No. 23 Duke Downs No. 12 Virginia, 5-2, in Series Opener

Thursday, April 2

Durham, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

26-11, 11-2

Virginia

31-4, 9-3

Virginia

Duke

No. 23 Duke Downs No. 12 Virginia, 5-2, in Series Opener

4/2/2026 11:04:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 23 Duke defeated No. 12 Viriginia, 5-2, in Thursday's series opener at Smith Family Stadium. The Blue Devils earned their eighth ranked win of the season and fifth over a top-15 opponent.

The Blue Devils improve their record to 26-11 overall and 11-2 in conference play while the Cavaliers move to 34-4 and 9-3 in ACC action.

Home runs from redshirt junior Kairi Rodriguez and freshman Jayla Stafford guided the offense, driving in three of five runs. The pair finished 1-for-3 and 1-for-2, respectively.

Redshirt freshman Ava Bradshaw made her eighth start of the season, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings. Senior KK Mathis worked 2.2 innings in relief for Bradshaw, allowing just one run off two hits in her second collegiate appearance in the circle. Classmate Cassidy Curd entered in the top of the sixth to hold off the Cavaliers, fanning three in 1.2 innings to earn the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mathis drew a leadoff walk in the second before coming home on Rodriguez's homer to left center field to give Duke an early 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the fifth. Mathis then delivered a two-out double to the left center field wall, just a few feet shy of leaving the stadium, allowing senior Aminah Vega and redshirt junior Jessica Oakland to score and push Duke ahead, 4-0.
Virginia's Reagan Hickey cut the deficit in half in the top of the sixth with a two-run blast to left field.
Stafford opened the bottom half of the frame with a solo home run to right center field to make it a 5-2 game.
Curd shut the door in the seventh, sitting down the final three batters on a pair of strikeouts and an infield pop out to seal the victory.

NOTES

Rodriguez recorded her fifth home run of the season while Stafford tallied her second.
Mathis tossed a career-high 2.2 innings, allowing just one run off two hits with two strikeouts.
Curd fanned three batters in 1.2 innings to raise her career strikeout total to 552.
Curd improves her record to 12-2 in the circle.
Duke is now 48-64 all-time against top 25 opponents.

UP NEXT
The Blue Devils and Cavaliers continue the conference series Friday evening. First pitch of game two is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

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

#GoDuke