For the first time in program history, Duke softball is headed to Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series.
The Blue Devils needed nine innings on Sunday, but they defeated Missouri 4-3 in a winner-take-all Game 3 at the Columbia Super Regional.
From the first inning, Sunday’s game settled in as a classic pitcher’s duel.
On Missouri’s side of the circle, the Tigers’ Laurin Krings completely silenced the Blue Devils’ offense. After two singles from senior Claire Davidson and sophomore Aminah Vega in the first three at-bats of the game, Krings immediately forced two put-outs to end the top of the first quickly and quietly.
The Blue Devils only managed one hit, another single from Davidson in the third inning, over the next five frames. Krings complimented those three hits with three strikeouts, but she mostly just forced Duke into simple put-outs. The Blue Devils made contact on 18 of their first 21 at-bats, but 15 of those ended harmlessly as they couldn’t find holes.
The situation may have been dire if not for the heroics of sophomore Cassidy Curd on Duke’s side of the line. Curd, who recorded her 300th career strikeout earlier in the series, perplexed the Tigers over the entire weekend. She tossed nine scoreless innings between the first two games, giving up one hit and one walk while striking out nine Missouri batters.
The pace seemed impossible to keep up, and yet Curd did exactly that on Sunday. Krings gave up three hits in the first six innings, but Curd gave up only two. The sophomore struck out three of the first four batters of the game, and only one Tigers baserunner made it to second base thanks to a sacrifice bunt.
The second, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings all only needed three batters, and Curd had five strikeouts to her name through six innings.
The final inning began with both offenses completely quiet. The Duke offense couldn’t break the spell after three more put-outs, again making contact but unable to find gaps.
Missouri fared only slightly better, a single from catcher Julia Crenshaw the only work for them as Curd struck out two more.
Lightning finally struck in the top of the ninth from the most unlikely of places. Duke centerfielder D’Auna Jennings led the inning off and sent one back over the right-field corner of the wall, the second home run of the sophomore’s career.
D’AUNA JENNINGS HOME RUN AND DUKE TAKES THE LEAD 😈#RoadToWCWS x 🎥 ESPNU / @DukeSOFTBALL pic.twitter.com/fvW2j6RkCY
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 27, 2024
After some brief confusion about whether or not Jennings touched home plate (she very nearly missed it in her excitement), the Blue Devils finally had a run on the board.
Krings finally exited the game after the hit, but Missouri reliever Taylor Pannell couldn’t limit the damage to just one. She smacked a pitch off of Duke senior Francesca Frelick’s elbow before a triple from freshman Amiah Burgess scored the game’s second run.
The game got out of hand quickly from there. An Ana Gold double off the wall scored Burgess, and the Tigers dropped a short pop fly from Kelly Torres that could have ended the inning to let Gold come around.
After a brief relief spell by Blue Devils reliever Lillie Walker resulted in a three-run home run to Mizzou first baseman Abby Hay, Curd came back into the game for the final outs. The final Tigers out came on a fly ball to (who else?) Jennings in centerfield.
After back-to-back Super Regional heartbreaks, the Blue Devils will be one of the last eight teams competing for the national title once the Women’s College World Series begins on May 30.