With the series on the line, Clemson came away with the 2-1 win and clinched the series over Notre Dame at McWhorter Stadium on Military Appreciation Day. After going 4.5 innings tied, infielder Cammy Pereira hit a clutch RBI single down the left-field line to score Ansley Houston from second for the win.
“I knew in that moment I’d been struggling all game and really all series, I’ve only had one hit,” Pereira told The Clemson Insider. “We were kind of joking around, me and Alia [Logoleo], before that, just that it had been a tough game and I knew that most of the time when that happens for me, I’m gonna come up in the big situation at the end. Just really trying to be short, especially once I got two strikes on me. I was taking big swings earlier in the at-bat, but I just really tried to change my approach, shorten up, and just know that a ground ball was going to win it with Ansley’s speed.”
Clemson’s Regan Spencer earned the win in the circle Saturday afternoon, improving to 6-0 on the season. In her 4.1 inning outing in the circle, Valerie Cagle recorded her 500th career strikeout. Righthander Shannon Becker tallied the loss for the Fighting Irish.
“A hard-fought series this weekend against Notre Dame,” head coach John Rittman said. “Two ranked teams going at it, pretty evenly matched ball clubs. Just really proud of the way we competed all weekend. Certainly, we didn’t hit the ball like we’re capable of, but a lot of credit goes to their pitching staff. They kept us off balance all weekend, but we found ways to win two out of three games and for us to come out today after being no-hit yesterday and just battling at the plate, was really impressive.”
The Irish struck first in Saturday’s series finale at McWhorter Stadium. Following her single to the catcher, right fielder Emma Clark scored on a wild pitch to put Notre Dame up 1-0 in the first.
Clemson came up with their answer though in the second inning. With runners on second and third and one out, catcher Aby Vieira hit a sac-fly out to center field, scoring Maddie Moore from third to even the score 1-1 through two.
Saturday’s matchup remained tied 1-1 until midway through the seventh. Thanks to Pereira’s walk-off RBI single with runners on first and second in the seventh, the Tigers ultimately came away with the 2-1 victory and series win.
“We just kept giving ourselves chances and we didn’t get too down when we didn’t cash in on some opportunities, but in that last inning, Vieira with the big hit got us going, [Arielle] Oda got her to second on a nice little slap, and then Cammy came up big, what a great at-bat,” Rittman said. “A two-strike battle, fouled some tough pitches off, and then finally we got a break and the ball was just fair and we got the winning run. So happy for our team, great series, and looking forward to next week at Florida State.”
Next up, Clemson travels to Tallahassee for a three-game series versus Florida State, the seventh ACC series of the season for the Tigers. Game one is scheduled for Thursday, April 21, with first pitch set for 8 p.m. on ESPN2.