The Duke softball team begins a best-of-three series against Missouri on Friday with a spot in the Women’s College World Series on the line.
Earlier this week, legendary Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski stopped by the team locker room to offer some encouragement ahead of the Super Regional.
“Just be you,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re proud of you.”
The Blue Devils have already set a single-season program record with 50 wins, and they won both the ACC regular-season title and the ACC Tournament. They’ve never won a Super Regional game in program history, and Marissa Young’s team is on the precipice of its first WCWS appearance.
“You’ve had really good teams,” Krzyzewski said. “But this is the best team that Duke has had. And this team is deserving of winning a national championship.”
Coach K also joked that he’d make a bet with his wife, conditions yet to be determined, that the Blue Devils score in the first inning of Friday’s opening game.
“She’s going to say, ‘Well, we never do that,'” he continued, the team laughing around him. “And I said, well, we’ve never gone past this round either. So we’re going to start doing some things that we have never done.”
Thank you for your inspiring words, Coach K! đ pic.twitter.com/JhnTIQJH8h
— Duke Softball (@DukeSOFTBALL) May 22, 2024
Duke’s first game of the series begins at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.