photo by: Brendan Baldwin/LSU Athletics

LSU's Tatum Clopton prepares to pitch against McNeese on Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Baton Rouge, La.

Tatum Clopton’s story is one of perseverance, courage, rebirth and the triumph of the human spirit.

Now a fifth-year senior in college, the former Free State High School pitching phenom fought through shoulder surgeries that could have ended her career and endured nearly three years between appearances in the circle before being able to leave her mark at LSU.

After the first week of January spring practices, in which Clopton and her LSU teammates spent long hours preparing for their season home opener against N.C. State in the Tiger Classic on Feb. 5, she got the chance to relax in her house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on a recent Saturday afternoon and speak candidly about her remarkable journey since graduating from Free State in 2021. As a high schooler, she led the Firebirds to their first state softball championships in 2018 and 2019 and was named a two-time Gatorade Kansas Softball Player of the Year.

Clopton first attended Oklahoma State with great expectations as the No. 7-ranked player in the 2021 class by FloSoftball. Despite limited playing time in six games her freshman season in 2022, Clopton was elated to be part of OSU’s first Big 12 championship and earn a berth in the Women’s College World Series.

“Being (on) that championship team is a memory that’s going to live with me forever,” Clopton said. “(Then) to play in front of thousands of fans (in the WCWS) … that was unreal.”

A week after the WCWS, though, Clopton injured her right throwing shoulder during her first workout for summer softball league. She underwent labrum surgery in August 2022, in which four anchors were inserted.

“They said if I didn’t get surgery,” Clopton said, “I would have bone-on-bone contact in my shoulder joint and end my softball career.”

Clopton, who redshirted the 2023 season, called the rehab “excruciating.” She couldn’t throw again until nine months later. She entered the transfer portal, joining LSU in late July 2023.

“I felt (OSU) was pushing for me to retire, medically,” Clopton said. “Because they had written me off so early, they didn’t realize there was more wrong with my shoulder. I think that was the most frustrating.”

LSU’s legendary head coach Beth Torina, who recruited Clopton out of FSHS, took what Clopton called a “leap of faith.”

“I admit I had some doubts,” Torina said. “After she got here, it was slow going for about a year. She was still throwing 56 miles an hour in year one, but thank goodness we waited it out because she’s in a great spot now and I knew what a great player she was in travel ball and in high school and what a great human being she was.

“So I figured worst-case scenario, we’d have a great person as a member of our team; best-case scenario, we’d have a really competitive pitcher that could do a lot of things in the circle for us.”

Clopton, who lived in Baton Rouge with her family for three years during elementary school (she lives a half-mile up the road from her old home and attends the same church; their former next-door neighbor, Verge Ausberry, is the new LSU athletic director), still struggled in fall ball a year after surgery and slept tearfully in pain.

Clopton’s mom, Sarah, one of the top pitchers in Kansas softball history, whose family had moved to Bloomington, Indiana, in 2022, vividly recalls getting a phone call from her oldest child one day.

“I remember her saying, ‘Mom, I can’t put my hair up in a ponytail without pain,'” Sarah said softly. “I’m thousands of miles away and my heart’s breaking and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and you could just hear the tears of despair. I feel she was at a tipping point where she felt the pain is no longer worth it. (She said), ‘I don’t know what’s wrong but this isn’t normal,’ and, as a mother, your heart breaks for a kid who works so hard and is such a good kid.”

An MRI eventually revealed a “piece of metal” in her shoulder left from the 2022 surgery that her trainer Pam Workman said was “pinching on her rotator cuff.” The surgeon “pulled up the X-ray and it glowed, literally was reflective. He (said), ‘I’ve never seen this in my life,'” Clopton said.

The 5-foot-10 pitcher needed surgery to remove the metal, which could have caused permanent damage and finished her career. Her Christian faith, which has deepened in her time at LSU, helped keep life in perspective.

“I learned how to surrender and told myself that I was going into surgery with positivity and (would) come out with positivity either way,” said Clopton, who redshirted again in 2024. “Life doesn’t end, whether my story with softball is over or not, I’m still going to figure out what’s next in life, and maybe it’s not the plan that I had in mind but I’m sure something greater is at work right now no matter what the outcome is.

“I go to business school. I become a lawyer. I save other people’s lives.”

As it turned out, the November 2023 surgery was successful and her career was reborn.

Two days later, Clopton was “already moving my shoulder back with way less pain than before surgery and with so much more range of motion.”

