For the third straight year, the Blue Devils are heading to the NCAA tournament.
Duke was selected as the No. 8 overall seed in the 64-team tournament Sunday evening, meaning it will host a regional for the second-straight season. The other teams joining head coach Marissa Young’s Blue Devils in Durham this coming weekend are Campbell, Charlotte and George Mason, who Duke will face in its tournament opener Friday. Reigning champions Oklahoma earned the top-overall seed for the fourth-straight tournament.
Duke is 3-0 this season against Campbell and Charlotte, including a pair of shutouts against the Camels and an extra-inning victory against the 49ers.
As a top-eight seed, the Blue Devils will also have the privilege of hosting a best-of-three super regional round, should they advance out of the four-team double-elimination round. This marks the first time Duke is in such a position after earning a No. 13 seed in 2021 when it was bounced from the tournament in the regionals by host Georgia and a No. 12 seed last season when it advanced out of the Durham region but had to travel to Los Angeles, where the Blue Devils’ season ended at the hands of UCLA.
The Blue Devils join fellow ACC programs Florida State (No. 3 seed), Clemson (No. 16), Louisville, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech (each at-large bids) in the field. Duke’s dramatic ACC tournament run fell short in the championship game against the Seminoles, the conference’s top team, after the Blue Devils dropped Clemson in historic fashion with Cassidy Curd’s semifinal no-hitter Friday.
The Blue Devils’ matchup against the Patriots is scheduled for noon Friday at Duke Softball Stadium.
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Micah Hurewitz is a Trinity senior and was previously a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.