Tag: Jala Wright

Blue Devils softball lose first series of the year to Virginia on senior day

The Blue Devils lost back-to-back games for the first time in 2024 after a senior day sweep at the hands of Virginia on Saturday.

For the first time in 2024, the Blue Devils lost a series this weekend.

No. 3 Duke took the Friday game after a 12-inning marathon, an extra-inning walk-off on a bunt by Jada Baker. The series-opening win, powered by 12 scoreless innings in the circle from senior Jala Wright, moved Duke to 39-4 for the year. It was the Blue Devils’ 11th straight conference win, and Duke seemed to be operating at full power.

As the sun rose on Saturday, the final regular-season weekend games at Duke Softball Stadium awaited the Blue Devils. They faced the Cavaliers twice, first at 1 p.m. and again at 3:30 p.m., and lost both games by a single run.

Senior Claire Davidson, in the midst of maybe the greatest offensive season in program history, popped up a sacrifice fly in the third inning of the opening game to give Duke a 1-0 lead. Davidson already set the single-season RBI record during the midweek win over UNC Greensboro, and she finished the weekend with 59 RBIs for the season.

However, Virginia leadoff hitter Jade Hylton blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth to shoot her squad ahead. The Blue Devils could only tack on two more runs in the fifth, more sacrifice flies from Kelly Torres and Davidson, but the final two frames passed in a scoreless draw for the Cavaliers to clinch the upset.

Davidson, Wright, Torres, Francesca Frelick, Lillie Walker, Gisele Tapia, and Sarah Goddard stared down redemption in the final weekend home game of their senior season.

Instead, the Cavaliers tacked on the first three runs of the game. Hylton homered again, raking in two more runs in the top of the third, before an RBI single from left fielder Kelsey Hackett gave UVA the 3-0 lead.

Wright came back into the circle in the middle of the sixth inning and did her part, striking out Virginia’s last five batters to keep the offensive challenge as small as possible.

Sophomore sensation Aminah Vega tripled in the bottom of the sixth, her 27th extra-base hit of the year, to bring home the first run. Two batters later, Tapia brought the second baseman home with a single into left field. All of a sudden, the Blue Devils were within one run of escaping with the series.

Instead, Virginia brought Madison Harris, who surrendered Friday’s fateful run, back into the circle. Harris retired her first batter to end the sixth and started the seventh with back-to-back outs, putting Duke’s back entirely against the wall.

D’Auna Jennings drew a walk to keep hopes alive, putting the tying run on base, but Torres flew out harmlessly to end the rally.

Duke, now 39-6 for the season, does play two more home games to close the regular season this coming week. Gardner-Webb comes to town on Tuesday before a Wednesday battle against Longwood. The Blue Devils end the year with a three-game road series against NC State.

Duke softball takes first game against UNC for 100th conference win

The Blue Devils took game one from the Tar Heels on Friday for their 31st win of the season and their 100th conference win in program history.

Duke softball accomplished three major things on Friday night.

First and foremost, the Blue Devils beat North Carolina. No matter the sport, a victory over the Tar Heels always satisfies. Duke took down UNC for a 6-4 series-opening win at Duke Softball Stadium.

The victory also gave Duke its sixth win in a row, its 31st of the season, and its 100th all-time conference win in program history.

The Blue Devils entered the game with all the momentum after a sweep of Virginia Tech, previously unbeaten in conference play, last weekend.

Duke picked up where it left off in the circle with star senior Jala Wright opening the game with four scoreless frames, striking out five batters over that frame.

UNC didn’t go down without fights. The Tar Heels got a runner to third base in each of the first three innings, but Wright struck out the final batter in the first and third and forced a harmless groundout in the second to keep her slate clean.

The Blue Devils offense took a second to get going, but Duke got off the ground in the bottom of the third. After a single and a walk in the first two at-bats of the inning, second baseman Aminah Vega singled home the first run of the game.

