No. 6 Duke Falls to No. 3 Florida State, 2-1, in ACC Championship Game

Saturday, May 13

South Bend, Ind.

1 p.m.

Duke University

45-10

Florida State

50-8

Duke

Florida State

No. 6 Duke Falls to No. 3 Florida State, 2-1, in ACC Championship Game

5/13/2023 7:57:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – No. 6 Duke fell, 2-1, in a heartbreaker to No. 3 Florida State in the 2023 ACC championship game on Saturday afternoon at Melissa Cook Stadium.

The Seminoles (50-8) pushed the game-winning run across home plate in the bottom of the seventh to walk it off and claim their second consecutive title. The Blue Devils (45-10) were handed just their 10th loss of the year and now await their placement in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Despite the loss, graduate student Deja Davis and freshmen Cassidy Curd and Aminah Vega brought home individual hardware after being named to the ACC All-Tournament team. The trio of Blue Devils are now the seventh players in program history to earn the recognition, joining Kristina Foreman, Peyton St. George, senior Gisele Tapia and Shelby Walters in 2021.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Florida State struck first with an RBI-double off the bat of Jahni Kerr in the bottom of the third to plate Kaley Mudge and give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Devils responded in the top of the fifth after senior Kamryn Jackson touched home on a passed ball to tie the game at 1-1. Jackson led off the frame reaching on a two-base fielding error before shifting to third on a sacrifice bunt from freshman D'Auna Jennings.
Junior pitcher Lillie Walker, who came in for relief of starter Curd, sat down seven of her opening eight batters faced to keep the game deadlocked. The Inola, Okla., native relinquished just one walk during that stretch.
The Blue Devils tallied the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Florida State's Devyn Flaherty singled up the middle to place a runner on base. During the ensuing at bat, Bethany Keen drilled a hard-hit ball to left field to ultimately score Flaherty and secure the 2-1 walk off win.

NOTES

The game marked the Blue Devils' second appearance in the ACC championship game after claiming the title in 2021.
Duke is now 6-4 all-time in the ACC tournament.
Jennings maintains her program-high hitting streak of 17 games after reaching on an infield single in the third inning.
Curd earned her 17th start inside the circle and tossed 2.2 innings, allowing one run off four hits.
Walker was pinned with her second loss of the season after giving up just three hits and one run with two strikeouts in 4.0 innings of work. She now holds a 7-2 record on the year.

QUOTES

"It was great to have this young team back in the ACC championship game. We came up short but really proud of the fight and it was a tough game against a really good team. I think this is the kind of postseason experience that we needed to lead us forward and look ahead to regionals." – Duke Head Coach Marissa Young

UP NEXT
Duke now turns its attention to the 2023 NCAA Softball Championship selection show on Sunday at 7 p.m. The event will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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