No. 14 Blue Devils Best Liberty, 7-2, Tuesday

Tuesday, March 21

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

25-5

Liberty

16-10

Liberty

Duke

No. 14 Blue Devils Best Liberty, 7-2, Tuesday

3/21/2023 11:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

DURHAM- No. 14 Duke Softball (25-5, 7-2 ACC) defeated Liberty (16-10, 1-3 ASUN), 7-2, at Duke Softball Stadium on Tuesday night.

With the win, the Blue Devils snapped a 15-game winning streak for Liberty, the nation's third-longest active streak, and picked up their fifth consecutive win.

The Blue Devils' pitching staff of juniors Jala Wright and Lillie Walker and freshmen Sophie Garner-MacKinnon and Cassidy Curd combined in the circle for nine strikeouts while holding the Flames to two runs off four hits.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Liberty was first to strike in the top of the third after two reached on a hit by pitch and single to left field, before coming in on a dropped third strike and a Duke error.
The Blue Devils answered right back in the home half of the inning with runs from freshman D'Auna Jennings and senior Kamryn Jackson.
Jennings led off the frame with an infield single before advancing on a successful bunt from senior Gisele Tapia. Sophomore Ana Gold then moved Jennings and Jackson, pinch running for Tapia, into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
Jennings crossed the plate in the following at-bat as Liberty made the play at first base and Jackson came home on a wild pitch from Paige Bachman.
Freshman Aminah Vega put the Blue Devils in front, 3-2, with a solo home run over the left center field wall.
Duke continued to stretch the lead in the fifth and sixth inning, plating four unanswered runs to pull away for the 7-2 victory.
Wright earned the night's win after fanning four in 2.0 innings of work and giving up one earned run and one walk.

NOTES

Duke now leads the all-time series 4-2 against Liberty, including both meetings this year after defeating the Flames, 8-5, in eight innings on Feb. 10 in Irvine, Calif.
Jennings and Tapia finished the night batting 3-for-4 with two and one run, respectively.
Wright improves to 6-2 on the year and leads the team with 67.0 innings pitched.
Vega tallied her third home run of the season and went 1-for-2 on the night, scoring two runs of Duke's seven runs.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils continue the four-game homestand at Duke Softball Stadium when they host No. 6 Florida State for a three-game ACC weekend series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. Friday's contest will be broadcast on ACC Network while the games on Saturday and Sunday will be available on ACC Network Extra.

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

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