Duke softball played one of the most impressive games you’ll ever see on Saturday night

The Blue Devils smacked two grand slams and star pitcher Jala Wright struck out 14 of the 18 batters she faced in Saturday’s 22-0 win over Michigan State.

If you weren’t paying attention to Duke softball on Saturday evening, you missed something special.

The Blue Devils took down Michigan State by mercy rule in just five innings, but that’s not the impressive part. Duke won by 22 (yes, 22) runs after the team strung together 19 hits at the plate, including two grand slams, and pitcher Jala Wright struck out 14 of the 18 batters she faced.

If you want to be even more impressed, all of Duke’s runs came in the first three innings.

Wright, who now boasts a 0.51 ERA after 27.2 innings in the circle this season, let up a single and a walk in the Spartans’ first two at-bats of the evening. She forced a pop-up for the first out of the night before she struck out the next eight Michigan State batters in a row. There was a stretch from the bottom of the first to the bottom of the fourth that included literally nothing but strikeouts for the Spartans.

Wright’s crazy streak came to an end when she allowed a walk to begin the fourth inning. So she just started a new one, striking out the last six Spartans batters to end the game.

The senior has been one of the most prolific pitchers in the country so far this season, and Saturday’s showcase brings her to 38 strikeouts on the young season. She’s allowed just 11 hits by comparison, and she has more complete games (four) than runs allowed (two).

At the plate, the Blue Devils were just as impressive. Gisele Tapia came to the batter’s box with the bases loaded in the first and punched one into the outfield for a two-run single.

One inning later, the California native again came up with three runners on board. This time, however, she sent the ball over the fence for a grand slam, bringing her RBI total to six before the end of the second.

The grand slam feat was matched an inning later by teammate Francesca Frelick. The senior brought home a run with a sacrifice fly in the first, but her single in the second inning was her second hit in 14 at-bats so far this season.

When she dug into the box with the bases loaded in the third inning, she’d only produced three RBIs the entire season. With one mighty swing, she more than doubled that total.

Quite literally, if I tried to walk you through every run the Blue Devils scored on Saturday, we’d be here all night. Tapia had another two-run single in the third inning to bring her RBI total to eight for the evening. Junior Ana Gold followed Frelick with a three-run homer in the third, her team-leading fifth of the season. Sophomore Aminah Vega brought home two runs to bring her season total to 16.

Perhaps the best concise way to sum up the performance is through the third inning when Duke made it around the order two full times and scored 14 runs. When Aleyah Terrell singled Tapia home for the 22nd run of the game, the Spartans hadn’t even recorded their ninth out.

Michigan State isn’t the world’s worst team either, entering the game with a 5-8 record. But for a few hours in Durham, the Blue Devils ran the world.

Duke coasted from there, extending its win streak to 11 after its third win of the weekend. The Duke Invitational continues on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Villanova, whom the Blue Devils beat 8-0 in five innings on Friday.