No. 19 Duke’s Comeback Falls Short to Notre Dame

Saturday, April 19

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

31-14, 0

Notre Dame

21-25-1, 0

Notre Dame

Duke

No. 19 Duke’s Comeback Falls Short to Notre Dame

4/19/2025 9:09:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 19 Duke's seventh-inning rally came up short as the Blue Devils fell to Notre Dame, 6-5, in the series finale at Duke Softball Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Prior to the start of the game, senior Ana Gold, graduate students Dani Drogemuller and Thessa Malau'ulu and student assistant coach Kennedy Barron were honored as part of the program's senior weekend celebrations.

Drogemuller and junior Cassidy Curd saw action in the circle. Drogemuller earned her 75th career start and was ultimately tagged with the loss after surrendering five runs off seven hits in 6.0 innings of work. Curd tossed 1.0 inning of relief after entering the game in the top of the seventh.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Notre Dame's Addison Amaral quickly put the Irish in front, 2-0, with her two-run shot straight out to center field in the top of the first.
Junior KK Mathis opened the scoring for the Blue Devils in the home half, sending an RBI-double into the left center field gap to score Gold from second and cut the deficit to 2-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, junior D'Auna Jennings knotted the score at 2-2 with a base hit. Her knock brought in sophomore Amiah Burgess, who drew a leadoff walk before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third with an infield single.
The Blue Devils pulled ahead, 3-2, in the following frame after Mathis sent another RBI-double deep into center field to bring classmate Aminah Vega all the way around from first.
The Irish regained the lead in the top of the sixth with Amaral's second two-run shot of the contest, pulling ahead 4-3.
Notre Dame tacked on two additional runs off two hits in the top of the seventh to stretch a 6-3 gap.
The Blue Devils attempted to battle back in the final frame, using RBI singles from Gold and Burgess to make it a 6-5 ballgame, but were unable to complete the comeback before the Irish grabbed the final out.

NOTES

Drogemuller moves her season ledger to 13-6 after 29 appearances in the circle.
Vega and Mathis recorded their 23rd and 13th multi-hit performance on the year, respectively.
Duke recorded 11 hits during the contest, marking its 22nd game with 10 or more hits this season.
The Blue Devils are 7-4 in one-run games on the year.
Duke moves the all-time series to 10-8 against Notre Dame, including a 7-5 record when playing in Durham.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils finish out the regular season on the road, traveling to Buies Creek, N.C., Wednesday for a single non-conference matchup at Campbell. Duke then heads over to Raleigh to face NC State in its final ACC series, April 25-27.

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