Blue Devils Defeat Georgia Tech, 7-1, to Advance to ACC Semifinals

Thursday, May 11

South Bend, Ind.

5 p.m.

Duke University

44-9

Georgia Tech

26-27

Georgia Tech

Duke

Blue Devils Defeat Georgia Tech, 7-1, to Advance to ACC Semifinals

5/11/2023 10:40:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Second-seeded Duke (44-9, 19-5 ACC) advances to Friday's ACC Tournament Semifinals after it defeated 10th-seeded Georgia Tech (26-27, 7-17 ACC), 7-1, on Thursday night at Melissa Cook Stadium on the campus of Notre Dame.

The Blue Devils face the winner of the third-seeded Clemson and sixth-seeded North Carolina contest on Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Freshman Aminah Vega led the Duke offense on Thursday after driving in four of the Blue Devils' seven runs, including a three-run home run, and finished the night batting 3-for-4 with two runs. The DeBary, Fla., native was one triple away from hitting for the cycle.

Four Blue Devils saw action in the circle, but it was freshman Cassidy Curd that was credited with the win. Curd inherited a one-out bases loaded jam in the top of the fifth and posted a strikeout and fly out to work Duke out of the situation. She finished her night allowing just one hit, while fanning two in 1.2 innings of work.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Vega opened the scoring early with a three-run blast over the center field fence in the bottom of the first. Her long ball also scored graduate student Deja Davis and sophomore Ana Gold, who reached on a double and intentional walk, respectively.
Georgia Tech's Emma Kauf drove in the Yellow Jackets' lone run with an RBI-single to score Ella Edgmon and cut the Duke edge to 3-1 in the top of the third.
In the bottom half of the frame, Vega singled up the middle to score Davis from second and extend the Blue Devils lead to 4-1. Davis led off the inning with a single through the right side before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Two innings later, junior Kelly Torres connected on an RBI-triple to right field to score Vega, who reached on a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth. That run-scoring hit extended the Blue Devils' edge to 5-1.
Duke wasn't done in the frame though, as redshirt-sophomore Kristiana Watson recorded a pinch-hit home run to left center to score Torres and ultimately seal the 7-1 victory.

NOTES

Vega tallied her 12th home run and 12th multi-RBI game of the year.
Curd improves her season ledger to an impressive 15-1.
Freshman D'Auna Jennings stretched her program-high hitting streak to 15 games with an infield single in the fourth inning.
Watson recorded her first home run of the season.
Davis shifted into sole possession of first place on the team after she tallied her 14th double of the year.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils advance to Friday' semifinals with first pitched slated for 1:30 p.m. They meet the winner of third-seeded Clemson and sixth-seeded North Carolina contest.

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