{"id":460,"date":"2026-05-18T16:34:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=460"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:34:44","slug":"duke-softball-advances-to-super-regional-how-the-blue-devils-beat-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=460","title":{"rendered":"Duke softball advances to Super Regional. How the Blue Devils beat Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Duke head coach Marissa Young wasn\u2019t happy Saturday about her team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/sports\/college\/acc\/duke\/article315706109.html\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">second-round NCAA Tournament<\/a> regional loss.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=458\">What is an El Ni\u00f1o? Here&#8217;s what you need to know in North Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n<p>She was pleased, however, with the Blue Devils\u2019 emphatic bounce back later that evening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take the lesson, not the loss,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n<p>That message stuck with her squad. Duke defeated <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jwatsonfisher\/status\/2056132896600051923?s=20\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">Arizona twice Sunday<\/a> and advanced to the Fayetteville Super Regional against Arkansas next weekend. This is the program\u2019s first Super Regional appearance since 2024 \u2014 when it made the Women\u2019s College World Series \u2014 and its fourth in five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is exactly where we want to be,\u201d Young said Sunday. \u201c[It\u2019s] really just a testament to the players that have chosen to come here, wear the uniform and put Duke softball on the map.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Devils (43-15) defeated the Wildcats, 8-6, in the first game of the afternoon, and picked up a 9-4 victory in the winner-take-all Game 7. Over the course of the weekend, Duke played three games against the Wildcats. It entered the weekend winning every three-game series this season, and that record remains unblemished.<\/p>\n<p>Seniors D\u2019Auna Jennings and Aminah Vega made the most of their final day at Smith Family Stadium. Jennings went 6-for-7 on the day, with a double, her second home run of the weekend, and she advanced to second on a pair of singles \u2014 one on an Arizona error and another on the throw.<\/p>\n<p>Vega hit a two-run home run in the first contest. In the rubber match, she added another two-run homer \u2014 though Arizona\u2019s Regan Shockey nearly robbed the home run when she crashed into the center field wall \u2014 and plated a pair on a sacrifice fly and a double. She contributed seven RBI in Duke\u2019s two regional final games. Vega laid out in right field for a clutch flyout, as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re the best one-two punch in the country, and just the way that they set the tone in their own way is really special,\u201d Young said. \u201cIt gives a lot of confidence to the rest of the lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vega said the team knew if it lost, the season was over. They talked about it before the first game. The seniors also knew this was the final time playing at Duke, regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=457\">Broughton teacher could face maximum of life in prison if convicted on sex charges<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe [Jennings] and I did have a little bit of extra kick to go out there and compete,\u201d Vega said. \u201cBut D and I do the same thing every day. Today, we could\u2019ve went home, and we didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Duke jumped out to an early lead in each game, and despite pressure from Arizona (37-18), held on for a pair of victories.<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Devils, after recording a season-low two hits against the Wildcats on Saturday, combined for 22 on Sunday. They finished with eight home runs.<\/p>\n<p>Defensive errors played a key role for both teams. Duke, which entered the weekend with a .971 fielding percentage, committed four errors and gave up four unearned runs. Arizona was also one of the cleanest defenses in the nation and committed three, but it limited the damage with one unearned run.<\/p>\n<p>Relief pitching was also key for Duke. Junior Larissa Jacquez threw four innings in the opening contest, giving up one hit, after replacing senior Cassidy Curd. Curd \u2014 who struck out seven on Saturday \u2014 gave up five hits, six runs, four earned runs, four walks, two hit batters and one strikeout. She also committed her third defensive error in two days. Jacquez\u2019s impressive pitching performance forced a winner-take-all Game 7.<\/p>\n<p>Jacquez also started in the circle for the finale. She picked up her eighth win of the season, giving up five hits and two runs. Sophomore Mallory Wheeler picked up her fourth save of the season. Two runs scored with her at pitcher, both unearned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fire and the spunk in her when she plays with such joy and passion, that\u2019s contagious,\u201d Young said of Jacquez. \u201cI think that she struggled to find that a little bit at times throughout the season. The minute she had the ball in her hand this weekend, you could see it. It was back, and I knew she was going to take us where we needed to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Duke is the only ACC team left standing after UCF upset Florida State, and Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia and Stanford lost to their regional hosts.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=456\">Warren Buffet&#8217;s Berkshire sells UnitedHealth<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published <span class=\"inline-block\">May 17, 2026 at 6:19 PM<span>.<\/span><\/span><!-- --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Duke college softball Durham Regional games, Duke Blue Devils hosted Arizona Wildcats in winners\u2019 bracket game, Marshall in elimination game. Did Duke win?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Duke softball advances to Super Regional. How the Blue Devils beat Arizona - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=460\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Duke softball advances to Super Regional. 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