Tag: Claire Davidson

Duke softball remains seventh in D1Softball rankings amid eight-game win streak

Despite eight straight wins in dominant fashion, the Blue Devils remained seventh in the D1Softball rankings released on Monday.

D1 Softball released its updated top 25 on Monday and Duke stayed put at seventh despite some scorching recent form.

The Blue Devils lost a defensive battle with consensus No. 1 Oklahoma in the season opener, but they have ripped off eight straight wins since. They scored 16 runs in five innings against Iowa State, 18 runs in five innings against North Dakota State, and allowed one run across four games over this past weekend in Miami.

Senior Claire Davidson, junior Ana Gold, and sophomore Aminah Vega share the team lead with 14 RBIs, powered by Gold’s team-leading three home runs.

Pitchers Sophie Garner-MacKinnon and Lillie Walker haven’t allowed an earned run in 16 combined innings, and Jala Wright has surrendered two in her 17.2 innings in the circle.

The Sooners still lead the D1Softball rankings with rival Texas close behind in second. Georgia, Washington, and Tennessee also made the top five, with LSU, the Blue Devils, Oklahoma State, Stanford, and Clemson rounding out the top 10.

Duke gets a chance at nine straight wins on Friday against Villanova, the start of the weekend’s Duke Invitational.

Duke softball needs only five innings against Army behind near-perfect pitching

Another monster game from Claire Davidson at the plate and dominant pitching from Sophie Garner-MacKinnon powered Duke to its seventh straight win.

The Duke softball team won its third game of the weekend on Saturday morning, needing only five innings to put Army away by a score of 8-0.

The Blue Devils, who have now won seven straight games, were kickstarted by senior Claire Davidson at the plate once again. After two walks to begin the morning game, the left fielder pushed a base hit through into the outfield to bring both runners home.

With Duke’s lead still two runs in the bottom of the third and a runner on first, Davidson launched her second home run of the year over the left field wall to make it a 4-0 ballgame.

Davidson’s four RBIs on Saturday morning brought her season total to 12, the second-highest of anyone on the team (Ana Gold – 13). Through eight games this season, the outfielder is batting .440 and leads the Blue Devils with five extra-base hits.

The Blue Devils plated three more runs in the bottom of the third to stretch their lead to seven, thanks to RBI singles from Gisele Tapia, Kelsey Zampa, and D’Auna Jennings.

If you’re noticing that Duke’s leading margin was the same as the number of runs that Duke scored, that’d be because Army couldn’t generate any offensive momentum.

Sophomore Sophie Garner-MacKinnon got the game started in the circle and stayed there for the entire five-inning game, allowing two hits and two walks but zero runs. She only struck out one Army batter, but she routinely forced easy defensive plays to keep the offense silent.

The Black Knights managed to get two runners on base in the opening inning thanks to a walk and a single, but Garner-MacKinnon forced a pop-up to strand them aboard. After a one-out double in the second, she coaxed two fly-outs into the outfield.

The next two innings were routine, three batters up and three batters down. Suddenly, after another run from the Duke offense in the bottom of the fourth courtesy of a Francesca Frelick home run, Army came to bat in the top of the fifth with the game on the line.

Only one runner reached base that inning after Garner MacKinnon surrendered a walk with two outs. The following pitch resulted in a ground ball to end the game.

The Blue Devils, now 7-1 for the season, get a second crack at the Black Knights on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. ET, their fourth game in two days.

Duke softball a consensus top-10 team after 3-1 start

Duke softball won three of its four games during a season-opening tournament and found itself inside the top 10 of four different rankings.

After winning three of its four games during a season-opening tournament, the Duke softball team is one of the consensus top-10 teams in the country.

As of Tuesday, the Blue Devils were within the top 10 in the eyes of the USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches Poll, Softball America, D1 Softball, and USA Softball.

Duke is ranked highest by Softball America, where they are currently considered the No. 5 team in the country. D1 Softball has the Blue Devils seventh, and the Coaches Poll and USA Softball both have them 10th.

The Blue Devils’ strong start can be partially traced back to ACC Pitcher of the Week Jala Wright, who struck out 13 batters and allowed one earned run over 10.2 innings of work in three appearances.

On the offensive side, senior Claire Davidson led the way with five hits (including two doubles and a home run) and a team-high seven RBIs in 12 plate appearances.

Duke looks to extend its win streak to four games in a home game against North Dakota State on Wednesday.

Duke softball ends opening tournament with third straight win

The Blue Devils overcame a season-opening loss to Oklahoma comfortably, as a low-scoring 2-0 win over Long Beach State on Saturday meant they left the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge with a 3-1 record.

Duke softball won its third game in two days on Saturday night with a 2-0 victory over Long Beach State in a game that featured just six combined hits.

The Blue Devils swept Iowa State and Nebraska in a doubleheader on Friday behind the power of their bats, but it was the Duke pitching that won them the game against LBSU.

Duke jumped out to an early lead in the opening inning when senior Claire Davidson singled in D’Auna Jennings, a likely result for both offensive stars this weekend. The run was the seventh batted in by Davidson already in the young season, the most on the team over the weekend, and the senior ended the week with a .417 batting average.

Jennings batted .267 for the weekend but absolutely took advantage when she reached base. She ended the weekend with five runs scored, tied for the most on the team.

The lone run ended up being all of the early offense for both teams. Dani Drogemuller got the start in the circle for the Blue Devils and allowed just three baserunners in three innings. (two walks and one hit).

Sophomore Cassidy Curd took over for Drogemuller in the fourth and continued to hold Long Beach State scoreless. Curd needed to work hard to keep that team shutout intact, however, as she delivered a clutch strikeout to end the fourth inning with three runners on base.

Duke found a second run in the top of the fifth courtesy of a sacrifice bunt by Ana Gold, and the Blue Devils defense again came up huge in the fifth inning. With Jala Wright now in the circle and a runner on first base, the Duke infield turned a weak ground ball to second into a double play to end the inning.

The four stranded runners between those two frames turned out to be LBSU’s best chance at pulling even for the evening, and the two quiet innings that followed helped Duke coast to a 2-0 victory.

Drogemuller, Curd, and Wright combined to allow just one hit and six walks against seven strikeouts for the evening. Wright in particular shined during the entire opening tournament, pitching for 10.2 innings and allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out 13 batters.

The Blue Devils take the field again at Duke Softball Stadium on Wednesday for a home game against North Dakota State with sights set on a fourth straight win.