipkins delivered at the plate. Collins drew a five-pitch walk to leadoff the inning, and Pipkins blasted her fourth home run of the year 232 feet out of left center to make it 3-0 with no outs. Senior Maddie Moore delivered an RBI double down the right field line to score Brown to make it 4-0 after four. This extended Moore's program-record RBI count to 66, while Brown extended her program-record runs scored count to 66.
Kentucky got one back in the bottom of the sixth to chase Basinger, bringing in McCubbin. The Tiger hurler got Ella Emmert swinging to limit the damage.
The Tigers tacked on a run in the seventh, loading the bases with nobody out, and Macey Cintron scored from third on a Kylee Johnson fielder's choice.
Eight pitches were all that were needed for McCubbin to retire the bottom of the seventh with three groundouts to seal the 5-1 victory for the Tigers.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
LSU wins NCAA baseball title: Winners and losers from College World Series
After winning a mesmerizing pitching duel in Saturday night's College World Series opener, LSU took advantage of Coastal Carolina's sloppy start and won, 5-3, on Sunday, June 22 to capture the eighth national championship in program history. The two-game sweep solidifies the Tigers' place among the very upper crust of college baseball. Only one program has won more: Southern California has won an even dozen, though none since 1998. Advertisement For Coastal Carolina, it's a heartbreaking and disappointing end to what had been a dream run to the doorstep of the Chanticleers' second championship, following the 2016 team that came out of relative anonymity and defeated Arizona in the finals. Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall and first-base coach Matt Schilling were ejected in the first inning of Sunday's clincher for 'continued arguing about balls and strikes,' the NCAA said in a statement. Given where they started the year, though, and the lower expectations after an offseason coaching change, the appearance in Omaha opposite LSU establishes Coastal as maybe the best program outside the non-major conferences. Looking back at the entire tournament, here are the winners and losers from this year's CWS: WINNERS LSU Talent eventually won out. That was apparent on Saturday night, when LSU sophomore Kade Anderson put together the first complete-game shutout in the CWS finals since 2018 and just the third since the championship series was added into the tournament format in 2003. What the Tigers had was room for error — and more than enough athleticism and MLB-level ability to take advantage of any opportunity provided by the Chanticleers' missteps. Handed that opportunity on Sunday afternoon, LSU plated a run in the third and four in the fourth on a pair of two-run singles. Coastal Carolina The Chanticleers will always have that 23-game winning streak heading into Omaha, Nebraska, which passed the previous record heading into the College World Series set by Oregon State in 2017. They added three more to push that run to 26 games before meeting LSU. That the magic ran out in the best-of-three finals is the biggest source of disappoint from Coastal, which felt like a team of destiny in overcoming several big-name programs in the regional and super regional rounds before breezing through the double-elimination section of the World Series. The SEC LSU gives the SEC five national championships in a row: Vanderbilt in 2019, Mississippi State in 2021, Mississippi in 2022, the Tigers in 2023 and Tennessee last season. It hadn't been a picture-perfect tournament for the conference, which placed a record-setting 13 teams in the tournament but had just four reach the super regionals. The Tigers' win this weekend erases the league's inept run through the first two weekends and cements the SEC as the top baseball conference in the country. Murray State The Racers were the feel-good story of the tournament after making the program's CWS debut. Beyond a distinct lack of national success, Murray State simply wasn't expected to reach that stage even after booking a spot in the 64-team field: Underdogs in the Oxford regional against Mississippi, the Racers beat the Rebels to reach the program's first super regional and then rallied out of another hole with a pair of wins against Duke to become just the fourth regional No. 4 seed to reach Omaha. Gage Wood While Arkansas was unable to mount a winning streak and reach the finals, Wood had the tournament's defining moment with his epic 19-strikeout no-hitter against the Racers. The no-no was the first in Omaha since 1960 and his strikeout total set a new record for a nine-inning game. Before that performance, Wood had gone more than five innings in a start just once all season with just one start with double-digit strikeouts. LOSERS Arkansas The long dry run continues for the Razorbacks. Arkansas has now made 12 CWS appearances with two trips to the finals, tying North Carolina and Clemson for the second-most trips to Omaha without a national championship. This most recent exit stands among the most painful in program history, bested by the 2018 loss to Oregon State defined by a misplayed fly ball in foul ground. After scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to take a 5-3 lead in a must-win game against LSU on Wednesday, June 18, the Razorbacks allowed