Duke Blanks South Carolina, 8-0, to Advance to Durham Regional Championship Sunday

Saturday, May 18

Durham, N.C.

11 a.m.

Duke University

49-6

South Carolina

35-23

South Carolina

Duke

Duke Blanks South Carolina, 8-0, to Advance to Durham Regional Championship Sunday

5/18/2024 5:17:00 PM | Softball

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DURHAM – Tenth-seeded Duke earned an 8-0 run-rule victory over South Carolina after six innings on Saturday morning at Duke Softball Stadium.

With the win, the Blue Devils improve to 49-6 on the year and advance to the NCAA Durham Regional championship game for the fourth-straight year.

Senior pitcher Jala Wright dominated in the circle, tossing her eighth complete game of the season. The Charlotte, N.C., native surrendered just two hits while recording nine strikeouts. Wright earned the win and improved her season ledger to 19-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After allowing a one-out double in the opening frame, Wright retired 14 of the next 15 batters faced before relinquishing her final hit of the day to begin the sixth inning.
Sophomore D'Auna Jennings sparked the Blue Devil offense in the bottom of the third with a solo home run over the right field fence to break the deadlock.
Graduate student Gisele Tapia then added to Duke's advantage in the bottom of the fourth with a two-RBI single to extend the Blue Devils' edge to 3-0. Her base hit scored senior Francesca Frelick and redshirt-sophomore Jada Baker, who both reached on hit by pitches.
Duke's offense continued to find its rhythm in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run frame. The Blue Devils loaded the bases with two outs following a double, hit by pitch and infield single. Senior Claire Davidson then converted on a two-RBI single to left center field to score two of the five runs in the frame. A few batters later, Duke scored two additional runs on bases loaded walks to extend its lead to 7-0. Senior Kelly Torres then capped the inning with an RBI-single to left center to plate Duke's eighth and final run.

NOTES

With the win, Duke set a program record for wins in a season with 49.
The Blue Devils earned their 13th run-rule victory of the season and have outscored their opponents, 164-13, during that stretch.
Jennings blasted the first home run of her Blue Devil career in the third frame.
The Houston, Texas, native also recorded the 150th hit of her career with an infield single in the bottom of the sixth.
Tapia's two-RBI single in the fourth inning pushed her past the 150 career-RBI milestone and marked the seventh multi-RBI game of her career.

QUOTES

"A lot more like Duke softball today. Great energy. They came out and competed well, and really dominated from the start. I thought that Jala [Wright] was outstanding. She really dominated in the circle. The defense played well behind her. Key players up and down the lineup had really good at-bats and made good things happen. D'Auna [Jennings] had her first homerun of the season, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I'm really proud of the work she has put in. But I felt like we didn't settle and continued to score runs to put the game out of reach so we'll work on that moving forward." – Head Coach Marissa Young
"I have never been a homerun type of hitter. We can just start there. Hitting a homerun was so surreal. I went into shock. I went into the dugout after it and was like 'holy crap, no way I just did that.' I just want to do my job. I never go up there trying to do a big swing. I'm not a big swing type of hitter. That is only the third one in my entire life. It was exciting going back to see my team so happy for me. That's what I live for. I live for being able to do my job and being able to execute for my team to put us in a better situation." – Sophomore D'Auna Jennings on the emotions of hitting her first career home run
"I did not expect to go the whole game. I just wanted to play my role and that led me to pitching the whole game. But I also had a chip on my shoulder. This is kind of like a hometown game for me. I know a lot of the players on the South Carolina team — Zoe Laneaux, Aniyah Black, and Denver Bryant. That added extra motivation to say 'hey I got you' to them at the end of the game. But I just wanted to do this for my team, and that extra motivation helped." – Senior Jala Wright on her mindset going to the game

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils advance to Championship Sunday and meet the winner of the South Carolina-Utah elimination game at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at Duke Softball Stadium.

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