Blue Devils Blank Charlotte, 5-0, to Advance to Championship Sunday

Saturday, May 20

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

47-10

Charlotte

34-22

Charlotte

Duke

Blue Devils Blank Charlotte, 5-0, to Advance to Championship Sunday

5/20/2023 6:21:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score Postgame Quotes Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

DURHAM – No. 5 Duke softball defeated Charlotte, 5-0, on Saturday afternoon in game three of the NCAA Durham Regional at Duke Softball Stadium.

With the win, the Blue Devils (47-10) advance to championship Sunday and will face the winner of the Charlotte-Campbell contest. Sunday's game is set for noon at Duke Softball Stadium. The 49ers dip to 34-22 on the year and face the Camels in an elimination game on Saturday night.

Freshman D'Auna Jennings led the way for Duke on offense, batting a perfect 3-for-3 with one run. Four other Blue Devils chipped in with two hits each, including junior Kelly Torres who finished with two hits, two RBI and one run scored.

Lefthanded pitcher Cassidy Curd earned the start and made her 32nd appearance in the circle, tossing 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four. Junior Lillie Walker worked 3.2 innings in relief, giving up three hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Curd came out firing, retiring the first three Charlotte batters with three strikeouts.
Jennings opened the game for Duke with a lead-off infield single before stealing second to get herself into scoring position. Graduate student Deja Davis then brought her home with a single up the middle for her 30 RBI of the year.
Torres continued the momentum in the bottom of the second with a solo blast over the right field wall to extend the Blue Devils lead to 2-0.
Duke kept its bats hot in the bottom of the fourth, adding three runs on four hits to create a five-run gap between the teams. Sophomore Ana Gold started the rally with a lead-off double to left center for her eighth two-bagger of the year.
Despite allowing back-to-back one-out hits in the top of the sixth, Walker escaped the inning unscathed to ultimately secure Duke the win.

NOTES

Duke recorded its 14th shutout of the season.
Torres tallied her seventh long ball and sixth multi-RBI game of the year.
Davis, Gold, Torres, and freshman Aminah Vega each collected a pair of hits during the contest.
Jennings finished with three hits to push her career total to 75.
Walker improves her record to 8-2 after her 25th appearance in the circle.
Jennings and Davis tallied their 20th and eighth stolen base this season, respectively.
The win marked the 14th time the Blue Devils recorded 12-plus hits in a game this season.

QUOTES

"I'm really proud of the way that the team responded today. We talked about not playing our best softball yesterday, and I thought that they showed up and competed a lot better for seven innings. Charlotte is a good team and I felt like we controlled the momentum the whole way. We had a great combined outing with Cassidy Curd and Lillie Walker, and Kelly [Torres] did a great job behind the plate as always, and really came up big offensively." – Duke Head Coach Marissa Young

"It's fantastic. This team is amazing. They really come up in clutch instances and capitalize on pitches that they can hit really hard. So, it's great to go out and know that my team's got my back. They've got my back on defense and then producing on offense – it makes my job a lot easier." – Junior Lillie Walker on the comfortability of pitching with a big lead

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils advance to Championship Sunday and meet the winner of the Charlotte-Campbell elimination game at 12 p.m. on Sunday at Duke Softball Stadium.

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