No. 20 Duke Earns Top-15 Wins Over No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 12 LSU Friday

Friday, February 13

Clearwater, Fla.

1 p.m.

Duke University

5-1

Texas A&M

4-3

Duke

Texas A&M

No. 20 Duke Earns Top-15 Wins Over No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 12 LSU Friday

2/13/2026 11:14:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

CLEARWATER, Fla. – No. 20 Duke softball opened action at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational in strong fashion, earning a pair of top-15 wins over No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 12 LSU Friday.

The Blue Devils defeated the Aggies, 8-6, in the opening game before handing the Tigers their second loss of the season, 5-3, in the nightcap.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. NO. 8 TEXAS A&M

Redshirt junior Jessica Oakland opened the scoring in the top of the first with an RBI-single to left center field. Her knock scored senior Aminah Vega from second after she drew a walk and moved up on a stolen base.
Sophomore Layla Lamar put the Blue Devils ahead 2-0 in the following frame with a solo home run over the left field wall.
Texas A&M responded in the home half with a grand slam from Kennedy Powell to take the lead, 4-2.
Vega answered right back in the top of the third with a two-run blast to right center field, bringing in classmate D'Auna Jennings after she reached on an infield single, leveling the score at 4-4.
The Blue Devils' offense rallied again in the top of the fifth with a four-run frame, highlighted by a three-run shot off the bat of graduate student Tyrina Jones, to regain the lead, 8-4.
Ariel Kowalewski pulled the Aggies within two in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run homer, but junior Larissa Jacquez sat down the next three batters she faced on a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to preserve the win, 8-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. NO. 12 LSU

Three straight singles from Jennings, Vega and Jones quickly loaded the bases for the Blue Devils in the second game. Oakland then took a hit by pitch to bring in Jennings and redshirt junior Kairi Rodriguez followed two batters later with an infield single to plate Vega and put Duke in front, 2-0.
LSU added one in the bottom of the first after Maci Bergeron drew a bases-loaded walk to make it a 2-1 game.
Vega extended the Blue Devils' edge to 4-1 in the top of the second with an RBI-triple to the right center field gap, scoring graduate student Jada Baker, before coming home on a wild pitch.
Freshman Jayla Stafford slipped a base hit past the Tigers' infield to drive in Jennings and stretch Duke's gap to 5-1 in the top of the fourth.
The LSU offense fought back in the bottom half of the frame, adding a pair of runs to cut the gap to 5-3.
After a scoreless fifth and sixth inning, the Tigers' threatened again in the bottom of the seventh, reaching two on a double and a walk, but the Blue Devil defense grabbed the three outs needed to hold on to the 5-3 victory.

NOTES

Duke earned its first two ranked wins of the season and moves to 41-58 all-time against top-25 opponents.
With the wins, the Blue Devils improve to 6-1 on the year.
Sophomore Mallory Wheeler and senior Cassidy Curd picked up the wins in the circle, moving their ledgers to 2-0 and 3-0, respectively.
After redshirting the 2025 season and missing opening weekend due to injury, Oakland made her Blue Devil debut in the opening game versus Texas A&M, starting as the designated player.
Oakland tallied her first Duke hit and RBI in her first plate appearance in the top of the first against the Aggies.
Lamar recorded the first home run of her collegiate career.
Jones owns a team-high 11 RBI on the year and has tallied at least one RBI in six of seven games this season.

UP NEXT
Duke faces Oklahoma State and No. 20 Georgia during the second day of action in Clearwater on Saturday. First pitch with the Cowgirls is slated for 10 a.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2. The Blue Devils and Bulldogs are set to battle at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

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