Dry and Wiercioch Propel Duke Past Elon

Wednesday, April 11

Durham, N.C.

5:30 PM

Duke University

21-21

Elon

20-19

Elon

Duke

Dry and Wiercioch Propel Duke Past Elon

4/11/2018 9:52:00 PM | Softball

Box Score SB: Highlights - Elon Box Score (PDF)2018 Season Stats Box Score (HTML)

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Kortney Dry blasted her first-career home run and Amelia Wiercioch struck out a career-high eight batters as the Duke Blue Devils (21-21) posted a 1-0 shutout against the Elon Phoenix (20-19) Wednesday afternoon at the Duke Softball Stadium.

Dry sent a 2-0 pitch packing over the wall in left center in the opening inning of play to give Duke all it needed on the scoreboard. With the 1-0 lead in hand, Wiercioch kept the Phoenix in check to secure her second complete game shutout of the year. The freshman righty set the tone early, recording seven of her eight strikeouts in the first three innings and held Elon to one hit over the first five frames, with that one coming on the leadoff batter.

Elon threatened in the final two frames, only to be turned back by the Blue Devil defense. With a runner on in the sixth and two outs the Phoenix knocked a single to center, but went aggressive on the base paths and paid the price courtesy of Dominique Salinas. The center fielder fired a rocket from the outfield directly into the glove of Raine Wilson, who applied the tag to take out the lead runner and end the threat.

After the Phoenix escaped a home half of the sixth that saw Duke put a runner 60 feet away from home, they tallied a two-out double and had the go-ahead runner put at first via intentional walk in the final frame. However, a quick snag by Wilson on a hard-hit ball would close the contest, as the sophomore tagged third to secure the Blue Devils' eighth shutout of the season.

Duke compiled six hits on the day from six different players, paced by Dry's second-inning bomb. Haley Wymbs was one of those six to record a hit in the contest, extending her hitting streak to three-straight games, one short of tying her career best stretch. With a walk in the opening frame, Rachel Abboud pushed her career-best reached base streak to 11-straight games.

Wiercioch finished her night in the circle allowing just four hits to go along with her career high in strikeouts while also walking two. Only one of her hits allowed was for extra bases.

The Blue Devils will now get set for a nine-game road trip, their longest such stretch of the season. That begins this weekend in South Bend, Ind., as they will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a three-game series for their sixth weekend of ACC play. The series begins with a Saturday, April 14 doubleheader (1 & 3 p.m. ET) before concluding Sunday, April 15 at noon. All three contests will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, which fans can access on WatchESPN.com or the ESPN app.

For more information on Duke softball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for “DukeSoftball”. You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for “dukeathletics”.

Extra Bases…

Wednesday's win was the first in program history against an in-state foe.
The Blue Devils are now 15-3 when leading after five innings and a perfect 17-0 when leading after six.
Duke is now 9-5 this season when hitting a home run and 16-6 when outhitting its opponent.
The win against Elon is just the third of the year when scoring one run.
Duke continues to be successful in close contests, improving to 10-5 on the year in one-run games.
In her first game in the two spot of the lineup, Kortney Dry hit her first-career home run with a solo blast in the first inning.
Dry's home run is just the second of the year in the first inning for the Blue Devils (Rachel Abboud at Pitt, April 1).
Amelia Wiercioch struck out a career-high eight batters and tallied her second complete game shutout of the season.
Wiercioch kept her non-conference domination rolling Wednesday and is now 5-2 with a 1.00 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 20 non-ACC appearances.
Rachel Abboud improved her career-high reached base safely streak to 11-straight games with a walk in the opening inning of play.
Haley Wymbs has now hit safely in three-straight games, standing just one away from tying her career-best stretch.

Midweek Info…

Friday, April 10
Charlotte def. Duke, 3-2 [9] (Stats, Recap)

Wednesday, April 11
Duke def. Elon, 1-0 (Stats)

On Deck…
The Blue Devils will now get set for a nine-game road trip, their longest such stretch of the season. That begins this weekend in South Bend, Ind., as they will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a three-game series for their sixth weekend of ACC play. The series begins with a Saturday, April 14 doubleheader (1 & 3 p.m. ET) before concluding Sunday, April 15 at noon. All three contests will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, which fans can access on WatchESPN.com or the ESPN app.

A Year Of Firsts...
The Blue Devils' inaugural campaign will be filled with a number of statistical firsts as the year goes on. Here is a look at the firsts accomplished by Team One so far.