On a humid night in Gainesville, Fla., No. 14 Duke faced No. 2 Florida in the two programs’ first clash of the weekend. This matchup with the Gators marked the Blue Devils’ fifth game against a ranked opponent, though they have played only 10 games this season. The contest looked to signify a serious morale blow for Duke, as the visitors began their weekend with a demoralizing 9-0 loss.
Two days later, however, after a couple of easy wins against unranked Binghamton and Providence, the Blue Devils delivered the Gators a taste of their own medicine, blowing out the second-best team in the country 8-1 on its own field. The Bubly Invitational, as it turned out, lived up to its name.
“We finished it off with a bang,” head coach Marissa Young said Sunday.
Friday: vs. Boston College, at No. 2 Florida
DANGER. Gator-infested waters.
Under the lights of Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium, Florida demonstrated why it deserved its elite rank, claiming a 9-0, five-inning victory.
Earlier in the day, Duke had taken on fellow ACC member Boston College, easily dispatching the Eagles in a 9-1 win. Graduate student Dani Drogemuller twirled five stellar innings for perhaps her finest outing of the young season — allowing six baserunners and striking out just as many.
On offense, second baseman Aminah Vega, catcher Kairi Rodriguez and first baseman KK Mathis led the way with a combined six-hit, six-RBI performance. The Blue Devils’ 3-4-5 hitters struck early: A pair of Vega and Mathis singles opened up a two-run lead in the bottom of the first — a lead Duke never relinquished. After a four-run fourth inning, Drogemuller delivered a 1-2-3 frame to slam the door shut on the Eagles.
Against the Gators, however, the Blue Devil bats never woke up. With 2024 SEC freshman of the year Keagan Rothrock commanding the circle, an offense that was humming only hours before fell silent. Through Rothrock’s five innings of dominance, the sophomore surrendered just two hits and a walk, as she regularly induced weak contact and mishit balls.
“I don't think that how we played on Friday was representative,” Young said.
By the time a Rodriguez line drive soared over the Florida second baseman’s outstretched arm to give Duke its first hit of the game, three full innings had passed, and the Gators had already gotten themselves on the board. And while the Blue Devil offense may have faltered against Rothrock, the second-ranked team in the nation had no such trouble against junior Cassidy Curd.
Coming off a win against Kentucky, Curd was poised to continue a dominance she had put on display tracing back to the 2024 season. Florida’s star freshman Taylor Shumaker clearly disagreed. After digging into the right side of the box already the NCAA home run leader, the right fielder delivered yet again with a first-inning, opposite-field solo shot — her eighth bomb of the season.
By the fourth inning, the Gator lead had been built up to 4-0, and Curd began to uncharacteristically struggle with control — conceding a walk to Ava Brown, whose pinch runner advanced on a wild pitch. A hit batter followed by an infield single loaded the bases for the Gators and spurred a pitching change by Young.
With Drogemuller now in the circle, Shumaker immediately hit a shallow pop up, but a seeming miscommunication between left fielder Amiah Burgess and shortstop Jada Baker allowed the ball to drop untouched for an RBI single. A Drogemuller wild pitch that barely escaped the reach of Rodriguez extended Florida’s lead to six, as the Gators tacked on three more runs to make the contest run-rule eligible.
Despite a Mathis single at the top of the fifth giving Duke a glimmer of hope, Rothrock retired the next three batters to give Florida a win over its highest-ranked opponent thus far.
-Alex Min
Saturday: vs. Providence, Binghamton
Duke looked to regain its footing in Saturday’s doubleheader before a rematch with the Gators. Against a duo of opponents from the Northeast, the Blue Devils did just that.
It was a clean sweep on the day, as Duke clobbered Providence 10-2 before a comfortable 4-0 victory over Binghamton. Against the Friars, freshman Hailey Shuler was the story. In her first career start, she tossed the full five-inning fixture. Only two runs were conceded on three hits, and Shuler notched four strikeouts on the day.
“Being able to get some momentum going, and building some confidence against Providence and Binghamton was key going into [Sunday’s] matchup,” Young said.
