STANFORD, Calif. – The No. RV/25 Clemson Tigers strung together seven runs over the fifth and sixth innings and held off the late push from No. 15/17 Stanford (26-8, 9-6 ACC) to secure the 7-6 upset victory on Sunday afternoon to take the series on the road. With the win, Clemson secured its fifth-straight season with 30+ wins to improve to 30-11 overall and 11-4 in ACC play. The Tigers became the only road team to win a game in Stanford Stadium in 2025 with two victories over the three-game series.
“Outstanding effort by our team today after a really tough day yesterday,” said Head Coach John Rittman. “We came back today and wanted to see some resilience, some mental toughness and some fight from our team. A lot of credit goes to Stanford’s pitcher (Alyssa) Houston for pitching a game and a half against us that we didn’t have an answer for.
All it takes is a spark
— Clemson Softballpic.twitter.com/rCbxiHt9ac
(@clemsonsoftball) April 7, 2025
I told our team that this was a regional, super regional, world series type of moment, and we have to learn how to fight through this without getting frustrated but instead find a way to get ourselves into the game. I felt like our team did a great job of being resilient and finding a way to make things happen. This was a series win for us on the road against a very good opponent. It isn’t an easy task to do, but I love the way our team fought for the win Friday night and came back to battle for today’s series win after dropping Saturday’s game and starting today trailing 2-0. They battled to hang onto the victory at the end.”
Clemson scored seven runs off six hits in the win with junior Jamison Brockenbrough leading the team with two hits and two runs, while also contributing an RBI to the count. Senior Maddie Moore notched three RBIs on her one hit, while freshman Taylor Pipkins recorded a hit, RBI and scored a run.
In the circle, senior Reese Basinger started and threw 4.1 innings with one strikeout. She was relieved in the fifth inning by senior Brooke McCubbin. McCubbin pitched the final 2.2 innings with one strikeout to secure her eighth win of the season.
“I can’t say enough good things about our pitchers,” said Rittman. “Basinger and McCubbin did a tremendous job today. McCubbin got out of the jam late in the game and finished the job for us against a very good hitting team.”
The Cardinal capitalized first in the bottom of the third inning after a hit got through the infield and the next batter sent a two-run shot out of left center.
The Tigers got on the board in the top of the fifth after Pipkins sparked the offense. She broke open the no-hitter with a shot that stayed fair down the left field line for a double. Brockenbrough singled to put runners on the corners, and Alex Brown loaded them with a fielder’s choice sac bunt. On an extended at bat due to a dropped foul ball, Moore ripped a base-clearing triple off the left field wall to give the Tigers the lead. Julia Knowler tacked on another with a sac fly to left field to make it 4-2 heading to the bottom of the fifth.
“Pipkins got the start today, and she has been a spark plug for us by starting the rally for us,” continued Rittman. “Brockenbrough continued to put pressure on Stanford’s short game, and Moore came up with a big hit for us that broke the game open and forced Stanford to make the pitching change.”
Stanford answered with a couple extra-base hits, including a solo home run to open the inning, to tie things at 4-all.
Clemson reclaimed the lead in the sixth after Marian Collins and Kylee Johnson recorded a single and double, respectively, to put runners on second and third. Pipkins picked up her RBI with a sac fly to right field to score Kennedy Ariail, who was running for Collins, and Brockenbrough singled and advanced to second while Johnson scored on the play. After Brockenbrough stole third, Brown plated her on a fielder’s choice to extend the lead to 7-4.
Stanford fought back to score one in the bottom of the sixth. In the seventh, after McCubbin struck out the first batter, three-straight singles scored a runner to bring the Cardinal within one with runners on first and second. A groundout left first open with two outs. The Tigers intentionally walked Taryn Kern, who had contributed three RBIs off two hits earlier in the game, to load the bases with two outs. On the first hit of the next at bat, McCubbin forced a fly out to center field that Brockenbrough caught to secure the 7-6 win and secure the series victory.
Up Next
Clemson returns to McWhorter Stadium for a midweek contest against Winthrop. The game is slated for 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9 on ACC Network.
