Charleston’s Valiant Effort Falls Short in 3-1 Setback to Clemson
Dylan Smith
ATHENS, Ga. – CAA Champion Charleston saw its season come to an end following a valiant effort in a 3-1 setback to Clemson at Jack Turner Stadium in the Athens Regional of the 2026 NCAA Softball Championship on Saturday.
The Cougars finished the season with a 30-30 record, while the Tigers jumped to 33-21.
Sierra Paradis went 2-for-3 at the dish with an RBI to her credit. Bronwyn Conroy swiped her 44
th base of the season, moving into a tie for second all-time on the league’s single-season stolen base leaderboard. The speedy freshman matched Delaware’s Leanna Gearhart and her 44 swipes in the 2016 campaign.
Clemson jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opening frame on an RBI double to center field from Marian Collins.
The Cougars threatened in the bottom of the second with back-to-back, one-out walks to Samantha Horn and Audri Bates. The Tigers’ starter Lexie Hames worked out of trouble and stranded runners on first and second.
Charleston’s Mackenzie Mathis settled in with a 1-2-3 top of the third. CofC’s ace surrendered a leadoff double to Collins to start the fourth, but Mathis remained calm. The sophomore induced a groundout before watching second baseman Karlee Hughes fully extended to snag a line drive, keeping the lead runner at third. Mathis closed the frame by getting Kylee Johnson to fly out on the first pitch she saw.
Austy Miller smacked a leadoff base knock into center to start the home half of the fourth. After Halle Cannon reached safely with a walk of her own, Paradis looped an RBI single behind the second-base bag to tie the game at one.
Charleston continued to pester Clemson in the bottom of the fifth. Conroy singled down the left-field line before swiping second. Leela Langston moved her over to third with a base knock of her own to put runners on first and third with one out. The Tigers battled out of the jam to keep the game deadlocked.
Clemson’s Collins registered her third double of the contest in the top of the sixth, bringing in a run on the knock to right-center for a 2-1 lead. The Tigers added another tally on a sacrifice fly to take a two-run edge.
The Cougars brought the tying run to the dish in each of the final two innings, keeping themselves in the contest down the stretch. Bates reached on an error before advancing to second on a wild pitch in the sixth. Paradis ripped a single through the right side and put runners on the corners with one out in the frame. Charleston smacked a pair of hard-hit balls, unfortunately, right at the Clemson infielders and was unable to push a run across. Conroy reached on a walk in the bottom of the seventh and found herself standing on third with two outs before the Tigers sealed the win.
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