Duke softball traveled to Tallahassee this weekend for its first ACC road trip of the 2024 season.
Despite the No. 6 Blue Devils suffering their first loss since the season opener, Duke still left with a series victory over the No. 16 Florida State.
The Blue Devils rode into town with a 20-game win streak and showed no signs of slowing down on Friday night.
Duke star pitcher Jala Wright got the start on the mound and continued her exceptional form to begin the 2024 season. She hadn’t allowed an earned run in her previous 26 innings when she tossed her first pitch of the weekend, and she retired her first nine batters of the opening game. She struck out the entire side in the second inning, and after a leadoff single ended her perfect game in the fourth, she retired the side with her fourth strikeout of the day to end the inning.
On the offensive end, senior left fielder Claire Davidson launched a two-run home run in the opening inning to claim an early lead. She drove in another run two innings later when she tripled into left field, giving Duke a 3-0 advantage.
Davidson came to the plate for the third time in the fifth inning with two runners on, and she again laced a single into the outfield for her fourth RBI of the afternoon. Second baseman Aminah Vega doubled home two more runs in the very next at-bat, and Duke led 7-0 after four innings.
Shortstop Jada Baker picked up two RBIs herself in the middle of the game, first with an RBI single in the fourth inning before a solo home run in the sixth stretched the lead to eight. A two-run double from Vega later ballooned the advantage to 10-0 as she, Baker, and Davidson drove in every Blue Devils run.
Florida State’s bats finally awoke in the bottom of the sixth, picking up four runs (including the first earned run on Wright in nearly a month) after a handful of singles and walks. However, the Seminoles couldn’t pull any closer than 10-5 before the final out was recorded.
The road rivals bounced back on Saturday, however, to hand Duke its first loss since the season opener. Duke’s star sophomore Cassidy Curd started the second game in the circle, but Florida State chased her after just two innings. After an opening flyout, the Seminoles laced together four straight hits in the first inning, including two doubles and a triple, for a 3-0 lead before the end of the opening frame.
The Blue Devils’ offense could never get off the ground in the second game of the weekend, with only one baserunner (an Ana Gold walk in the first) across the first four innings. Florida State added a fourth run in the third inning, and a sixth-inning Duke rally could only muster two runs.
With the series on the line on Sunday, however, the Blue Devils came through.
After a Florida State run in the opening frame, Francesca Frelick rocked around the tying run in the second with a sacrifice fly. One inning later, Vega and Amiah Burgess brought in another run each to stretch the advantage to 3-1.
Duke still led 5-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Florida State refused to let the series end early. With the tying run on third base with only one out, however, Duke gave Wright the ball again.
The star pitcher forced a groundout (albeit surrendering the tying run due to contact) and a flyout to force an extra inning.
As was the story on Friday, Claire Davidson played hero once again. The Blue Devils led by two after a double by slugger Ana Gold, but the senior outfielder launched another home run to break the game apart in extra innings.
Florida State couldn’t score a run in the bottom of the eighth, giving Duke the series win and improving the Blue Devils to 22-2 on the season.
The Blue Devils play UNC Wilmington in a home doubleheader on Wednesday.