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On the offensive side of the ball, the Blue Devils got off to a quick start. D’Auna Jennings led the game off with a single, promptly driven in by Ana Gold after advancing to third on a passed ball. Jennings then doubled this advantage in the second inning with an RBI single. A five-run third inning was capped off by sophomore Linh Le’s first career home run, a two-run shot to put Duke up 7-0. The squad cruised to victory from there, effectively bouncing back from the previous day’s bitter loss.
Approximately an hour later, The Blue Devils returned to the diamond for the day’s second match against the Bearcats. Sophie Garner-MacKinnon got the nod for Duke, pitching five scoreless innings before passing the baton to Curd in relief. The two combined for a shutout, with eight strikeouts and just four hits conceded.
It was a more tame showing on offense, with the Blue Devils being held scoreless until a three-run third inning. With two outs in the frame, Duke was able to string together a few singles and make conscious base running plays, crafting these runs in a small ball style that it has been fostering since its inception. A sacrifice fly in the sixth added the final Blue Devil run, and the defense put the game away painlessly.
-Luke Rinaldi
Sunday: at No. 2 Florida
It was going on 5 p.m., and Duke still could not go home. A rainy day in Gainesville meant a game delay for Sunday’s rematch against the Gators, during which the Blue Devils had nothing to do but mentally prepare for a team that had blown them completely out of the water just two days before.
As it turned out, it was worth the wait.
“Having to sit around the hotel all day, have the game time changed three times, and come out ready to play one of the best teams in the country — and dominate for seven innings — was really special,” Young said.
Maybe it was pent-up energy from the delay, maybe it was a taste for revenge; whatever ran in Duke’s blood Sunday amounted to an explosive second-inning performance in which six members of the visiting team took down the formidable Rothrock. Florida gave up five runs before its touted talent in the circle was able to force a third out from Duke.
“Today was about toughness,” Young said. “Mental toughness.”
Jada Baker was ready for something to happen. She watched Mathis step up to bat and strike out; she watched Burgess do the same. With two outs used up, freshman Brooklinn Thomas took advantage of an error from Florida’s shortstop to make it to first base. Baker, who consistently contributed to Duke’s success last season, had yet to score in 2025, and she was determined to change that. The redshirt junior stepped up to swing — and hit the ball way out to right field, far enough for her to cover three bases and for Thomas to score.
“Jada Baker was outstanding for us in this game,” Young said. “Offensively, she has had a slow start to the season, and her resilience to just keep going and get things going for us in this game was huge.”
From there, hits piled up in snowball-effect fashion. UCLA transfer Thessa Malau’ulu swung next and earned a single while Baker scored. Then, some luck: When D’Auna Jennings stepped up to bat, a throwing error put her at first and Malau’ulu at second, then at second and third when Rothrock hit Ana Gold with a pitch. The bases were loaded for Vega, who hit to left field and opened up runs for both Jennings and Malau’ulu. Gold made the fifth run of the inning thanks to a hit from Rodriguez, and the buck stopped there as Vega took the brunt of Duke’s third out.
To answer, the Gators managed just one run of their own against a fired-up Blue Devil defense led by Curd, who pitched all seven innings of this game.
“Cassidy has been phenomenal,” Young said. “She went back and watched film of Friday's game and recognized what adjustments she had to do [Sunday] to be successful. And she did that right from the first inning.”
After a quiet third from both teams, Duke looked to secure its victory at the top of the fourth inning. Once again, Baker’s batting set off a cascade of hits, as the Floridian hit for a double and then took it home with Malau’ulu’s following smack to center field. Jennings, also riding on the excitement of her previous run, sent Malau’ulu home with a triple, before running home herself three batters later, once again thanks to a closing swing from Rodriguez.
Just like that, Duke had turned the weekend completely on its head, with an 8-1 statement victory over the No. 2 team in the nation.
The Blue Devils cancelled their Wednesday games at East Carolina due to weather concerns, but plan to take their game to Cathedral City, Calif., next weekend for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
-Sophie Levenson
Sophie Levenson is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.