Vega got the opening RBI fresh off of her NCAA Player of the Week honors when she brought home nine runs in three games against the Hokies.

Two batters later, Kelly Torres singled home two more runs to give the Blue Devils some breathing room.

The Tar Heels finally got a hold on Wright in the fifth inning when their first two batters walked and singled, putting runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly and a wild pitch drove home two runs, but the Duke pitcher steadied herself to retire the last two batters of the frame.

Wright finished the game with seven strikeouts, six hits, and two earned runs in 5.2 innings en route to her 12th win of the year. She set a personal mark, too, with her 350th career strikeout to record the first out of the sixth inning.

The Blue Devils answered quickly on the offensive end, too. With the lead now one, Francesca Frelick strode to the plate with nobody aboard and two outs and promptly did this.

The towering no-doubter pushed the lead back to two, but senior star Claire Davidson decided that she wanted a little more insurance in the following inning.

The two-run bomb was Davidson’s 11th home run of the season, three more than any other player on the team, and gave her a team-leading 42 RBIs on the season.

The Blue Devils coasted from there, allowing two runs in the top of the seventh when UNC needed at least four to extend the game.

The second game of the series starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Duke’s Jala Wright fifth in Softball America’s pitcher rankings

Softball America released a ranking of the country’s top pitchers on Monday and Duke’s Jala Wright made the top five.

Softball America released a list of the top pitchers in the country on Monday, and Duke’s Jala Wright made the top five.

Through 15 appearances so far this season, Wright has an ERA of 1.00 and an 11-0 record. She has 82 strikeouts against just 42 hits and 19 walks, and she’s earned 10 runs in 70.0 innings in the circle.

From the end of February to the middle of March, Wright went five straight outings without allowing a run. She pitched 26 innings between the five games. She hasn’t given up an earned run in nine of her 15 trips to the circle this season, and she surrendered just three earned runs through her first 54 innings of work.

Wright’s best performance of the year came against Michigan State in February when she struck out 14 batters while allowing just one hit and two walks in a five-inning shutout.

Wright allowed five runs to Virginia Tech in two appearances over the weekend, just her second and third outings of the year with multiple earned runs. She still put up five strikeouts in the six innings, and Duke still won both games.

Duke softball up to second in Softball America rankings

After a sweep of Virginia Tech to take firm control of the ACC, the Blue Devils trail only Oklahoma in the Softball America rankings.

Duke rose to claim the spot as the second-best softball team in the country, according to Softball America’s newest Top 25 released on Monday.

The Blue Devils are 29-3 on the season and 10-2 against ACC opponents after a sweep of Virginia Tech this weekend. The Hokies entered the series as the last ACC team unbeaten in conference play, but the Blue Devils outscored them by a combined 13 runs, including a 14-5 win to open the series.

Duke has only lost twice since the season opener against Oklahoma. The Sooners, who have won the last three national titles, remain atop Softball America’s Top 25 with a 34-1 record so far this season.

Georgia, Oklahoma State, and Tennessee round out the top five. Texas, Stanford, LSU, Washington, and Florida finished in order from sixth through 10th.

Duke’s season keeps going against Charlotte on Wednesday before a three-game series against North Carolina beginning on Friday.

Duke softball walks off Virginia Tech to clinch series

The Blue Devils needed only one run in the bottom of the seventh to clinch this weekend’s series against Virginia Tech, and Kelly Torres came through.

Duke softball needed just one win in the bottom of the seventh for a second straight win over Virginia Tech. It took the Blue Devils only five batters to find it.

After a double and two walks from the previous two batters, senior Kelly Torres strode to the plate with the bases loaded and one out on the board. She swung at the second pitch that Virginia Tech’s Lyndsey Grein rifled her way, and the ball rocketed off her bat.

The low, flat long drive looked like a potential lineout to center at first, but the ball kept flying and flying. Hokies centerfielder Emma Ritter could only watch helplessly as it whizzed over her head, one-hopping off the wall and bringing home the winning run.

