— By David Walsh
Marshall saw a different Duke team than the one Arizona did Saturday in the NCAA Durham Regional at Duke’s Smith Family Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The Blue Devils, who average seven-plus runs a game, smacked three home runs among their 14 hits and coasted past the Thundering Herd, 11-1, in five innings to move into the championship round Sunday against Arizona. Marshall was eliminated.
The Blue Devil bats went quiet when it met Arizona in a winner’s bracket contest in the first game Saturday. Duke (41-15) had just two hits and the Wildcats needed just five innings to prevail, 10-1.
Before the Herd (38-19) met Duke, it polished off Howard, 4-2, in an elimination game.
“Proud of what we achieved,” Herd coach Morgan Zerkle said. “Not our best outing clearly, but we have a lot to be proud of. We set a new standard for Marshall softball and hopefully we’ll be back every year.”
D’Auna Jennings belted a grand slam and Jessica Oakland added a two-run homer to spark Duke to a 6-0 lead after one. The Blue Devils totaled eight hits off Herd starter Paige Maynard. Gabriella Shadek went 3-for-3 with one hit a three-run homer in the fourth. Duke’s other two runs came on a bases-loaded walk and a triple to left center and misplay between two outfielders to plate Aminah Vega who had walked.
Larissa Jacquez started for Duke and went three innings to get the win. Ava Bradshaw worked the final two. She gave up an RBI single to Paige Simpson in the fourth. Maynard started for the Herd and got roughed up in the first. Jules King followed and she gave up five hits and four runs. Maddie Veal,the starter in Game 1 Saturday, finished up and allowed one run. The Herd offense generated just four hits.
Duke and Arizona meet Sunday in Game 1 at noon. A second game, if needed, would start at 2:30 p.m. The winner moves on to the Super Regionals on May 21-24. The eight survivors advance to the Women’s College World Series set for May 28-June 5 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Arizona is in the regional final for the 35th time.
Marshall made good use of the long ball to defeat Howard and eliminate the Bison, a MEAC member.
Simpson led off the third with a bunt single and Sydni Burko followed with a two-run homer to left. It was her third homer in two games and extends her single-season homer mark for the program to 24. That’s the fourth-best total in the Sun Belt Conference for a single season. She’s the league leader in that category as well. The Herd team total for homers is 94, also a single-season mark.
In the fourth, Haleigh Adkins drew a walk and Abby Darnley then delivered a two-run homer to left. Howard leftfielder Maryn Jordan appeared to make a leaping grab at the wall, but her glove hit the top of the wall and the ball dropped over the fence. Darnley had tried to bunt before she delivered the blast to put Marshall ahead to stay.
“I’ve been hoping to do this my entire life,” Darnley said. “To come here and compete is truly amazing.”
Howard had scored single runs each in the second and third innings. In the second, Cheyenne Castile reached on a single, went to second on an infield out and scored when Burko threw wide of first on a grounder by Amirah Lester. In the third, the Bison loaded the bases and a run came on a four-pitch walk by Veal.
After Darnley’s homer, starter Julia Hart came out and Aiko Conaway came on. She played for Marshall last season, then transferred to Howard.
Conaway got lifted in the sixth for Destiny Callaway. She inherited a 2-1 count on Ava Blake and used just two pitches to fan Blake.
The Bison had a run taken off the board in the fifth. The visiting team had two runners on and Paige Mayard came in for Veal. She induced a grounder back to the circle that turned into an inning-ending double play after batter-runner interference on a subsequent throw home by first baseman Bella Gerlach. The Howard runner ran into Gerlach and that forced Gerlach’s throw home to sail high and wide.
The umpires first talked about the play and ruled the runner going to first out alonge wi the runner who had scored since she was closest to the plate. Howard challenged the call, but the double play stood after review.
In the first game, the Wildcats from the Big 12 piled up 10 hits and broke the game open with six runs in the fifth. Duke, which beat Howard, 10-1, in five innings Friday, was held to two hits by Arizona pitchers Jalen Adams and Jenae Perry, who got credit for the win.