Clopton, who “knew in that moment I had a story that could reach people and leave an impact if I let it,” began throwing again just three months after surgery and worked tirelessly in rehab to pitch last season. Sarah Clopton raved over LSU’s medical staff in terms of how it diagnosed the metal and steer Tatum’s recovery.

“Had she landed somewhere else, I’m not sure she would have gotten the medical care she got from LSU,” Sarah said. “They were great with her … She’s kind of been granted a new softball life.”

Finally, on a fateful day at Tiger Park, Feb. 8, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. against Charlotte, Clopton made her first appearance in the circle in 1,057 days with a pain-free arm. Before her start, Clopton felt quite nervous so sneaked away during pregame activities to briefly be alone. She meditated, read her Bible, and prayed.

“I was just incredibly thankful,” Clopton fondly recalled. “I kept thanking God for this opportunity and all that He had walked me through, but also realizing I had a job ahead of me so I quickly set my emotions aside.”

Clopton wrote “1057” on her visor “as a reminder,” then “forgot about it” and pitched four innings with four strikeouts as LSU won 10-0. About 840 miles away in North Charleston, South Carolina, Sarah sat on the couch of Tatum’s younger sister Kinsey’s home watching Tatum pitch on TV before attending Kinsey’s weekend debut as a freshman pitcher for Charleston Southern University.

“I was in tears,” Sarah said. “She got a lot of text messages from (people) like her old pitching coach from Oklahoma State and former teammates. She got a lot of love. It was a pretty emotional day.”

Clopton, who has two years of eligibility remaining (Sarah said her sixth year isn’t guaranteed, but “kind of a given” after Tatum applies to the NCAA after this season), called her mom afterwards.

“I don’t know if I would’ve been a softball player if it wasn’t for (her),” Clopton said. “Everything goes back to her and just all that (she’s) done before me and paved the way for me and that whole story.”

Clopton said she got stronger during the season and became LSU’s No. 3 pitcher. She even started and beat Texas on April 19, allowing just one run in 5 2/3 innings.

“That game is personal (since) Texas is a family rivalry,” Clopton said. “That was even bigger than that first one back. It was so awesome to beat the team that ended up winning the national championship.”

She had an impressive comeback junior season overall, making 15 appearances with eight starts in 58 innings with a 7-2 record and 3.14 ERA behind 45 strikeouts. Clopton threw three complete games while holding batters to just a .186 average, the sixth-lowest in the SEC.

She is thrilled to be part of the great culture and “family” at LSU while making “lifetime friendships” with teammates and playing for Torina.

“There is no better community than the LSU athletic community,” Clopton said. “… I owe (Coach) more than she’ll ever know. (LSU) has radically changed my life.”

Torina has great admiration for how Clopton has overcome overwhelming obstacles.

“I think what she’s been through is one of the toughest journeys I’ve ever witnessed,” Torina said. “Taking two years off and still coming back and being able to contribute the way she has is a really incredible story. I think her story will definitely be one for the books. The journey she’s been on is really respected by everybody on the team, and the way she carries herself is really respected, so I think her value is going to go well beyond the numbers she produces in the circle.”

Sarah said Tatum “inspires me every day. She’ll be successful in whatever she does. She could persevere through anything.”

Clopton feels 100% and Torina completely trusts her.

“She’ll definitely be a big factor in what we do this year,” said Torina, whose Tigers are ranked preseason No. 13 nationally by ESPN.com/USA Softball.

Clopton was named 2025 Academic All-District and selected to the SEC Community Service Team. She’s LSU’s softball representative on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and leads the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Clopton, who views each day as a gift, is smiling in the circle and can now breathe freely after all she’s endured and triumphed.

“I’m eternally grateful I didn’t quit,” Clopton said. “I had to have softball taken away from me to feel this joy again. It’s a reminder of how much I love this game and how much (it) has given me and continue to take advantage of every moment.”

She began her two-year MBA program with plans to attend law school afterwards. Clopton, whose “ultimate dream is to be a judge,” is currently focused on making this season one to remember and play in the Women’s College World Series.

“We have incredible things ahead and I can’t wait,” she said. “I know it’s going to be hard and it may be painful and suffering before we get to experience that joy in June when the World Series is (in Oklahoma City), but it’s all going to be worth it and something so huge that we’re going to talk about for years to come.”

photo by: Georgia Jones/LSU Athletics

LSU’s Tatum Clopton pitches against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, May 17, 2025, in Baton Rouge, La.