Blue Devils Collect Pair of Wins on Day 2 of Duke Invitational

Saturday, March 7

Durham, N.C.

2:30 p.m.

Duke University

19-4

Kent State

9-9

Kent State

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Blue Devils Collect Pair of Wins on Day 2 of Duke Invitational

3/7/2020 7:47:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke softball notched a pair of wins on day two of the Duke Invitational, picking up victories over Kent State (3-1) and Lafayette (10-0) on Saturday.

The Blue Devils upped their season record to 20-4 overall as the Golden Flashes dropped to 9-9 and the Leopards moved to 1-8. Juniors Peyton St. George and Brianna Butler both secured victories, improving to 8-2 and 7-2, respectively.

Senior Raine Wilson and junior Jameson Kavel led Duke at the plate as both went 3-for-6 between the two games while Wilson garnered a team-high three RBI and two doubles.

Duke 3, Kent State 1
Showing her dominance early on, St. George struck out back-to-back batters in the top half of the opening frame. Junior Kendyl Lange picked up Duke's first hit of the day, doubling down the left field line before she was brought home on an RBI single from Wilson (1-0).

Kavel opened the second frame with a stand-up double to left center. Freshman Gisele Tapia moved Kavel to third with a sacrifice bunt to the pitcher. Junior Rachel Crabtree was hit by a pitch and stole second, putting two runners in scoring position for sophomore Deja Davis who hit a two-run single to plate Duke's final runs of the contest.

Kent State looked to rally in the top of the seventh, adding two hits and one run to avoid the shutout, but the Blue Devils held on to win, 3-1. St. George hurled her seventh complete game of the season, throwing all seven innings in which she struck out six batters.

Duke 10, Lafayette 0 (five innings)
Duke brought in its first run of the contest with back-to-back doubles in the first inning as Wilson and sophomore Caroline Jacobsen garnered the Blue Devils two hits in the opening frame (1-0).

Crabtree opened up the Blue Devils' seven-run second inning with a leadoff single up the middle. Freshman Kamryn Jackson followed with a double before Lafayette walked the next two batters, scoring a run to put Duke ahead, 2-0. On top of a single from Kavel and a double from Wilson, the Blue Devils' capitalized on two Leopard errors to score six more runs in the second (8-0).

With singles from redshirt junior Dominique Salinas and Kavel as well as an RBI groundout from Lange, Duke scored its last runs of the day for a 10-0 five-inning victory - its ninth of the 2020 season.

Butler pitched three innings to earn her eighth win of the season, letting up just two hits while picking up four strikeouts. Sophomore Kylie Coffelt dealt two innings in relief and collected her first collegiate strikeout, finishing with two.

The Blue Devils close out their Duke Invitational with a doubleheader versus Gardner-Webb tomorrow afternoon. First pitch for game one is set for 2 p.m.at the Duke Softball Stadium.

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