Clemson softball 'a little bit shocked' by NCAA Tournament seeding

CLEMSON — John Rittman led Stanford to the NCAA Tournament 16 times prior to his time as the head coach of Clemson softball and entered Sunday night’s selection show well aware that anything could happen.

The Tigers appeared to be in a good position to earn a top-16 national seed and host a regional after going 42-6 and winning the ACC regular-season title, but Rittman also knew that nothing was guaranteed.

Still, he was caught off guard when Clemson was given a No. 2 seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional. The Tigers are in the same regional as the No. 3 overall seed in the tournament in Alabama.

“Having been through this a number of times, I was paying close attention and certainly was a little bit shocked,” Rittman said Wednesday. “But at the same time, you run the gamut of emotions. You start thinking about, ‘OK now we’ve gotta prepare for the teams in this regional.’ But also the disappointment of not hosting and not being a top 16 seed and the challenges that lie ahead.”

Clemson went from disappointed to motivated shortly after the selection show ended, ready to prove to the committee and the rest of the country that the Tigers were worthy of hosting.

Valerie Cagle and Clemson softball begin NCAA Tournament play on Friday. (Clemson Athletics)

Clemson will get its first chance to impress Friday afternoon against Troy and will likely play Alabama in in its second game of the Tuscaloosa Regional, if it beats the Trojans on Friday. Alabama is 45-7 entering the postseason.

“We can sit around and feel sorry for ourselves for not getting [to host] and not maybe being seeded where we felt we were supposed to be, but that’s not gonna get us anywhere,” Rittman said. “We’ve gotta prepare for a tough Troy team and hopefully give ourselves a chance this weekend to compete for another championship.”

The Tigers are “playing with house money” entering the tournament, according to Rittman.

No one, not even those in Clemson’s program, expected the Tigers to be this good in their first-full season of competition.

But Clemson isn’t satisfied with just making the postseason and is aiming to make some more noise this weekend, even if this isn’t the path the Tigers wanted or thought they deserved.

“I think we’re gonna play with a chip on our shoulder, no question,” Rittman said. “It would’ve been great to play in this beautiful facility with our great fans, but it’s out of our control now. … So we go down there with a chip on our shoulder and will play to the best of our ability and we’ll see what happens.”