No. 16 Blue Devils Down USF, No. 4 Arkansas on Day Two of Clearwater Invite

Friday, February 17

Clearwater, Fla.

1 p.m.

Duke University

4-3

USF

2-4

Duke

South Florida

No. 16 Blue Devils Down USF, No. 4 Arkansas on Day Two of Clearwater Invite

2/18/2023 12:46:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CLEARWATER, Fla. – No. 16 Duke softball opened the day with a 5-2 win over USF before handing No. 4 Arkansas its second loss of the season, 7-4, on Day Two of the TaxAct Clearwater Invitational.

Junior Claire Davidson led the way with her bat in the two games, finishing 4-for-6 with one home run, two doubles two RBI, and two runs. She also earned her first win in the circle during game one, allowing just one hit in 4.0 innings of work against the Bulls.

In the nightcap against Arkansas, freshman Cassidy Curd was dominate inside the circle, holding off the Razorbacks' offense giving up just three runs, one earned, on two hits with a season-best eight strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Junior Jala Wright came into the contest in relief and continued that momentum, allowing only one run on two hits in 3.2 innings pitched. The pair combined to fan 15 total batters on Friday night, which tied for the second-most in program history for a single game.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. USF

Davidson put the Blue Devils out in front with a solo homerun over the right field wall early in the second inning.
The Blue Devils tacked on four additional runs in the top of the fourth and fifth before the Bulls finally broke through for one run on a sacrifice fly. Prior to the fifth frame, Duke had only relinquished one hit during the contest.
The Blue Devils maintained their 5-1 lead until USF capitalized on back-to-back Duke errors in the bottom of the seventh with two outs to pull within three.
Fortunately, Duke was able to put the final out away during the next at bat to claim the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. NO. 4 ARKANSAS

The Blue Devils again jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game two against the Razorbacks highlighted by a three-run second frame. Graduate student Deja Davis' single down the right field line brought home two of those three runs during that stretch.
Arkansas battled back in the fourth inning posting a three-run frame of its own to trim Duke's lead down to 5-3 before the game was delayed due to inclement weather.
After roughly a 45-minute rain delay, the Blue Devils continued to put pressure on the Arkansas defense with junior Kelly Torres scoring Davis from third base following an RBI-single to center field. Davis led off the inning reaching base on a hit-by-pitch before stealing second and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt by D'Auna Jennings.
The teams exchanged runs in the fifth inning before Wright struck out four of the final eight batters she faced to help Duke secure the 7-4 win.

NOTES

The win over Arkansas marked the fourth consecutive year in which the Blue Devils have recorded a win over a top-5 opponent in February after defeating No. 5 Oklahoma State in 2022, No. 5 LSU in 2021 and No. 4 Texas in 2020.
After walking the game's first batter, Curd sat down the next 10 batters before the Razorbacks were able to break through for their first hit of the game. Curd struck out eight during that stretch.
Freshman Sophie Garner-MacKinnon came in for relief of Davidson in game one, closing out the final three innings allowing two runs, one earned, on one hit.
Senior Gisele Tapia helped the Blue Devil offense, finishing 3-for-5 with one home run, one double, two runs and two RBI during the twin bill.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils are back in action Saturday at 10 a.m. when they face No. 20 UCF. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live stats available through StatBroadcast.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils softball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeSOFTBALL".

#GoDuke