Georgia rallies past Duke in Durham Regional softball final, will face Florida
College softball’s parity was on full display this weekend, as one regional host was eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention Saturday and another five played elimination games Sunday.
Duke was one such national seed needing a pair of wins to continue its season. It looked poised to do that. Except, like LSU on Saturday, it became the latest national seed eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
Duke (41-18) defeated UGA, 8-1, in the first game of the day before falling to the unseeded visitors, 5-2, in extra innings. Georgia (34-21) will make its third straight Super Regionals appearance, while the Blue Devils snapped their streak of three in a row.
“Obviously not the outcome we wanted today, but I couldn’t be more proud of this group for their fight and resilience,” Duke head coach Marissa Young said. “Backs against the wall, and they just continued to play hard and give them give themselves a chance to win the ball game even up until the last out.
“It’s tough to see this come to an end, especially for our seniors like Ana (Gold), Dani (Drogemuller) and Thessa (Malau’ulu); to know that their careers come to an end. Hopefully games like this will fuel us to continue growing and getting better as a program.”
Seemingly everything went Duke’s way in Sunday’s first game, playing as the visiting team, took an early lead after KK Mathis scampered home on a Georgia fielding error.
In the bottom of the second, the Dawgs hit a pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt to tie the game at 1-1.
Still tied entering the sixth, Amiah Burgess came up big for the second day in a row. The Blue Devils loaded the bases, and Burgess flared a single to shallow center to plate the go-ahead run and start a rally. Duke scored six runs on five hits, all of which stayed in the park, ultimately forcing a winner-take-all game against UGA.
Seven Blue Devils recorded at least one hit or sac fly.
It looked like Duke’s momentum that would continue into the winner-take-all contest to end the regional. Freshman Hailey Shuler entered the lineup after Aminah Vega exited after one batter. The freshman drew a walk and came home on Ana Gold’s home run to left center field.
The Blue Devils led 2-0 until the sixth. Then, Georgia tied the game with one run in the sixth and seventh innings. The Bulldogs tried to end the game in regulation. With runners on the corners and one out, a would-be sac fly was turned into a double play when D’Auna Jennings fielded a fly ball and made the on-target throw from center field to catcher Kairi Rodriguez. She tagged the runner out at home.
Momentum going into extras seemed to favor the Blue Devils. Then, the wheels came off.
Georgia took its first lead of the game in the top of the eighth. It had three hits, including a home run, capitalized on a Duke fielding error and walked in a run after Dani Drogemuller hit a batter with the bases loaded.
The Blue Devils had a runner on base in the bottom of the eighth but were unable to add to their score.
Young was a pitcher at Michigan during her collegiate career. She’s glad she doesn’t have to face today’s batters, but she tells her players what she would’ve told herself — don’t chase perfection.
“Just continue to get better as you go, because they are really good hitters, and sometimes you’re going to have to tip your cap to them that they got their job done,” Young said. The Dawgs finished with 12 hits in the victory. “The ability to just stay resilient and get the next hitter mentality is really important.”
Cassidy Curd and Dani Drogemuller gave up 11 hits, four walks and one hit by pitch. They both struggled at times during the regional weekend, giving up a combined 22 runs, 40 hits and eight home runs.
Gold, who was drafted in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, will look back on her time at Duke fondly. She ends her career as the program’s leading home run hitter (54).
“It’s meant everything to me. It’s better than anything I could ever imagine my college experience to be,” Gold said. “I’m going to be sad leaving these girls, leaving this place, leaving this program. I’ve just grown so much as not only a player, but a person. Shout out to Coach Young. She pushes us day in and day out, never lets us settle for anything less. I know that I’m leaving this school a better woman that I entered, which I’m really proud of.”
Young and Gold feel confident about the future of the Duke softball program, which has now completed eight seasons. It expects to have a majority of the starters back, will get on the road to recruit and flip the page.
It wasn’t an easy season, especially with injuries scattered throughout the lineup. But, no one is hanging their head. The Blue Devils have now finished above .500 in seven seasons and are among the top teams in the country.
“I think we’ve done everything we can with what we have,” Young said. “We’ve really developed the players we have in our program. ... (We’re) trying to create more depth for our program and continue to build strong, resilient women.”
This story was originally published May 18, 2025 at 9:02 PM.