Rittman looking for Tiger bats to heat up in the postseason

Clemson's Tigers have earned multiple wins over 2023 NCAA Tournament teams, and they need more this weekend to advance to the Super Regionals.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon May 15 13:00:29 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Clemson softball coach John Rittman knows his team has to hit better if it wants to advance out of its own regional this weekend, and they will work on just that this week.

For the second-consecutive year, the Clemson softball team will host an NCAA Regional after being selected as one of the 16 host sites for the 2023 postseason. The Tigers were selected as the No. 16 national seed and will host games at McWhorter Stadium beginning on Friday, May 19.

The Tigers (46-9) were the one seed in the Clemson Regional and are set to face UNC Greensboro (37-20) in their opening game of the double-elimination regional at 3 p.m. (ESPNU). The Auburn Tigers (40-17) will play Cal State Fullerton (33-19) as the number two and three seeds in the regional at McWhorter Stadium (approx. 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+).

The winner of the Clemson Regional will advance to a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against the winner of the Norman Regional between May 25-28. The Women’s College World Series will be playing in Oklahoma City, Okla., June 1-9.

“I am really proud of our team, to be able to host our second regional in only our fourth year of existence. That is pretty special,” Rittman said. “Our team has worked extremely hard to get to this moment, and now the work starts. We have a very challenging regional here and we are looking forward to hosting this Friday. We hope our fans come out and support us. It should be a great atmosphere and a great time.”

The Tigers will face a familiar foe in UNC Greensboro. UNC Greensboro came to Clemson for a tournament in early March and played the Tigers twice, losing 3-0 and 6-1. However, Rittman said knowing their opponent won’t make much of a difference.

“This time of year, its always hit and miss. UNCG is a very good program. We had them in our tournament and played them twice,” Rittman said. “They won the SoCon (Southern Conference), a very good mid-major conference, and they are a very challenging opponent. We are going to have to bring our A-game. It doesn't matter if it's UNCG or Auburn or Cal State Fullerton. We are going to have to play our best softball to advance.”

Clemson started the season 37-1, but finished 9-8 over the season’s final 17 games as the bats went quiet. Those bats will have to heat back up this week.

“There is no secret we struggled down the stretch offensively. Hitting comes and goes. As a coach it's hard to pinpoint it,” Rittman said. “I think a lot of it's mental, and a lot of it's pressure. What we have to realize is that we're good hitters and we have to go back and do some of the basic things right. Hitting comes down to timing and pitch selection. I think recently our decision-making hasn't been really great at the plate and we've had some non-competitive at-bats. That is what we are going to work on this week, is getting back to basics and really getting the completion back into each at-bat with the players.”