Clemson athletics is more than just football. That comes as a surprise to many that aren’t paying attention to what is happening in the small town 45 minutes outside Greenville and 90 minutes north of Atlanta.
During the 2020-2021 school year, Clemson athletics have seen a lot of success in their field of choice.
Football won their sixth straight ACC title and made their sixth straight College Football semifinal –something no other college football program has achieved. Clemson basketball made it back to the NCAA tournament for just the third time during Brad Brownell’s decade-plus as basketball coach.
There is Clemson soccer – both Men’s and Women’s who made it to the NCAA soccer tournament. This is the seventh straight appearance for the women and the men are the top seed in the country. Clemson is one of just eight schools to have both teams make the NCAA soccer tournament.
Then there is Clemson softball.
Clemson softball is the best team in the country that no one is talking about and it is baffling.
They are a Top 20 team nationally and currently on a 13 game winning streak – which includes embarrassing South Carolina softball 6-0 Wednesday night in the first meeting between the two teams.
When you look across softball on a national level, only six teams currently have current winning streaks of at least 10 games –
- FSU – 15 games
- James Maddison – 14 games
- Clemson – 13 games
- BYU – 13 games
- Oklahoma State – 12 games
- Fresno State – 10 games
Redshirt freshman Valerie Cagle needs to start being mentioned as one of the great in college softball and should get votes for both the ACC Player of the Year as well as National Player of the Year.
.@clemsonsoftball is 1-0 vs. South Carolina!
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) April 22, 2021
Valerie Cagle: complete game shutout with 9 strikeouts and a 2-run HR 💥 pic.twitter.com/MZpo6eoPaw
Through games played by April 18th, Cagle is batting .387 with 111 at-bats, has nine home runs, 30 RBI’s, and just 17 strikeouts – this doesn’t include her performance against South Carolina on Wednesday either as she added a two-run blast.
As a pitcher, Cagle is absolutely dominant.
She logged 148.1 innings, has 175 strikeouts, and has only given up two home runs. Last week alone she threw two complete-game no-hitters in addition to her complete-game shutout of the Gamecocks Wednesday.
There isn’t a more dominant athlete in South Carolina in any sport. She may very well be the most dominant Tigers athlete has seen since Deshaun Watson in football and is well on her way to Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame at this point.
She is that good.
If you haven’t watched Tigers softball, you are missing out on one of the great stories in college athletics as Coach Rittman has these athletes focused and primed to make a run at the College World Series in just their second year of existence.