The first three weekends of Duke’s softball season were absolutely jam-packed. The Blue Devils started things off with the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla., spent the following weekend in Gainesville, Fla., for the Bubly Invitational and shot out west this past one for a three-day palooza in Cathedral City, Calif., at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. They have yet to play in Durham.
Yet at all of these tournaments, Duke has excelled. Its performance even reached a pinnacle in this third and final weekend bonanza, which the No. 14 Blue Devils swept on account of lockdown defense led by junior southpaw Cassidy Curd. She led Duke’s efforts against No. 15 Nebraska, holding the Cornhuskers scoreless; she closed things out against Minnesota, tying a neat bow on Dani Drogemueller’s earlier efforts. And at the tournament’s crescendo, Curd shut out No. 4 UCLA while former Bruin Thessa Malau’ulu earned Duke its only run.
Friday: vs. No. 15 Nebraska, Howard
It took eight innings for anybody to score. Then three Blue Devils finally cracked the Cornhuskers.
At Big League Dreams Sports Park in Cathedral City, Calif., Duke began the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a quiet offense but an unyielding defense. Curd pitched eight straight innings; she allowed one hit in the bottom of the first, then none until the fourth. In each of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, Nebraska hit the softball once. Every time, Duke’s stubborn defense responded, allowing the hit to go no farther than that. Not a single Cornhusker scored in all eight innings.
When senior Ana Gold picked up her bat at the top of the eighth, the bases were loaded and freshman Gabriella Mike had just scored unearned. Gold singled to left field, allowing Brooklinn Thomas and Amiah Burgess to run home and give the Blue Devils, finally, a 3-0 lead. With three strikeouts at the bottom of the inning, Curd made sure the game was ending then and there.
The rest of Friday night was totally different. The Blue Devils, restless for runs after such a slow game, knocked out this one in five innings. They hit home base eight times in just the first, then went on to accrue five more runs in the second and fourth before the mercy rule kicked in for the fifth time this season. Curd rested on the sideline as her classmate Sophie Garner-MacKinnon and freshman Hailey Shuler took care of business, holding Howard to just one run despite their minimal combined experience in the circle. -Sophie Levenson
Saturday: vs. BYU
The next day, it was a pitchers’ duel under the morning desert sun, in which neither side holstered their guns during the seven-inning showdown.
The Blue Devils woke up bright and early for a 9:30 start in sunny Cathedral City, in their first-ever matchup against the BYU Cougars. After a successful first inning for Duke, with a run on the board, the six that followed would be a defensive showdown — Droggemuller and BYU’s Kate Dahle both put on stellar performances on the mound, sending batters back to both benches scratching their heads in frustration. The Blue Devils’ 1-0 victory was not the dominant statement it was predicted to be; rather, the team left the field exhaling sighs of relief after six innings of pure stress.
Graduate student Drogemuller sent the top of BYU’s lineup packing to open the contest. Then, in the bottom of the first, Gold got things rolling by roping a double to the outfield fence. Amina Vega followed suit, smacking one up the middle to claim the first and only RBI of the game while Gold ran home. Vega also took an extra base on an errant throw.
After a Kairi Rodriguez walk and stolen base, Duke had one out and two runners in scoring position, poised to break it open early. But Dohle locked in, striking out two in a row to end the inning and commence what would become a 12-batter Blue Devil offensive drought spanning the next four innings and keeping the game tight to its completion.
By the seventh, it was time for Cassidy Curd to shut it down. Young sent her in to relieve Drogemueller. A SAC bunt by Lindy Milkowski put two in scoring position with only a single out, and BYU was better poised for damage than it had been all game. But Curd kept her composure and struck out two in a row to clinch the 1-0 victory and ease the late-game pressure.
-Maya Knauf
Saturday: vs. Minnesota
The Blue Devils looked to continue their win streak and finish Saturday off strong against Minnesota.
Immediately, it looked as though the Gophers had other plans. As soon as the game began, at the top of Minnesota’s batting order, Margaret Tobias reached first base on a powerful single. Soon after, Taylor Krapf was hit by an errant pitch from Drogemuller, giving Minnesota two runners on base. And two batters later, Jae Cosgriff was walked to first. Duke suddenly found itself staring down the Gophers with loaded bases and an opportunity to jump out to a wide lead.
