Western Carolina put a damper on Clemson’s home debut.

Playing its first ever home softball game Wednesday, the Tigers fell to Western Carolina, 2-0, in Game 1 of an afternoon doubleheader at the Clemson Softball Stadium.

Clemson (2-4) left eight runners on base and was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. In all, the Tigers had 14 runners on base but failed to get a single run across the plate.

Western Carolina (1-0) scored the first ever run at the Clemson Softball Stadium, when junior Addie Pate got an RBI single with no outs in the top of the fifth inning.

Pate singled to left field to score Ashlyn Long from second base. Pate grew up down the road at nearby Seneca, where her father Rick Pate, was a long-time football and softball coach at Seneca and Walhalla High Schools. Long began the inning with a hit up the middle and then advanced to second with a passed ball.

Bailey Honeycutt extended the Catamounts’ lead in the top of the seventh when the shortstop hit a sole home run to right field.

Clemson’s Valerie Cagle suffered the loss in the circle despite giving up four hits and just one unearned run, while striking out five and walking none.

Pate continued her homecoming with a sliding catch off a Cammy Pereira hit to left field to end the game. Pereira  represented the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Savannah Rice earned the win for the Catamounts as she allowed seven hits and two walks, while striking our four Tigers. Wednesday’s Game 1 marked the third time the Tigers were shut out in a game this year.

Clemson was blanked by Duke and UCF this past weekend in the Black & Gold Softball Tournament in Orlando.