The Blue Devils finished the Duke Invitational with back-to-back wins on Sunday, first defeating Villanova 11-5 earlier in the afternoon before shutting out Elon for a 14-0 run.
The Wildcats, whom Duke beat on Friday to begin the weekend in Durham, actually got off to a decent start offensively. Each of Villanova’s first three batters reached base safely, including an RBI double from catcher Ally Jones to open the scoring.
With two outs in the second, Villanova chased Duke starter Sophie Garner-Mackinnon from the mound with a two-out homer from leadoff hitter Tess Cities.
Despite the three runs in the first two innings, though, the Wildcats still weren’t leading. The Blue Devils put up four runs in the bottom of the first, including a two-run shot of their own from junior Ana Gold.
The bomb was Gold’s sixth of the year and her third of the weekend, and she has a team-leading 22 RBIs through the Blue Devils’ first 14 games.
Senior Claire Davidson scored the third run almost single-handedly, singling and stealing second before racing all the way home after a fielding error.
The third inning and the top of the fourth passed without any runs, with Duke reliever Lillie Walker holding the line to keep the Blue Devils’ lead intact. No team has been able to hold the Duke offense down very long, however, and it scored multiple runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to cement the final margins. Davidson and Aminah Vega added the final two runs with solo home runs at the buzzer, the final two hits of the game.
If you track the trend of “Duke scored seven runs in the final three innings of its first game,” the Blue Devils’ offensive performance against Elon won’t shock you in the slightest. Duke scored 14 runs in the first three innings against the Phoenix powered by a seven-run explosion in the first.
Three of the first four Blue Devils at the plate reached base after a single and two walks before Kelly Torres drew another walk for the game’s first run. Gisele Tapia and Francesca Frelick immediately followed that with back-to-back base hits, each bringing home two runs.
Frelick’s two-RBI single capped off one of the best weekends you’ll ever see on the diamond. Frelick entered the home tournament with one hit, a solo home run against Army, in her first 12 at-bats of the season. Over her four games in Durham this weekend, she went 6/9 at the plate with another home run and nine RBIs.
The real star of the Elon blowout win was shortstop Jada Baker, who ended every at-bat with a run on the board. First, she batted Frelick home in the first with a single into left field. In the next inning, she had runners on first and second and again laced a base hit into the outfield to bring home another run.
With two runners in scoring position in the third inning, Baker roped one up the middle to bring both Blue Devils around to score and end her three-hit, four-RBI day.
Those two runs were Duke’s last of a productive afternoon, and pitcher Dani Drogemuller never let the Phoenix off the mat offensively. The graduate student surrendered just four hits in her five-inning performance, striking out six batters in the shutout.
After a five-game weekend, Duke gets a full workweek off. They’ll take the diamond again on Friday against Syracuse, the start of a three-game weekend series.
