Blue Devils' NCAA Championship Run Ends in Super Regionals

Durham, N.C. — A record-setting season for Duke softball (48-11) came to an end on Saturday in the second game of the NCAA Super Regionals after the Blue Devils fell to Stanford (45-13), 7-2, at Duke Softball Stadium.

Sophomore Ana Gold and junior Francesca Frelick led the Blue Devils at the plate, batting 2-for-3 and 1-for-2, respectively. The duo each added an RBI during the contest to bring home both of Duke's runs.

Three Blue Devils saw action in the circle in freshman Cassidy Curd and juniors Lillie Walker and Jala Wright. Curd was pinned with the loss, her third of the year, after surrendering two earned runs off three hits with one walk. The rookie concludes her first season in Durham with an 18-3 ledger on the year.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Gold opened the scoring with an RBI-single through the left side to bring home freshman D'Auna Jennings, who reached on a hit by pitch to begin the game.

Stanford quickly responded in the bottom half of the frame by using three hits to score two runs to take a 2-1 edge.

The Cardinal added another run in the bottom of the second to extend its lead to 3-1.

Duke cut the deficit to 3-2 when Frelick led off the top of the third with a solo home run on the third pitch of her at-bat.

Unfortunately, Stanford registered a four-run fifth frame to create a 7-2 gap between the teams. The Cardinal posted five singles during the rally.

Senior Kamryn Jackson tried to spark a Blue Devils' rally in the seventh with a two-out base hit up the middle but Stanford's NiJaree Canady sat down the final batter to seal the 7-2 victory.

NOTES

The Blue Devils finished the season with a program-high 48 wins, including eight victories over nationally ranked opponents.

Gold recorded her 56th RBI of the season, pulling her into a tie with Kristina Foreman for a single-season program record.

She also tallied her 14th multi-hit game of the year.

Frelick blasted her fifth home run of the year during the third inning.

Jennings finished her first year in Durham setting school single-season records in batting average (.462) and hits (80).

The freshman also placed second all-time in stolen bases with 21 on the year, which sits behind graduate student Deja Davis's mark of 24 in 2019.

QUOTES

"Hats off to our upperclassmen who have done such a great job of preparing our underclassmen for what's to come. I think that they've really empowered them to show up and be great and play on their level, while also guiding and mentoring. DJ [Deja Davis] especially, she had a choice to make of where she wanted to spend her fifth year – you see kids hopping in portals and jumping to other programs – and I'm just really thankful that she chose to come back and lead the group the way that she has and just love seeing her go out on top happy and healthy. She just continues to pour into the program and help lay the foundation for this younger group of what's to come." -Duke head coach Marissa Young on the team's bright future.

"One thousand percent. This program has taken steps every year. To get a top-eight seed is huge for us in our sixth year as a program so, absolutely. Even though we didn't make it to the next round, this is a step forward for this program." -Graduate student Deja Davis on the feeling that the program is taking a step forward each

"Just super proud of this group. No one thought we were going to come as far as we did this year. Super sad that we couldn't do it, but I know they've got it in them next year. So yeah, just upset, but really proud of this group." -Senior Kamryn Jackson on playing in the Super Regionals for the second consecutive season