Tag: Durham Regional

Duke softball beats South Carolina by mercy rule to advance to Durham Regional Final

The Blue Devils, led by the first career home run from leadoff star D’Auna Jennings, needed only six innings to dispatch the Gamecocks on Saturday.

For the fourth straight year, the Duke softball team advanced to the Regional Final after an 8-0 Saturday win over South Carolina.

After two-and-a-half scoreless innings to start the game, sophomore centerfielder D’Auna Jennings hit her first collegiate home run in the bottom of the third to put the Blue Devils on the board. She threw her arms into the air as she rounded the bases, embracing teammate Claire Davidson once she returned to the plate.

One inning later, first baseman Gisele Tapia smacked a single up the middle to drive home two more runs. However, it was the sixth (and final) inning that really drove home the final margin.

With the Blue Devils only leading by three, Jada Baker started the run with a one-out double. With the bases loaded and two outs a few at-bats later, Davidson did her thing. She pushed a single through to left-center for a two-run single, pushing the lead out to five.

After a walk from Aminah Vega loaded the bases once again, the Gamecocks walked two more Blue Devils in a row for back-to-back free runs. One Kelly Torres single later, and Duke met the run-rule requirement with an eight-run advantage.

Jala Wright, the ACC Pitcher of the Year, did her usual work in the circle. In her 19th win of the season, she dealt six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out nine batters. Through two games of regional action thus far, Wright has struck out 12 batters and allowed five baserunners in 11 innings.

The win gives Duke 49 triumphs this season, the single-season program record, and moves the Blue Devils within one win of a third straight Super Regional appearance. Since regionals are double-elimination tournaments, they’ll need to lose twice in a row to whoever advances from the loser’s bracket to not advance.

Duke softball beats Morgan State in opening regional game

The Blue Devils beat the Bears by five runs after stringing together 13 hits during the Friday opener.

The No. 10 Duke Blue Devils started the NCAA postseason right where they left off.

After winning both the ACC regular-season title and the conference tournament, the Blue Devils defeated Morgan State 6-1 on Friday to advance into the champion’s bracket at the Durham Regional.

In the circle, the Bears had no answers for ACC Pitcher of the Year Jala Wright. The senior held Morgan State to two hits and a walk through her five innings of work, and she forced six straight harmless groundouts from the second inning through the fourth.

Wright ended the afternoon with three strikeouts, two hits, and one walk allowed.

After four scoreless innings to start the game, the Duke bats rallied in the bottom of the fifth to crack the game apart. The Blue Devils hit three home runs in a single inning. Gisele Tapia started the scoring with a solo shot to right before ACC Player of the Year Claire Davidson followed with a two-run shot just two batters later.

Standout sophomore Aminah Vega, the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, knocked a one-run shot herself to cement the four-run advantage.

Lillie Walker entered the game in the sixth inning, relieving Wright, and immediately worked her way into a jam. After an opening out, the Bears rattled off three straight singles to score one run and get two runners aboard.

Instead of letting Morgan State back into the game, however, Walker struck out the next two batters to limit the damage.

Duke tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to limit the damage, a two-RBI double from Davidson to give her four for the afternoon. They proved unnecessary, however, as Walker blanked Morgan State in the final inning.

The Blue Devils will advance to play South Carolina at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. The four-team bracket is double-elimination, so the winner between Duke and the Gamecocks will advance to the title series. The loser will face the winner between Utah and Morgan State in an elimination game.