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Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Top 5 moments from Clemson athletics, including Cade Klubnik, from 2024-25 season
CLEMSON — It was an exciting 2024-25 for Clemson athletics as programs captured championships, ended postseason droughts and set team records. No Clemson program won a national championship, but multiple teams made strides to have a memorable seasons. Its football, softball and indoor women's track and field team also won ACC championships. Advertisement With no more games until August, here were the top five moments from Clemson athletics in the 2024-25 season: 1. Clemson snaps College Football Playoff drought after walk-off field goal It was essentially a CFP play-in game for Clemson when it faced SMU in the ACC championship. The Tigers outlasted the Mustangs thanks to freshman kicker Nolan Hauser's walk-off 56-yard field goal. His clutch kick was set up after Adam Randall returned a kickoff for 41 yards, then quarterback Cade Klubnik completed a 17-yard pass to wide receiver Antonio Williams. The win ended Clemson's three-year CFP absence and first ACC title since 2022. Hauser became a Clemson legend, and Tigers coach Dabo Swinney showed his high school recruiting and developing philosophy was strong enough to get his program back to the playoffs. Advertisement 2. Clemson softball, John Rittman win first ACC Tournament Outside of a Women's College World Series appearance, coach John Rittman's program was missing an ACC Tournament championship. His team broke through after six seasons after earning comeback wins against Virginia, Virginia Tech and Florida State in the conference tournament. Taylor Pipkins crushed a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning for Clemson to beat Virginia in the quarterfinals. The Tigers scored eight unanswered runs in the sixth to beat Virginia Tech in the semifinals. In the championship game, Kylee Johnson crushed a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh. Clemson's late-game heroics helped it earn a national seed in the NCAA Tournament. MORE: Why Clemson softball's heroics in ACC tournament made championship win vs FSU so much sweeter Advertisement 3. Clemson basketball upsets Kentucky, Duke Littlejohn Coliseum was home to two court stormings courtesy of Clemson basketball. The Tigers defeated No. 6 Kentucky on Dec. 4 after Ian Schieffelin recorded an 11-point, 20-rebound double-double. Then, Clemson upset No. 2 Duke on Feb. 8., beating projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Cooper Flagg and ending the Blue Devils' 16-game winning streak. Chase Hunter's emphatic block in the final seconds ignited Clemson fans and helped the Tigers have the most single-season regular season and conference wins in program history. 4. Cade Klubnik's game-winning 50-yard rushing touchdown vs Pitt Before Clemson made the ACC title game, it needed to beat Pitt in its final conference game. Trailing 20-17 with 1:23 left, Klubnik lifted the Tigers to victory. On second-and-3, Klubnik split his six blockers up the middle on a designed run, cut right to head toward the sideline then went up the field and broke a shoestring tackle to score the game-winning 50-yard touchdown. Advertisement According to ESPN Analytics, Pitt had a 71.4% chance to win before Klubnik's run. His growth last season was key for Clemson, and this momentous run was among his top plays. 5. Clemson lacrosse, gymnastics earn first NCAA Tournament wins Two of Clemson's newer programs got a taste of postseason success. The lacrosse team finished with a 14-7 record in its third season and beat ranked Navy 11-8 in its first NCAA Tournament game. Clemson gymnastics also captured its first NCAA Tournament win, beating Rutgers, in its second season. Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@ and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00 This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson sports top moments 2024-25 include Dabo Swinney, Cade Klubnik
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
How Clemson softball's eighth inning put Women's College World Series bid on hold
Clemson softball was 60 feet away from making a trip to Oklahoma City for its first Women's College World Series. Marian Collins and Taylor Pipkins both hit no-out singles in the eighth inning, then advanced to third and second base, respectively, after a wild pitch. But Clemson's offense stalled, putting that coveted flight on pause, as Kylee Johnson struck out, Jamison Brockenbrough lined out and Alex Brown grounded out to end the inning in heartbreaking fashion Advertisement "There's so many ways you can score from third base, and you're hoping that one of three hitters gets the job done there," Clemson coach John Rittman said. " . . . It's just unfortunate we couldn't get it in, but that's softball." The lull led to No. 11 overall seed Clemson's 7-5 loss on May 23 to No. 6 Texas in Game 2 of the Austin Super Regional at Red and Charline McCombs Field. The Longhorns (50-12) forced a winner-take-all Game 3 on May 24 (9 p.m. ET). The moment was tailor-made for Clemson (48-13), but it could not capitalize. The Longhorns had no answer for closer Brooke McCubbin, who entered in the fifth, allowing two runs in the inning, but held them scoreless the next three innings, including a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth and eighth. Still, Johnson, Brockenbrough and Brown did not attempt to bunt and could not put the ball in play deep enough to send Collins home for the winning run, which would have been Clemson's 12th walk-off win this season and its second straight upset win in Austin. Advertisement "We certainly had opportunities, you're this close and you gotta be able to put the nail in the coffin, and we didn't do that tonight," Rittman said. "Against a good Texas team, you're going to pay the price for that." The bill came due for Clemson as Texas ace pitcher Teagan Kavan, who entered in relief in the fourth inning, developed immense confidence. After escaping the eighth-inning jam, she proceeded to record three strikeouts, force two flyouts