Duke softball, for the first time in program history, is the best team in the country.
The Blue Devils, now 33-3 on the season and 13-2 against ACC foes after sweeping North Carolina this weekend, took the top spot in the Softball America rankings on Monday morning. It’s hard to find a bigger reason why than the bat of senior star Claire Davidson.
Davidson hit two home runs in the series finale on Sunday, a solo shot in the opening inning and a three-run bomb in the fourth, to power Duke to a 6-1 victory. The senior has produced a hit in eight of her last 12 at-bats, and the two home runs on Sunday gave her six bombs and 14 RBIs in her last seven games. The torrid late-season stretch has her in some exceptional national company, as she is inside the top 20 in the nation in both homers and runs batted in, but she’s not just unrivaled among her teammates. She’s unrivaled in Duke program history as she’s on pace to break (or shatter) a handful of records.
No Blue Devil has finished a season with a slugging percentage better than .797. Davidson, through 36 games, is hovering at 1.000. Her 46 RBIs are only 10 shy of the most in Duke history despite the Blue Devils having 15 games in the regular season (and an entire postseason) left to play. Davidson’s 12 doubles would also be on pace to break the Duke record of 16 if not for teammate Aminah Vega, who has 13 already on the season.
Ana Gold set the program single-season home run record last year with 19, a mark that looked safe for most of the season, but Davidson’s two blasts on Sunday got her to 13 for the year, moving yet another school record in reach.
All of these records center around Davidson’s power, but her contact and consistency are just as good. Teammate D’Auna Jennings set a Duke record with a .462 batting average in her outstanding freshman campaign last year. Davidson is batting .459 thus far.
The senior is doing something truly special over the last two weeks, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better athlete on campus over the past few years.