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Bracket
PITTSBURGH (theACC.com) - Headlined by three home runs, fifth-seeded Clemson powered past No. 4 seed Notre Dame with a 7-3 victory Thursday afternoon to advance to the semifinals of the ACC Softball Championship.
Notre Dame plated the game’s first runs, after ACC Player of the Year Karina Gaskins clubbed a two-run homer to left field. Clemson answered in its next plate appearance, as Alia Logoleo hit a solo home run to left field and Sam Russ singled up the middle to drive in another run and knot the score at 2-2.
Following a pair of scoreless innings, Cammy Pereira launched a solo shot to center field to give the Tigers a 3-2 advantage. Aby Vieira pushed the Clemson lead to 5-2 with a single to left field, scoring two runs.
In the seventh inning, Valerie Cagle hit the third home run of the day for the Tigers to put Clemson ahead by four and Russ followed a few batters latter with her second RBI to make it a 7-2 margin. Notre Dame capitalized on a Tigers error in the bottom of the seventh to trim the deficit to 7-3, but the Fighting Irish were not able to get any closer.
Millie Thompson turned in a stellar performance in the circle for Clemson to improve to 13-3 on the year with a complete game effort, allowing six hits and two earned runs with a pair of strikeouts. Alexis Holloway started for the Irish and was charged with the loss, allowing five runs on five hits in 4.2 innings.
The Tigers will meet Virginia Tech in Friday’s first semifinal at 1 p.m.