The win, Duke’s eighth comeback of the year, improved the Blue Devils to 28-3 on the season and 9-2 in ACC play. They’ve taken two in a row from Virginia Tech, who hadn’t lost a conference game before the series began.

Duke trailed from the opening frame after the Hokies hung up four runs in the opening inning. Star Blue Devils pitcher Jala Wright got the start, and the senior had allowed just five earned runs in her 64 innings in the circle.

After an opening triple from Ritter, however, the Hokies set a different tone. Another Virginia Tech runner reached on a throwing error before Bre Peck launched a three-run homer into right-center field.

After another home run, a solo shot from Michelle Chatfield two batters later, Wright returned to usual form. She finished the outing with five strikeouts, six hits, and three earned runs in four innings.

The Blue Devils slowly pulled closer and closer throughout the evening. Second baseman Aminah Vega made the comeback possible, first smacking a two-run homer in the bottom of the first before blasting another two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.

Right fielder Sarah Goddard pushed in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, a one-out single that brought Torres around from second base, but the Hokies tied the game in the top of the seventh to set up Torres’ heroics.

The final game of the series takes place at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Duke softball within top five in three major polls

After a series victory over Louisville and a 26-3 start to the season, few teams are higher than the Blue Devils in national rankings.

Few programs are in a better state right now than Duke softball.

Duke is within the top five in three national polls this week, with Softball America ranking the Blue Devils as the fourth-best team in the country.

The team is fifth in the USA TODAY Sports/NFCA Coaches Poll and the USA Softball rankings, and D1Softball slotted the Blue Devils in at sixth.

The Blue Devils dispatched Louisville in a three-game road series over the weekend, losing Saturday’s game in eight innings but taking the Friday and Sunday contests.

The wins moved Duke to 26-3 on the season with a 7-2 record in conference play, and national polls are confident the Blue Devils will make national noise come the postseason.

The Blue Devils, the consensus best team in the ACC, resume their season with a three-game series against Virginia Tech, the last team without a loss in conference play. The series starts on Thursday.

Duke softball wins road series over No. 16 Florida State

Duke softball lost its second game of the season on Saturday, but the Blue Devils still took two out of three from their ranked ACC foes.

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.

Jala Wright named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time.

The senior pitcher tossed 10 shutout innings against Syracuse over the weekend, allowing four hits and striking out 10 batters.

Duke senior Jala Wright was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the second time on Tuesday after she tossed 10 shutout innings against Syracuse.

Wright took the mound first on Saturday, pitching the first six innings of the series. She started again in the final game on Sunday, going the first four innings. She struck out 10 combined batters over her two appearances, and the Orange only managed four hits and two walks against her.

Her last four appearances have all been shutouts, and Wright hasn’t allowed a run since February 16. She struck out 14 batters in a single game against Michigan State on Feb. 24.

Wright has thrown 37.2 innings so far this season, and she’s allowed just 15 hits and five walks. She’s struck out 48 batters, and her ERA is currently just 0.37, the ninth-best mark in the nation.

The Blue Devils senior is also fifth in hits allowed per seven innings (2.79) and 32nd in strikeouts per seven innings (8.9) so far this season.

Wright was named ACC Pitcher of the Week for the first time this season on February 13 after she allowed one run and three hits across 10.2 innings over opening weekend.

Duke softball stays within top five of D1Softball rankings after Syracuse sweep

Duke didn’t allow a run over the entire weekend in a three-game sweep over Syracuse that featured 10 scoreless innings from star pitcher Jala Wright. The performance kept them in D1Softball’s top five.

Duke softball remained in the top five of D1Softball’s weekly rankings on Monday after a weekend sweep of the Syracuse Orange.

The Blue Devils, now 15-1 for the season and 3-0 in conference play, didn’t allow a run for the entire three-game series.

