It was a rather calm weekend in Louisville, Ky., the overcast skyline accented only by the occasional airplane and a flurry of small yellow balls. By game one’s end, it became clear that when the Blue Devils and the Cardinals took the field at Ulmer Stadium for a tilt, only one thing was certain: A lot of runs.
“I really think the team has had scoring early as their focus, and have been really locked in to what each of them need to do to go up there and have success,” head coach Marissa Young said.
Following last weekend’s disappointing set against Florida State, the Blue Devils sat below .500 in ACC play; this was an important series for 18th-ranked Duke. The squad came into Friday with a palpable concentration, and by Sunday had willed itself firmly above the threshold with a 7-5 conference record after sweeping Louisville.
Young recognizes the importance of a sweep at this juncture: “Every game counts in the ACC. It's going to be a dog fight this year, and our ability to take a sweep on the road is really going to help us down the stretch”
Duke (25-12) hung on in game one, earning a 7-5 victory after conceding five runs during a testy fourth inning. In game two, the defensive end was more assured, and pulled out a relatively painless 5-1 win.
Sunday’s scoreboard, though, was a microcosm of the series as a whole. The two teams combined for 23 runs on day three, with Duke plating 15 to the Cardinals’ eight. This offensive explosion began with the game’s very first at bat, a single for newly-tapped leadoff hitter Thessa Malau’ulu. Then came another single. And another one. Then a walk for good measure. Sprinkle in a few extra base hits and some sloppy fielding work, and all of a sudden it was 10-0 Blue Devils in the first inning.
It was a frankly absurd display of offensive prowess, as the lineup nearly turned over twice in one half-inning. Duke was firing on all cylinders, and Louisville (20-15, 3-9 in the ACC) could do little but watch. From one to nine, all Blue Devils got their piece of this reeling pitching staff. The Cardinals finally got their reprieve when six-hole D’Auna Jennings bounced out on her second trip to the plate. But the damage was already done.
“Once we get rolling, hitting is contagious. We've shaken up the lineup for quite a bit this year, but it really is a testament to the fact that we have so many kids up and down the lineup that get hot and are having success,” Young said. “It allows us to move people around to create more production.”
On the other end of the ball, Dani Drogemuller toed the circle for her third appearance in the series. In spite of the high-octane scorelines, she managed to hang a goose egg on Louisville through three games, conceding zero earned runs through 11 innings pitched.
“She's been a great leader for us this year in the circle. She has really been on a mission to go out on a high in her last year, and she's doing that with consistency,” Young said of Drogemuller. “I think how she goes out there and sets the tone really helps with the rest.”
Even with Drogemuller throwing her best, there appeared, at points, to be a degree of complacency on the defensive side of the ball. Duke was not without its share of bad errors, some of which allowed the Cardinals to manufacture runs of their own. Even down 10, it quickly became clear that Louisville was not going to lie down and accept the sweep. A couple of infield miscues from Ana Gold and Aminah Vega allowed for some free baserunners, which the Cardinals plated easily. They were pulling closer, and the Blue Devils realized it, though they never broke.
Young makes defense a constant point of emphasis, and was pleased with the squad’s effort. “Hitting can be up and down, but we talked a lot about how defense has to be consistent. Defense wins us a lot of ball games, and it gives the pitchers confidence to know that they can rely on the defense behind them,” she said.
Throughout the weekend, Duke’s resilience was on full display. Though the scoreboard may not reflect defensive dominance, and though the aforementioned mishaps were indeed costly, the team managed to stop the bleeding when it counted and never relinquished its leads. The Blue Devils’ efforts were accented by assured play from veterans like Malau’ulu at the hot corner and Jennings in center, play that instilled enough confidence to push across the finish line.
“Thessa was phenomenal at third this weekend, making some really critical plays that we often take for granted, and D’Auna made some really great catches out in center field,” Young said.
The Blue Devils will undoubtedly be pleased with their efforts this weekend, and will hope to ride this momentum into a midweek tilt against UNC Wilmington on Wednesday. They will be back in-conference for a series against rivals North Carolina next weekend, hoping to shut down the Tar Heels in Durham.
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