and a fielder's choice and allow two base hits and a walk in the final two innings to keep Clemson scoreless. Clemson had 13 hits but left 11 runners on base and was 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 4-for-19 with runners on. As Clemson's offense stalled, Texas' came alive in the 10th inning, getting after McCubbin as she exceeded 100 pitches. She allowed a leadoff single, and a second player got on base thanks to a fielding error by Collins. A sacrifice bunt advanced both, and Kaydee Bennett's RBI sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run. Advertisement Clemson had its chance to finish off Texas for good, but its miscues snapped its 11-game winning streak and has given the Longhorns life. Now, the Tigers will play in the biggest game in the program's six years of existence for the right to go to the Women's College World Series. "I told them, 'Listen, in February, when we were 3-6, if you said we can be in Texas, and we can play one game to see who goes to the World Series, would you guys take it?' and they all agreed," Rittman said. Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@ and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00 This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson softball: How Tigers blew opportunity to make WCWS vs Texas
USA Today
12-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Clemson 2025 NCAA softball tournament schedule, regional, opponents revealed
Clemson 2025 NCAA softball tournament schedule, regional, opponents revealed Coach John Rittman and the Clemson Tigers learned their fate for the 2025 NCAA softball tournament on Sunday. Despite rallying to beat Florida State for the ACC Championship on Saturday, the Tigers were lower on the seed line than the Seminoles and did not land a top eight national seed. FSU was awarded the No. 5 overall seed, while Clemson was awarded the No. 11 seed. As such, the Tigers are likely to play on the road in the super regional, if they win their on-site host regional at McWhorter Stadium. As for who Maddie Moore, Reese Basinger and the Tigers will welcome to the Clemson Regional, they drew the No. 2 seed Kentucky Wildcats, No. 3 seed Northwestern Wildcats and No. 4 seed USC Upstate. The on-site regionals are a double elimination format. Clemson will face USC Upstate on Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ACC Network. The Clemson Regional will run May 16-18. As the No. 11 overall seed, Clemson will draw the winner of the Austin Regional featuring the No. 6 seed host Texas Longhorns. Texas' regional includes No. 4 seed Eastern Illinois, No. 3 seed UCF and No. 2 seed Michigan State. Clemson enters the NCAA Tournament at 44-12 overall and went 19-5 in conference play. The Tigers rallied on three straight days at the ACC Championship in Brighton, Mass., to take down Virginia, Virginia Tech and Florida State for the first ACC title in program history. Texas A&M (45-9) was awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, followed by the four-time defending national champion Oklahoma Sooners (45-7) as the No. 2 overall seed. The Aggies and Sooners were crowned SEC co-champions after heavy rains forced the cancellation of their conference championship game. Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
Washington Post
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Kylee Johnson's two-run homer in 7th rallies Clemson to 2-1 victory over Florida State for ACC title
BRIGHTON, Mass. — Kylee Johnson hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning and the Clemson Tigers rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday in the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Johnson's homer sent the second-seeded Tigers (44-12), who didn't start playing softball until 2020, to their first victory in eight all-time meetings with the top-seeded Seminoles (46-9). Clemson has made five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament — all under head coach John Rittman.
Associated Press
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Kylee Johnson's two-run homer in 7th rallies Clemson to 2-1 victory over Florida State for ACC title
BRIGHTON, Mass. (AP) — Kylee Johnson hit a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning and the Clemson Tigers rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday in the championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Johnson's homer sent the second-seeded Tigers (44-12), who didn't start playing softball until 2020, to their first victory in eight all-time meetings with the top-seeded Seminoles (46-9). Clemson has made five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament — all under head coach John Rittman. Florida State took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning on a solo home run by Hallie Wacaser off Clemson starter Brooke McCubbin (15-5) and that's where the score stood heading to the seventh. Seminoles starter Ashtyn Danley allowed two hits and three walks in three shutout innings to begin the game. Julia Apsel followed with three hitless innings, but she was replaced by Jazzy Francik (10-3) after issuing a leadoff walk to Marian Collins. Francik struck out Taylor Pipkens on three pitches, but Johnson homered to center field on a 2-2 pitch to put the Tigers ahead. McCubbin allowed leadoff singles to pinch-hitter Annabelle Widra and Isa Torres before retiring the next three batters to earn the victory. Florida State was playing in its 27th ACC championship game after holding off Duke 3-2 in the semifinals. The Seminoles won their only national championship in 2018. They were runners-up in 2021 and 2023 and have advanced to the Women's College World Series in 12 of 36 previous NCAA Tournament appearances. Clemson had never won the conference tournament and it's only regular-season title came in 2021. The Tigers are aiming for their first spot in the WCWS. They outscored their opponents 404-179 but didn't play FSU during the regular season. Florida State beat Clemson 8-6 in the 2022 ACC title game. The Blue Devils beat Clemson 1-0 in 2021 in their only other title game appearance. ___ AP college sports:
