No. 8 Blue Devils Drop 4-2 Battle with No. 19 South Carolina Saturday

Saturday, March 1

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

14-5

South Carolina

18-0

South Carolina

Duke

No. 8 Blue Devils Drop 4-2 Battle with No. 19 South Carolina Saturday

3/1/2025 7:08:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. - The eighth-ranked Blue Devils (14-5) dropped a tight 4-2 battle with No. 19 South Carolina (18-0) at Duke Softball Stadium Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Gamecocks secured the weekend series victory.

Graduate student Dani Drogemuller and junior Cassidy Curd shared the circle during the contest. Drogemuller earned the start and allowed two runs off five hits with a pair of strikeouts in her 5.0 innings of work. Curd came in for 2.0 innings of relief and was pinned with the loss after surrendering the final two runs off three hits and two walks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

South Carolina jumped ?out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening frame, courtesy of a two-run shot from Arianna Rodi.
Senior Ana Gold cut the deficit in half with a solo home run in the bottom of the third to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Blue Devils attempted to spark their offense in the bottom of the fifth, moving two runners into scoring position using a base hit, walk and a sacrifice bunt, but were unable to push the go-ahead runs across the plate.
In the following frame, junior KK Mathis knotted the score at 2-2 after dropping an RBI-single into center field to score sophomore Amiah Burgess from second. Burgess drew a one-out walk before advancing on redshirt sophomore Kairi Rodriguez's base hit through the left side.
The Gamecocks answered with two additional runs in the top of the seventh after stringing together a walk, a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly, to pull ahead again, 4-2.
Duke battled until its final out as junior Aminah Vega laced a base hit to right field to move classmate D'Auna Jennings over to third but were unable to complete the comeback before South Carolina grabbed the third out.

NOTES

Gold now leads the team in home runs with three on the year. Her solo blast in the bottom of the third marked her 41st career long ball.
Drogemuller earned her fourth start in as many appearances. She owns a team-best 2.04 ERA after nine total appearances on the year.
Curd shifts her season ledger to 5-3 overall.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils and Gamecocks conclude the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Duke Softball Stadium. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m.

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