Reigning ACC champs, Duke softball looks to accomplish more in program’s fifth season
Breaking through to become elite for the first time was special enough for Duke’s softball program.
The encore has a chance to be even better.
After winning the ACC championship and playing in the NCAA tournament in the program’s fourth season last year, the Blue Devils are playing like bigger goals are about to be achieved.
Ranked No. 9 nationally after a 40-7 regular season, the Blue Devils begin ACC tournament play Thursday in Pittsburgh against Georgia Tech knowing they’ll be returning to the NCAA tournament.
From the time they gathered together last fall to begin preparations for the program’s fifth season, they were determined to top what they accomplished in 2021.
“They weren’t satisfied,” Duke coach Marissa Young said. “We went to the regionals last year. It really felt like we were a couple of plays away from being a super regional team. And this group wants to be playing and competing at the College World Series before they’re done.”
Heady thoughts and goals for a program started from scratch that played its first game in February 2018. But the building blocks that formed the solid foundation from day one remain part of what’s happening now.
Peyton St. George committed to Duke before the team’s home stadium was built. A pitcher now in graduate school at Duke, she was named first-team all-ACC on Wednesday after compiling a 20-3 record with a 1.64 earned run average.
Another player from that first team, outfielder Jameson Kavel, was also named first-team all-ACC this season. A first-team all-ACC pick for the second consecutive year, just like St. George, Kavel is batting .379 with a team-best 15 home runs.
They are among 17 players who returned from last season’s 44-12 team that put Duke in the upper echelon of college softball nationally.
“We’ve got a senior group,” Young said, “a lot of upperclassmen that have been in the program and understand what we do, how we do it, and what it takes to prepare to play at a really high level. And they just play for each other and coach each other and it’s great. It’s a great group that really is integrated in the success of their teammates.”
As the record shows, the team’s play is at a high level. Duke leads the ACC in batting average (.335) and Blue Devils pitchers have compiled the league’s lowest earned run average (1.74). They did it by not resting on past laurels.
“We made our team motto `attack everything, protect nothing’,” St. George said. “Because, you know, we knew we had an ACC championship under our belt. But that didn’t mean that we needed to play like we were defending something. So we really just want it to be that team that’s aggressive, you know, regardless that we won last year.”
St. George leads a pitching staff that’s dealt with adversity but keeps producing nevertheless.
Shelby Walters teamed with St. George to produce last season’s success and the duo was expected to continue that this season. But a foot injury has cut Walters’ season short and she won’t be available in the postseason.
Fortunately, Young added sophomore Jala Wright through the transfer portal last summer from Michigan State. Wright’s 1.63 ERA is a tick lower than St. George and she’s gone 11-2, allowing the Blue Devils to maintain a solid 1-2 punch in the pitching circle.
“Shelby at the end of the day, is irreplaceable,” St. George said. “She’s who she is and we’ve accomplished so much together. It’s really sad just to have her not playing and not getting as much time and the injury itself. But Jayla has done an amazing job of doing what she’s been asked to do. She was kind of thrown into that role a little bit.”
No matter what happens in the ACC tournament, Duke is in line to host an NCAA regional for the first time. The Blue Devils were also in line to do so last season but campus COVID protocols made that impossible.
Instead, Duke traveled to Athens, Georgia. The Georgia Bulldogs beat the Blue Devils twice, 1-0 and 10-9, to win the regional on their home field.
This time, the Blue Devils are aiming to advance, with 15 other teams, to the Super Regionals and on to the eight-team Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
“I think this team, especially this year, is such a team that embraces all of that,” St. George said. “If anything, it’s going to propel us on the field because we’ve seen a lot of that in our own stadium this year, which we didn’t really get to see last year with COVID. Just being a new program and climbing in the rankings, we’ve seen more of that. But I think this team, we’re hungry to get back.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 2:17 PM.