Clawing your way back from the loser's bracket in a softball Regional is not an easy thing to do. Playing in front of your home crowd certainly helps, but the Blue Devils had to dig deep to battle back after a 10-1, run-rule loss to Arizona on Saturday.
That put the Blue Devils back on the field on Saturday evening, where they took care of business with an 11-1 win over Marshall to punch their ticket to Sunday.
Standing in their path was the same Arizona team that blasted Duke on Saturday, and Marissa Young and her team needed to beat them twice to advance to Supers.
They got it done.
Duke sweeps Arizona on Sunday to advance to the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament
As has been the case all year, it was the offense that carried Duke on Sunday.
Game 1 was a back-and-forth affair, with Duke taking an early lead on a Jessica Oakland home run, but Arizona battling back and the teams trading the lead multiple times through the first three innings. Aminah Vega, Kairi Rodriguez, and D'Auna Jennings added homers that gave Duke a 6-4 lead in the 4th inning, but the Wildcats tied the game in the bottom of the inning after an error by Oakland.
A two-run single by Vega in the 6th gave Duke the 8-6 lead, and Larissa Jacquez threw four scoreless innings out of the bullpen to preserve Duke's win to advance to a winner-take-all matchup on Sunday afternoon.
Game 2 was not nearly as back-and-forth.
Oakland and Vega hit RBI sac-flys sandwiched around a Rodriguez home run that put Duke up 3-0 through two innings. Arizona feigned competitiveness with a two-run 4th, but the Blue Devils busted it open in the bottom of the 4th thanks to homers by Vega and Layla Lamar to push Duke's lead to 7-2.
Arizona trimmed the lead to 7-4, but Vega doubled home a run, and Tyrina Jones lifted out another Duke homer as the Blue Devils knocked out the Wildcats 9-4 to improbably win the Regional.
Jacquez picked up where she left off in Game 2, providing a quality start and then Mallory Wheeler shut the door with three strong innings.
With the win, Duke will advance to Fayetteville to face No. 5 overall Arkansas in a best-of-three series in the Super Regionals with a spot in the College World Series in Oklahoma City on the line.
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