Clemson softball had an opportunity to make program history on Saturday night. The Tigers were looking to make their first-ever Women's College World Series field with a series win over Texas in the Super Regional, but they fell just short, 6-5, to drop the best-of-three.
This was an extra painful loss seeing as the Tigers won the opener of the best-of-three and all they needed to do was win one of the final two games to advance.
Texas was locked in, however.
After losing the opener to Clemson, No. 6 Texas won Game 2 before taking a 5-1 lead in Game 3 and then winning 6-5, fending off a late surge by the Tigers. Texas was up 6-3 in the seventh but a Julia Knowler 2-run home run made things interesting late. Unfortunately, Clemson was unable to capitalize and it came just one run short of forcing extras and two runs short of making program history.
This was John Rittman's third Super Regional loss in four years and while he has built a really good program in a short period of time at Clemson (since 2020), it feels like the Super Regional is a roadblock for him. Once he breaks through that barrier, the sky is the limit for the Clemson softball program.
There's going to be a busy offseason for Clemson as it will face some attrition and it will also bring in some solid new talent. The team won't look the same but that may not be a bad thing.
Clemson was knocking on the door of its first-ever World Series berth but Texas didn't answer. Hopefully next year is the year that barrier is broken down.