Tuscaloosa regional: Clemson vs. South Carolina Upstate softball set time to resume play
Bad weather has wreaked havoc across the United States this weekend. It’s disrupted a number of sporting events on Saturday, including several games in the 2024 NCAA Softball Tournament. The Tuscaloosa Regional between Clemson and South Carolina has battled delays.
Shortly after 5:30 p.m. EST, the Tigers Twitter page let everyone know the official time to resume play will be 7:30 p.m. EST.
The lightning delay in the Clemson and South Carolina Upstate game began at 4:41 pm. EST. So that’ll make it about a three-hour delay until officially restarting the contest. Once the game was stopped the Tigers led 3-0 in the top of the sixth inning.
We’ll have to see if they can finish the game on Saturday night in spite of the bad weather. There’s been several different places across the country that have had to deal with disruptions, delays, pauses, and postponements.
Clemson has an overall record of 34-18 this year, with a 15-9 mark in the ACC. In their first game in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Tigers lost to Southeastern Louisiana on Friday, May 17th. They lost 6-2 in their first game in the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Lady Lions scored three runs in the top of the third inning after four singles moved runners around. That made it 3-0. Southeastern Louisiana also scored three more runs in the top of the fifth inning to double their lead. Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, SLU held a commanding 6-0 advantage.
Junior Brooke McCubbin entered the game in the top of the sixth inning for Clemson, throwing two strikeouts to leave two Southeastern Louisiana runners stranded on base. Valerie Cagle got the start for the Tigers on Friday night, pitching 2.2 innings. She opened the game with back-to-back strikeouts to finish off the first inning. After they trailed 3-0 in the third inning, Clemson made a pitching change from Valerie Cagle to Millie Thompson with two outs.
Clemson tacked on a run in the sixth inning after Lindsey Garcia and Julia Knowler hit back-to-back singles to open up that inning. Garcia ended up scoring after Aby Viera went down the left-field line to make it 6-2 in SLU’s advantage.
After the win, Southeastern Louisiana improved their overall record to 46-13.
Saturday night’s matchup is an elimination game for both squads.