Duke had its best shot in the bottom of the fifth.
KK Mathis had loaded second base, and Linh Le was on first. The Blue Devils had no outs. Marissa Young sent in speedy Gabriella Mike to substitute Mathis on second base. Then Jada Baker bunted the softball and made a run for it, sacrificing herself for the out so that Mike and Le could respectively load up third and second.
Gamecock pitcher Sam Gress called a timeout.
Alone in the circle again, Gress looked straight at Ana Gold. The senior shortstop offers one of the toughest challenges Duke can offer against an opposing pitcher. But when Gold made contact with the ball on the fourth pitch, it popped up into the air and fell back down into a South Carolina glove.
With two outs, D’Auna Jennings was up to bat. Gress wound up and threw the ball at Jennings. Strike, strike, three fouls, two balls and then — the kicker — a third strike.
The Blue Devils never managed to catch up to the Gamecocks, losing 4-2. Saturday saw the second of Duke’s games against South Carolina and its second loss of the weekend, after the Gamecocks welcomed themselves to Durham with a hearty 14-7 victory Friday. That loss broke a 10-game win streak for the Blue Devils, who most recently defeated Michigan 2-1 Thursday afternoon. After Sunday’s matchup, the Blue Devils’ losing streak grew to three.
Saturday: vs. South Carolina
This second game, however, wasn’t a blowout like Friday’s had proven to be. With a 4-2 final result, the showdown kept fans in Duke Softball Stadium on edge as the two sides exemplified some of college softball’s best field defense.
Graduate pitcher Dani Drogemuller started for the first five innings of the game. For four of those, she pitched well, making life hard for the Gamecocks from her position in the circle. That one faulty inning, however — the first — made all the difference for Duke. Drogemuller opened by giving up a single to South Carolina’s very first batter, Quincee Lilio.
Graduate transfer Thessa Malau’ulu saved Drogemuller from allowing a second batter to score a run so early. The third baseman ran into foul territory to catch a soaring hit from Karley Shelton and earn South Carolina its first out. But Duke’s outfield couldn’t do the same for Drogemuller when Arianna Rodi took her on next. On Drogemuller’s eighth pitch of the at-bat, Rodi made things worth the wait for South Carolina: She knocked the ball over Duke’s back fence and followed Lilio to home base. The visitors had a 2-0 lead.
The gravity of those two runs brought Drogemuller firmly down to earth for the rest of her time in the circle. Her first strikeout of the day put an end to the top of the third. In the top of the fourth, she forced three outs with as many batters and notched a second strikeout.
Duke defense filled in the gaps. In the top of the second, it took just three batters for the Gamecocks to tally three outs, even though all three of those batters made contact with the ball. Gold and second baseman Aminah Vega took turns catching hits and launching sharp passes to Baker at first; they did the same in the top of the fourth and then again in the fifth. In the latter, Lilio was poised to make a run while Shelton headed for first, but Gold scooped up the ground ball and got it to Baker in the nick of time. The score didn’t change.
It also fell to Gold to make a run for the home team. After two straight outs from Le and Baker, the Ballston Spa, N.Y., product stepped up to bat. On her second swing, she sent the neon-green ball flying. It flew right over the part of Duke’s fence that lists its streak of NCAA Tournament appearances as Gold unhurriedly rounded the bases and the packed stands celebrated her homer.
After their disappointing fifth inning, the Blue Devils rallied together in the bottom of the sixth to earn a team-focused run. Freshman Amiah Burgess took a walk to first, and redshirt sophomore Kairi Rodriguez singled. With two bases loaded, Mathis stepped up to bat. She hit two strikes. Determined to avoid a third, the junior smacked the next pitch deep into the outfield, where it eluded Gamecock defense long enough for Burgess to run home and tie the game 2-2.
But it wasn’t Cassidy Curd’s day. When Young sent in her junior southpaw pitcher to relieve Drogemuller, excitement in the stands grew palpable: Curd is a terrible prescription for a batter. In the sixth inning, however, she walked her first batter, then let another one get as far as third base before Vega settled the half-inning with a well-timed catch. In the seventh, Curd walked another Gamecock, then allowed a single, before throwing a pitch that went way above catcher Rodriguez’s head and loaded second and third. Shelton’s single on the next pitch put South Carolina up by one; Rodi’s ensuing hit put it up by two.
In their last window for redemption, the Blue Devils got stuck, again, at third base. -Sophie Levenson
Sunday: vs. South Carolina
Going into Sunday afternoon’s matchup, Duke’s main objective was to prevent South Carolina from sweeping. But the Gamecocks had other plans for the Blue Devils, winning Sunday’s game 12-7.
“We just gave too many things away,” Young said. “Sundays are gonna be a battle and a dog fight.”
Early on, it appeared as though the Blue Devils would avoid the dreaded sweep. To get the game started, Drogemuller quickly retired the first three South Carolina batters. Vega started off the top of Duke’s batting order with a powerful single. Next to the plate came Gold, one of the Blue Devils’ most reliable batters. But a small snafu thwarted Gold’s batting attempt. After Gold hit a foul ball, her bat snapped in half much to the shock of the assembled fans at Duke Softball Stadium. A new bat, though, seemed to be just what Gold needed to succeed. On the very next pitch from South Carolina’s Gress, Gold blasted a home run over the left field fence to put Duke up 2-0.
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With the scoring gates opened, Rodriguez stepped up to the plate and quickly earned a double. Burgess then hit a single bringing Rodriguez to third base. A sacrifice bunt from Malau'ulu brought Burgess to second base, putting both her and Rodriguez into scoring position. On the next at bat, Le brought both her teammates home, giving Duke the early 4-0 lead.
With the dawn of the second inning, the Gamecocks proved that they would not go down without a fight. They quickly put three runs on the board coming within one of the Blue Devils. On the other side of the plate, despite the early success, Duke could not get its bats fired up in the same way at the bottom of the second.
“I was glad to see us come out and punch first,” Young said. “Obviously, they punched back.”
Indeed, South Carolina continued the hot streak it started in the second inning as soon as it got into the third. A home run from Rodi gave the Gamecocks another two runs on the board and the lead, causing Young to bring Curd in to give Drogemuller some relief. But not even Curd could stem the bleeding. Three runs, including another homer, gave South Carolina five runs in the third inning before Curd and company could collect the third out.
With Curd now settled in the circle, the Gamecocks went quiet in the fourth inning while the Blue Devils got back into their offensive rhythm. First, Gress walked Vega to first base. Gold was then hit by a pitch to give Duke two much needed runners on base. Rodriguez once again stepped up to the plate, knowing her team needed some runs to pull themselves back into the game. Rodriguez did just that, blasting off a home run to give the Blue Devils three more runs and putting them back within striking distance of South Carolina.
But that would be the last true offense Duke pulled off for the afternoon. The fifth and sixth innings passed quietly for both teams, leading to a high-pressure seventh inning with South Carolina looking to maintain its lead and the Blue Devils looking to take it.
Despite Duke’s last-gasp efforts, South Carolina succeeded in putting the game well out of reach.
The Blue Devils will look to right the ship Tuesday afternoon against Elon. -Elle Chavis
Sophie Levenson is a Trinity junior and a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.