No. 2 Duke softball took down North Carolina for a third straight time on Sunday night, a 6-1 victory fueled by two early home runs from senior Claire Davidson.
Sporting some new all-white uniforms for the series finale, Davidson wasted no time in the Blue Devils’ second at-bat of the game. With the sun low in the Durham sky, she swiped at a low pitch from UNC’s Kenna Raye Dark and blasted a line drive into right-center field.
The ball carried just far enough, bounding harmlessly into the grassy hill over the wall for a solo shot.
The two North Carolina teams couldn’t generate any more offense for the next three innings, but in the bottom of the fourth, strode back to the batter’s box with runners on first and second with two outs on the board. Facing down Dark for the third time of the day, the Duke senior smashed another fly ball to right-center field, landing no more than 30 feet away from her first blast, for a three-run homer.
Sophomore Aminah Vega followed up with a solo shot three pitches later, pulling a fly ball down the right field side for a towering homer and breaking the game apart.
THIS COMBO 🫢😮💨
A three-run blast from @claire7davidson and a solo shot from @aminahsole extends our lead to 5-0! 😈 pic.twitter.com/1dPyqisfYh
— Duke Softball (@DukeSOFTBALL) April 8, 2024
Dark didn’t throw another pitch.
The two homers and four RBIs added to what has been a seismic senior season from Davidson, who now leads the Blue Devils with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs so far this season.
Vega, who won NCAA Player of the Week last week, is second on the roster in both metrics with nine home runs and 39 RBIs.
In the circle, a trio of Duke pitchers lived up to their usual form from the season thus far. Dani Drogemuller, the starter, got the game ball for the first 3.1 innings and allowed six hits, but she never allowed a run and struck out two batters. Star senior Jala Wright surrendered the lone run of the game in her 1.1 innings of work before Lillie Walker tallied the last seven outs.
Walker, who picked up her eighth win of the season, only allowed one hit. One year after she put up a 1.20 ERA in 28 appearances, the senior currently sports an ERA of 0.90 through her first 17 outings of this campaign.
The win put the finishing touches on a dominant three-game series for the Blue Devils. Duke allowed just five runs across 19 innings and outscored the Tar Heels 20-5, and the Blue Devils have now won 11 straight games over their in-state rival.
That's the ballgame, folks! 😈
Our 11th straight win over the Tar Heels 😏 pic.twitter.com/VIZTMoenB2
— Duke Softball (@DukeSOFTBALL) April 8, 2024
Duke has now won eight straight games and 12 of its past 13, and the Blue Devils are 33-3 on the season. They spring back into action with a Tuesday evening game against East Carolina before a Wednesday game against Campbell.