Still, despite the daunting prospect of loaded bases staring at them, the Blue Devils remained calm. The Gophers had already collected two outs, meaning a third would send them back to the dugout and leave the game scoreless. With the practiced ease that has already become expected of the young Duke softball program, the Blue Devils rose to the occasion on defense. Quickly, Duke collected the third out, thwarting Minnesota’s efforts to jump out to the lead and leaving the game scoreless.
That opportunity would be among Minnesota’s last in the afternoon while Duke slowly warmed up its bats throughout the match. After going hitless in the first inning, the Blue Devils began to reestablish their offensive scheme in the second inning. Burgess got the hitting off to a start for Duke with a powerful single down the center of the diamond. It would be Burgess who scored to give the Blue Devils the shallow 1-0 lead shortly thereafter.
Drogemuller soon after settled back into her starting role in the circle, only allowing two hits over the next three innings. Other than Burgess’ lone run, neither team could establish anymore of an offensive rhythm, making for a quiet game in southern California. Still, when the sixth inning came and with the win in sight, Young turned to the reliable Curd to once again give Drogemuller some relief in the circle and close out the game with another one in the win column for the Blue Devils.
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After Curd efficiently put away three Minnesota batters at the top of the sixth, her teammates gave her a bit of cushion at their next at bat. Burgess, once again, came through for her team when they needed her. Before that, Vega singled down the right side of the pitch while an error on the part of Minnesota pitcher, Syndey Schwartz, sent Kairi Rodriguez to first base, giving the Blue Devils two batters on base. Burgess once again powered a double to bring Vega home and put Duke up 2-0.
With a little bit of breathing room, Curd and the Blue Devils stepped back into the seventh inning where they quickly collected three outs and exited Saturday’s gameplay without a loss to stain their perfect record at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.
-Elle Chavis
Sunday: vs. No. 4 UCLA
The stain never came.
Sometimes — and twice, during this weekend — all it takes is one. In a closely fought 1-0 contest between the Bruins and the Blue Devils, that one came in the form of Malau’ulu, a transfer student from the team sitting crestfallen in the opposite dugout. A revenge game? Maybe, as Malau’ulu spent the last four years patrolling the hot corner for a dominant UCLA squad before heading to bluer pastures in Durham. Malau’ulu’s winning was a homecoming, as she slayed the giant of her alma mater in front of the California crowd and her squadmates. It ended in a fiery celebration, standing on what she had found headfirst a moment before: home.
Sunday’s performance was no different from the tone Curd had set earlier this weekend. The Port St. Lucie, Fla., native completely shut down and shut out the Bruins. She sat the first three batters down without much issue and kept the talented UCLA lineup off rhythm throughout the entirety of the contest, allowing just three hits to the Bruins, who had smashed in nine runs against Arkansas just the day before. Firing high heat above the hands of flailing UCLA batters, Curd was composed and in control every step of the way, even when she found herself in daunting circumstances.
In the bottom of the sixth, it seemed as if the Bruins had found a chink in her armor after poking a 1-2 fastball into right-center for a double. They had not. Even with a runner looming fifty feet from home, Curd sent Seneca Curo packing after swinging aimlessly at the air.
As the final inning dawned, it fell on the shoulders of the rest of the Blue Devils to secure a run for their pitcher, who had been heading the battle all afternoon. With one out down, Malau’ulu punched a hard liner into the left-center, hustling to second base to put the go-ahead run on second. Sophomore Linh Le stepped to the dish after Jada Baker went down swinging. Le blooped an infield single into play to send Malau’ulu flying around third and safely into home headfirst, diving past the Bruin catcher’s tag to sneak her left hand onto the plate.
It was a narrow one-run lead heading into the last half-inning.
Curd fought mightily to keep the Bruins off the basepath, allowing just one runner on via a walk. UCLA kept letting the bats fly, slicing foul ball after foul ball. With pitch after pitch being sent out of play, it was up to Burgess to seal the game, snagging a pop-up foul ball while crashing over the left side fence.
She toppled heels over head, but the League City, Texas, native had much to show for it, with the neon-green softball poking just outside the web of her glove. The Blue Devils swarmed Burgess in celebration, banging on the yellow fence cover and leaping up and down. That catch had extended their win streak to nine games in a row.
The Blue Devils head back to Durham to face off against the Michigan Wolverines Sunday at 5 p.m.
-Niles Luke
Sophie Levenson is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.