a two-run double that tied the score and then a walk-off single to loss 6-5. North Carolina The Tar Heels suffered maybe the most brutal loss of the super regionals in giving away the elimination game against Arizona. Ahead 3-1 heading into the eighth inning thanks to a three-run homer from senior Jackson Van De Brake, UNC coughed away the lead with a pair of errors on the infield. The first, on a grounder booted by Van De Brake, cost the Tar Heels a possible double play. After a pitching change, UNC committed a throwing error on the Wildcats' bunt attempt to move runners over, allowing a run to score. Another pitching change resulted in a two-run single that gave Arizona the lead and eventually the World Series berth. Kevin Schnall The former Coastal assistant pushed all the right buttons in piloting the Chanticleers to a record-setting win streak and to the doorstep of another national championship. But his ejection on Sunday threatens to overwrite his deft touch in reaching that point. Was he trying to motivate his team and raise the Chanticleers' energy after a tough-to-swallow defeat in the opener? While that might have been his intent, Coastal continued to play listlessly the rest of the way, especially at the plate. Advertisement The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College World Series winners and losers: LSU takes NCAA baseball title
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Clemson 2026 cornerback target Danny Odem announces commitment date
Clemson is all over The Athletic's Top 25 ACC football players for the 2025 season Clemson football is in the mix for another highly touted defensive back, but it appears the Tigers may be on the outside looking in as four-star cornerback Danny Odem prepares to announce his commitment Monday evening. Odem, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound standout from Orlando (Fla.) The First Academy, is set to choose between Clemson, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Penn State at 5 p.m. ET. While the Tigers are among the finalists, On3's Recruiting Prediction Machine currently lists Penn State as the leader. Odem took official visits to four of his finalists — Nebraska, Penn State, Oklahoma, and Ohio State — but Clemson is the only one that didn't receive an official visit, despite hosting him on campus for a May 30 unofficial. Odem, who is ranked the No. 247 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports and No. 8 cornerback by Rivals, was previously committed to North Carolina before reopening his recruitment in December. He holds over 50 scholarship offers, making his decision one of the more closely watched in this cycle. Even if Clemson misses out, the Tigers are still in solid shape in the secondary for 2026. Dabo Swinney's program already holds commitments from four-star safeties Kentavion Anderson and Kaden Gebhardt, along with three-star corners Shavar Young Jr. and Marcell Gipson. Clemson remains in the hunt for other blue-chip defenders like four-star safeties Tylan Wilson and Blake Stewart. The Tigers' 19-member 2026 recruiting class ranks among the top 10 nationally, including a No. 4 ranking by ESPN. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Watch the three most important plays from LSU baseball's national championship win
LSU baseball finished off Coastal Carolina in two games during the College World Series finals to win the eighth national championship in program history. From Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha, the Tigers came from behind on Sunday and never looked back. They got six strong innings from starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson and relied on Chase Shores to dial up his fastball down the stretch. Ethan Frey had another big day at the plate, collecting three hits and driving in one run. Derek Curiel and Chris Stanfield each finished with two RBI. Seven of LSU's nine batters had a hit, helping to chase Coastal Carolina starting pitcher Jacob Morrison to the dugout midway through the fourth inning. The Chanticleers, who dealt with first-inning ejections of their head coach and first base coach, jumped on top early with a solo home run in the second. They clubbed another homer in the seventh but would get no closer. Here are the top three plays from LSU baseball's national championship win over Coastal Carolina. Ethan Frey's early RBI double Facing an early deficit, the Tigers needed to crawl back quickly to turn the momentum. Ethan Frey stepped to the plate with two outs in the top of the third inning and crushed a double to the left field wall. Derek Curiel scored easily from second base to tie the contest at one run apiece. Curiel delivers clutch hit to extend lead All season long, Curiel remained disciplined at the plate during high-leverage at-bats. The true freshman produced again, this time with two outs and two runners in scoring position. He roped a 1-0 pitch back up the middle to score two runs in the top of the fourth inning, giving the Tigers a 5-1 lead. Eyanson gets out of a jam with strikeout As it did in the first game, Coastal Carolina got plenty of traffic on the base paths throughout Sunday's contest. With two outs and two runners on, Ty Dooley stepped to the plate to face Eyanson. The right-hander got him to chase a 1-2 slider in the dirt to end the inning without giving up a run.
