Duke Defeats Morgan State, 6-1, in Durham Regional Opener

Friday, May 17

Durham, N.C.

2:30 p.m.

Duke University

48-7

Morgan State

35-19

Morgan State

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Defeats Morgan State, 6-1, in Durham Regional Opener

5/17/2024 7:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Quotes Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Tenth-seeded Duke defeated Morgan State, 6-1, in its opening game of the Durham Regional on Friday at Duke Softball Stadium.

The Blue Devils advance in the winner's bracket and face South Carolina on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Senior Claire Davidson and sophomore D'Auna Jennings paced the offense, batting 3-for-4 on the day. Davidson drove in four of the Blue Devils' six runs with a two-run home run and a two-RBI double to left center field. Jennings accounted for two of Duke's final run total.

Senior Jala Wright earned the start and the win after tossing 5.0 scoreless innings, surrendering just two hits and one walk. Classmate Lillie Walker also saw action in the circle, working 2.0 innings of relief, relinquishing one run off three hits.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After four scoreless frames, the Blue Devils broke through in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run frame. Graduate student Gisele Tapia opened the scoring with a solo shot to right field. Jennings followed with an infield single before coming home on Davidson's two-run blast over the right field fence. Sophomore Aminah Vega capped the one-out rally with the third long ball of the frame, a solo home run to center field, to put the Blue Devils in front, 4-0.
Morgan State answered with one run in the top of the sixth, after connecting on three straight singles to push its lone run across the plate.
Davidson extended Duke's edge to 6-1 in the home half following her two-RBI double to the left field. Her knock scored senior Francesca Frelick and Jennings, who reached on a walk and a base hit, respectively.
Walker then sat down three of the final four batters to close the door and seal Duke's 48th win of the season.

NOTES

The Blue Devils are 2-0 all-time against Morgan State and have outscored the Bears, 11-1
With the win, Duke ties its program record for wins in a single season with 48.
Wright picked up the win and improves her year ledger to 18-1, moving into a tie for third all-time on the single-season chart with Cassidy Curd (2023) and Peyton St. George (2021).
Tapia blasted her third long ball of the year.
The duo of Davidson and Vega have now recorded back-to-back home runs in four games this season.

QUOTES

"Obviously excited to win our first regional game at home. It took us a little bit longer than we wanted to get started, but you know this team continues to show how resilient they are and how they're going to fight until the end. Obviously, we broke things open late. We had a great performance from Jala [Wright] in the circle and some real key hitting from both Claire [Davidson] and Gisele [Tapia]." - Head Coach Marissa Young
"Oh, it felt awesome. I think I usually go up there with a kind of team-oriented mindset, and kind of being able to do it for my team was really something special. Especially in the first game of a regional, kind of getting all the jitters out at once." – Graduate student Gisele Tapia on breaking the deadlock in the fifth inning.
"I mean, it's the same thing that I tell myself every at bat, just see the ball, hit the ball. I was trying to put the ball in play, D [D'Auna Jennings] had gotten herself to third, so I was just trying to get one more run across and it ended up being two." – Senior Claire Davidson on her mindset during her at bat in the fifth inning.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils advance to the winner's bracket of the Durham Regional and face South Carolina at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils softball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeSOFTBALL"

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