They began with a 7-0 win on Saturday, the first game of a double-header. Star pitcher Jala Wright continued her exceptional form with six shutout innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out five batters.

Wright took the mound again on Sunday, throwing the first four innings and surrendering three hits but again striking out five batters. She earned her seventh win of the season for the latter performance, and she retired her last six batters in a row.

The performances gave Wright four consecutive shoutout starts with 20 combined innings between them. She sports an ERA of 0.37 with more than three times as many strikeouts (48) as hits allowed (15) through her 37.2 innings of work this season.

The second game of Saturday’s double-header ended almost the exact same way with a 6-0 Duke victory. Senior Francesca Frelick, who batted in two runs during the first game against the Orange, batted in two more in the second with a double in the fourth inning.

Frelick has been a run machine for the Blue Devils as of late. Her four RBIs on Saturday gave her 13 runs batted in over her last six games, including a six-RBI performance against Michigan State.

Senior Claire Davidson also mashed a solo home run in the fourth inning, her fifth shot of the year and her second RBI of the afternoon.

The offense did the least damage in Sunday’s finale, with a three-run triple from first baseman Gisele Tapia in the bottom of the first providing the game’s only three runs.

Texas took over the top spot in the D1Softball poll from three-time defending national champion Oklahoma, who dropped to second. LSU and Oklahoma State rounded out the rest of the top 10.

Three other ACC teams made the site’s top 25. Clemson came in 11th, Virginia Tech slotted in 15th, and Florida State rounded out the trio in 16th.

Jala Wright is the best Duke athlete you aren’t talking about, and she might be the best one on campus

If you aren’t paying attention to the senior pitcher with 38 strikeouts and two earned runs through 27.2 innings so far this season, do yourself a favor and tune in.

Duke athletics has been dominated by basketball for as long as anyone can remember.

After all, the Blue Devils men’s basketball team has cut down the nets five teams since 1991. There aren’t many programs with more historical relevance than Duke or figures with more historical relevance than former coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Even this year, Duke is a top-10 team in the country with preseason All-American Kyle Filipowski and five-star freshman Jared McCain, both of whom are living up to the hype.

They still aren’t the best athletes in Durham so far this spring. That would be senior softball pitcher Jala Wright.

Wright has made four starts for the Blue Devils so far this season. She finished the complete game all four times. Across her 27.2 innings pitched, she’s let up 11 hits, three walks, and two earned runs, both of which came on solo home runs.

In that same time frame, she’s struck out 38 batters. Again, compared to just 14 total baserunners. That’s an average of almost 1.4 per inning, meaning that if Wright pitched a complete seven-inning game at her current pace, she’d strike out 9.7 batters before the end of the game.

She tossed out her magnum opus against Michigan State this weekend, retiring 14 of the 18 batters she faced via strikeout. She struck out eight straight batters from the first inning through the end of the third, and then she struck out the last six she faced in a row. 14 out of the Spartans’ last 15 at-bats ended with a third strike.

Wright began her season with a scoreless inning against Oklahoma, the three-time defending national champions and consensus No. 1 team in the country. She pitched a complete game against Nebraska the next day, giving up one run and striking out eight in seven innings.

She went the distance again against Rutgers, again allowing just one run across seven innings before she tossed back-to-back shutouts this weekend. First, she blanked Villanova for five innings in a mercy-rule victory before she suffocated the Spartans offense on Saturday.

Wright’s ERA currently sits at an eye-popping 0.51 through six appearances, and the two solo home runs she’s given up are the only extra-base hits she’s allowed so far this season. Two extra-base hits in 27.2 innings.

The entire Duke softball team deserves your attention as it makes a run toward the Women’s College World Series. The Blue Devils have won 11 straight games with two more on Sunday, and they’re a consensus top-10 team in the country.

If you’re looking to get on a bandwagon early, however, start keeping an eye on when Wright gets to start the game in the circle. There’s a lot of softball left to play, but you might just [anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]see something unprecedented.