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No. 20 Duke Drops Extra-Inning Battle to No. 18 Oregon, 11-8
2/21/2026 10:30:00 PM | Softball
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – No. 20 Duke (9-7) dropped a back-and-forth battle with No. 18 Oregon (8-6), 11-8, after eight innings in their final game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, Calif., Saturday.
Senior D'Auna Jennings tallied the first five-hit performance of her career to lead the Blue Devil offense. Her five hits on the day also helped her reach the 250-career hit milestone. Classmate Aminah Vega and redshirt junior Jessica Oakland finished 3-for-5 and 3-for-4, respectively. Vega also collected a season-high four RBI during the contest.
Three of Duke's four pitchers saw action in the circle against the Ducks. Sophomore Mallory Wheeler earned her fifth start of the season and tossed 3.2 total innings, surrendering six earned runs off eight hits. Junior Larissa Jacquez came in for 4.0 innings of relief while redshirt freshman Ava Bradshaw made an appearance in the top of the eighth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Blue Devils return to Durham for the home opener against East Carolina on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Smith Family Stadium. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils softball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeSOFTBALL"
#GoDuke
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Senior D'Auna Jennings tallied the first five-hit performance of her career to lead the Blue Devil offense. Her five hits on the day also helped her reach the 250-career hit milestone. Classmate Aminah Vega and redshirt junior Jessica Oakland finished 3-for-5 and 3-for-4, respectively. Vega also collected a season-high four RBI during the contest.
Three of Duke's four pitchers saw action in the circle against the Ducks. Sophomore Mallory Wheeler earned her fifth start of the season and tossed 3.2 total innings, surrendering six earned runs off eight hits. Junior Larissa Jacquez came in for 4.0 innings of relief while redshirt freshman Ava Bradshaw made an appearance in the top of the eighth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The visitors opened the scoring in the top of the second with a sacrifice fly to plate the first run of the game.
- The Ducks extended their lead to three in the following frame after a pair of doubles and a Blue Devil error pushed two additional runs across the plate.
- Vega drove in the first Duke runs in the bottom of the third with a double to left center field, scoring freshman Adelyn Matthews and Jennings to make it a 3-2 game. Matthews and Jennings opened the frame with back-to-back base hits to left field.
- Vega gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fifth, launching a two-run shot over the right field fence to push Duke ahead, 4-3.
- An RBI-double by freshman Jayla Stafford extended Duke's edge to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth. Her knock brought in Oakland from second after a leadoff double.
- Oregon regained the lead in the top of the seventh using three RBI-singles and another Duke fielding error to plate three runs and pull ahead 6-5.
- The Blue Devils fought back with three straight singles to load the bases in the bottom half. Oakland sent a base hit to the center field gap to drive in the game-tying run and force extra innings.
- The Ducks' offense erupted in the eighth with five runs off five hits, including a two-run home run off the bat of Amari Harper to regain control, 11-6.
- The Blue Devils continued to battle in the final frame as Matthews sparked a two-out rally with a double down the left field line to bring in redshirt junior Kairi Rodriguez, who was placed on second to start the inning. Jennings followed with an RBI-single to right field to score Matthews and close the gap to 11-8 before the Ducks could grab the third out on a fly out to center field.
- Wheeler was ultimately pinned with the loss, moving her season ledger to 3-3.
- Vega tallied her third home run of the season. Her three long balls sits tied for second on the team with sophomore Layla Lamar.
- Vega recorded her fourth multi-RBI outing of the year.
The Blue Devils return to Durham for the home opener against East Carolina on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at Smith Family Stadium. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils softball, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeSOFTBALL"
#GoDuke
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