Extra Innings Rally Leads No. 6 Duke to Series Win Over No. 16 Florida State

Sunday, March 17

Tallahassee, Fla.

12 p.m.

Duke University

22-3, 0

Florida State

18-8, 0

Duke

Florida State

Extra Innings Rally Leads No. 6 Duke to Series Win Over No. 16 Florida State

3/17/2024 7:20:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A four-run eighth inning pushed No. 6 Duke (22-2, 5-1 ACC) past No. 16 Florida State (18-8, 1-2 ACC), 9-5, on Sunday afternoon at JoAnne Graf Field.

The rubber match win helped the Blue Devils secure the program's first series victory over the Seminoles.

Freshman Amiah Burgess led the offense, finishing 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored. Junior Ana Gold and sophomore Aminah Vega added two hits each with one RBI apiece and combined for three of Duke's nine runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Florida State opened the scoring in the first with an RBI-double to take an early 1-0 lead.
Senior Francesca Frelick evened the score in the second with a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Burgess, who reached on a single to center field before moving up two bags on a stolen base and base hit.
Duke plated two additional runs off three hits in the top of the third to stretch the lead to 3-1.
Florida State pulled even following one run in back-to-back frames to tie the game at 3-3 after fourth innings.
The Blue Devils responded in the top of the fifth after loading the bases on a pair of walks and a double. Davidson came home on a wild pitch and Vega crossed the plate on a groundout to put Duke ahead again, 5-3.
The Blue Devils held the edge until the bottom of the seventh when the Seminoles put together a one-out rally that scored two runs to send the game into extra innings.
Frelick started the eighth with a lead-off infield single. Senior pitcher Jala Wright, who came in to pinch run for Frelick, then advanced to second on sacrifice bunt. During the ensuing at bat, Gisele Tapia registered a bunt single to score Wright from second. The Seminoles recorded the second out of the frame, but Gold followed with an RBI double to score Tapia. Davidson kept the rally alive with a two-run shot over the left field fence to round out Duke's four-run frame.
Florida State placed two runners into scoring position in the bottom half, but Wright shut the door for her 10th victory of the season.

NOTES

Duke is now 13-10 all-time in extra-inning games.
Wright remains perfect in the circle with a 10-0 record after 11 appearances.
She allowed seven hits and three runs, all unearned, in Sunday's contest.
Senior Lillie Walker also saw action in the circle, allowing just one earned run off two hits in 2.2 innings of work.
Davidson homered in two of three games on the weekend after recording a two-run blast during Friday's series opener.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils return home to Duke Softball Stadium on Wednesday for a non-conference doubleheader with UNC Wilmington. The opening game is set for 3 p.m.

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

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