No. 10 Duke Rolls Past Rutgers, FIU in Opening Day of FIU Panther Invitational

Friday, February 16

Miami

3 p.m.

Duke University

5-1

Rutgers

5-2

Duke

Rutgers

No. 10 Duke Rolls Past Rutgers, FIU in Opening Day of FIU Panther Invitational

2/16/2024 10:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MIAMI, Fla. – A three-run rally in the seventh inning pushed No. 10 Duke (6-1) past Rutgers (5-2), 4-1, in the opening game before the Blue Devils defeated host FIU (4-5), 6-0, in the nightcap of the FIU Panther Invitational.

Senior Kelly Torres led the Blue Devils during the twin bill, finishing 3-for-5 with a double, home run and one RBI. Sophomore D'Auna Jennings and senior Claire Davidson also helped Duke's cause on Friday, going 3-for-7 in the two games.

Seniors Jala Wright and Lillie Walker earned wins in the circle on the day. Wright tossed a complete game against Rutgers, allowing one run off three hits while striking out six. Walker threw 4.0 innings of relief in the nightcap, surrendering two hits and fanning six.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. RUTGERS

After a scoreless first frame, Rutgers struck first with a solo home run off the bat of Katie Wingert in the bottom of the second.
Torres evened the score at 1-1 in the top of the fifth with a solo blast over the left field wall.
She sparked the Blue Devils' offense again in the top of the seventh after laying down a bunt to score sophomore Aminah Vega.
Freshman Amiah Burgess brought in two additional runs after sending a 2-RBI double to the left field wall to push the Blue Devils ahead, 4-1.
The Blue Devils put the final three outs away on a fly out and a pair of ground outs to secure the win.

NOTES VS. RUTGERS

Wright threw the 10th complete game of her Blue Devil career.
She improves to 3-0 on the year.
With the win, the Blue Devils shift the all-time series ledger to 3-0.
Junior Kelsey Zampa saw action in her 100th career game, earning the start in right field.

HOW IT HAPPENED VS. FIU

Junior Ana Gold opened the scoring in the nightcap with an RBI-double to score sophomore D'Auna Jennings from first after she reached on a single through the left side.
Vega then brought Gold in with a single up the middle to extend Duke's lead, 2-0.
The Blue Devils continued the momentum in the second inning, adding in a pair of runs to pull ahead, 4-0.
Davidson pushed another run across the plate in the top of the fourth with a base hit deep into center field to make it a 5-0 game.
Vega collected her second RBI of the contest in the following at bat with a sacrifice fly to score Gold and round out Duke's six runs.

NOTES VS. FIU

Duke now carries a six-game winning streak into Saturday's contest with Army.
The 6-0 win marks Duke's third shutout in its first seven games of the season.
Jennings went 3-for-3 against FIU and scored two of Duke's six runs.
Sophomore Cassidy Curd earned the start in the circle, punching out five during her 3.0 innings of work.
Walker picked up her first win of the season.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils take on Army at 10 a.m. on Saturday before entering pool play in the invitational. The No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will face off at 3 p.m. on Saturday while the No. 1 seed and No. 4 seed meet at 5:30 p.m.

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