A busy spring weekend for Duke athletics, some good, some not so good, some survive and advance, some crash and burn.
Crash and burn describes the third round of the NCAA women’s golf tournament, held in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was windy, temperatures on the course were into triple digits and the pin placements did no one any favors.
Thirty teams began play Friday. The tournament cuts to 15 teams after the third round.Duke shot an even par 288 on Friday, a 296 on Saturday and a 301 on Sunday to end their season.
But here’s the thing. It was just as bad or worse for many of the other teams. Every team was over par on Sunday. Nineteen of 30 were at least 10 strokes over par. Ole Miss was plus 22, Tulsa plus 21, NC State plus 20, Clemson plus 19. That’s for one day.
Duke was 27th when they finished their early round and watched the field come back to them.
Just not far enough. The Blue Devils finished tied for 18thth, four strokes out of the top 15.
The men’s golfers are a week behind the women and Duke’s men advanced to next weekend’s finals by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins, the fifth and final spot in the Norman, Oklahoma regional secured only when North Florida bogeyed the final hole.
The men’s tournament also will be held in sunny Scottsdale.
Now to balls and bats. Duke’s baseball team went to Miami desperately needing to win at least two of three games to keep its hold on a top-16 seed, which would lead to hosting the first weekend.
Duke edged Miami in the series opener 5-3 and jumped to an 8-3 lead after seven in the second game, a huge series win so close Duke could taste it, especially since the back end of Duke’s bullpen has been virtually un-hittable this season.
But the bullpen collapsed. Miami got three in the eighth, two in the ninth and two in the 11th, for a walk-off 10-8 win.
This was the first time this season Duke had lost at game it led after six or later innings.
Duke barely put up a fight in the rubber game, losing 10-1, the first time this season Duke has lost consecutive ACC games.
Not a good trend line and not a good time to have bad trend lines.
Duke will play NC State Tuesday at 7 and Miami Friday at 3 in the ACC Tournament and needs to win both to advance to the semifinals on Saturday and likely keep alive its hopes of hosting for the first time in program history, a distinction that seemed close to a lock at the beginning of May. But Duke has gone 4-6 this month, 2-4 in the ACC and the team may not have enough healthy arms for a tournament surge.
Better news from the softball diamond. Duke was hosting a regional with Charlotte, Campbell and George Mason, a local flavor to be sure. Duke was favored. But I’ve seen men’s soccer, women’s basketball and women’s tennis see their seasons end at home in the NCAAs this academic year and they were all favored.
The key to winning a four-team, double-elimination tournament is to win that winner’s bracket game and sit back and watch everybody else wear themselves out.
After a shaky 2-1 win over fourth-seed George Mason to open the tournament, Duke got that second win, 5-0 over Charlotte. Catcher Kelly Torres hit her seventh homer of the season, center fielder D’Auna Jennings had three hits and Cassidy Curd and Lillie Walker combined for a four-hitter.
“I’m really proud of the way that the team responded today,” Marissa Young said. “We talked about not playing our best softball yesterday and I thought that they showed up and competed a lot better for seven innings. Charlotte is a good team and I felt like we controlled the momentum the whole way.”
Charlotte stayed alive with a win over Campbell, leading to a game Sunday. Or two. A Duke win eliminates Charlotte but a Charlotte win only brings up a second, winner-take-all game between two teams with one loss.
That later scenario seemed a pretty strong possibility until the final out. Duke starter Jala Wright lost her form in the second and walked the bases loaded, with no outs. Curd relieved her and wild-pitched a run in.
And there it stood, through five innings. At that point I thought I might see Duke pitch a no-hitter and lose.
Duke finally got the equalizer in the top of the sixth-Duke was the visiting team--on an RBI single by Aminah Vega. But Duke left the bases loaded and it looked like that would cost them when Makiah Mitchell lined a Curd pitch over the right-field fence, the no-hitter gone and Duke trailing 2-1.
The top of the seventh was a roller-coaster. Gisele Tapia led off with a double and Kelsey Zampa singled in pinch-runner Jada Baker.
Tie game. A single moved Zampa to third. A ground ball resulted in an apparent out at the plate, which was overturned on review, obstruction called on Charlotte catcher Lexi Winters. A double play grounder extended Duke’s lead to 4-2.
Curd allowed a single and a walk in the bottom of the seventh and admitted she got tired. But Walker came in and got the final two outs and Duke started making plans to host Stanford next weekend, specifics to be announced.
“Another championship Sunday,” Young said. “It's tough when you've played a team four times in a season – you know each other kind of inside and out. I’m really proud of my team's fight. People just continue to step up and do their part for this team. They have a lot of fight and a lot of grit and I think we saw that today.”
Duke’s offense showed signs of life this weekend but the pitching staff has carried this team in the post-season. Duke has allowed a total of only six runs in six post-season games, mixing and matching three pitchers with great success.
“I think all of us do a really good job backing each other up,” Curd said. “If something's not working, like today; I just ran out of gas. Lillie had my back no matter what happens in the dugout. Same thing, vice versa.”
It’s not just pitching. Duke’s defense was solid this weekend, something that wasn’t always the case earlier in the season.
“Defense wins championships,” Young said. “We’ve worked all year to continue to get better. That was our Achilles heel early on and we have continued to really work and put an emphasis on it. I thought the outfield was spectacular for us, covering a lot of ground and catching balls for us.”
Duke had one error in three games.
A word on Charlotte. This was their first NCAA Tournament and consequently the first two NCAA wins in the program’s history. They brought a noisy, enthusiastic crowd and at times it almost seemed like Duke was playing on the road.
Duke’s men’s lacrosse team also was matched against an NCAA newbie this weekend. Michigan stunned traditional power Cornell last weekend, while top-seeded Duke seemed tight early on at home against Delaware.
Could the Wolverines keep it going?
Well, after falling behind 2-0 Saturday in Albany they tied the game at 2-2 and kept Duke off the scoreboard for 14 minutes. But eventually Duke settled in and talent won out.
The most talented of that talent was Duke’s marvelous attacker Brennan O’Neill. O’Neill assisted Dyson Williams to put Duke up 3-2, then scored for 4-2, then scored again for 6-3 and Michigan never again got closer than three goals.
O’Neill ended with six goals and an assist. Williams added three goals, as did Andrew McAdorey.
William Helm had 14 saves. The final was 15-8.
So, another Memorial Day weekend, Duke’s 14th, 12th since 2007. Duke opens with Penn State, while ACC rivals Notre Dame and Virginia slug it out in the nightcap.
Philly awaits.
As does Duke’s East Campus and the Durham Bulls Park and track and field and rowing and individual tennis competition, plenty of Blue Devils to follow in the final days of May.
Some Duke spring teams advance
Great softball details - from the stream, it sure did seem like Charlotte traveled extremely well. Duke's Pitching depth/maturity was exposed just a bit over the weekend, but it's a great sign for the future that they stuck together and broke through. Nice to see the football team get some airtime, too. Hopefully the home field advantage will be a bit stronger next weekend, as they'll need every edge they can conjure up.
Speaking of Stanford.... While it almost seems futile to be a college golf fan now that broadcasters have mostly given up on coverage, it's a bit hard not to feel like the Stanford women have captured Duke's mojo, at least in the short run. Hopefully the next great junior look at that as an opportunity compared to stepping into Rose Zhang's shadow.
P.S. Duke All-American Andres Pedroso won his 3rd NCAA title in 5 years as head mens's tennis coach in Charlottesville 😲