No. 12 Virginia Tech Softball Hosts No. 13 Duke in Critical ACC Series

No. 12 Virginia Tech (26-6, 8-1 ACC) hosts No. 13 Duke (26-7, 8-4 ACC) in a critical conference matchup.

Duke comes to Blacksburg after hosting Florida State last weekend, where the Blue Devils recorded their first-ever regular season win over FSU despite the Seminoles taking the series.

The weekend schedule and broadcast information is below, though the weather looks iffy for Friday and Saturday:

Friday, March 31: 6 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Saturday, April 1: 2 p.m. ET, ACCNX
Sunday, April 2: 12 p.m. ET, ACC Network

Duke is coming off of a NCAA Super Regional appearance last season where it ultimately fell to UCLA. But it lost some key members of that team, including star pitcher Peyton St. George. The Blue Devils were picked to finish fourth in the ACC this season by the league coaches.

They played a challenging schedule and hold wins over No. 4 Arkansas (7-4), No. 6 FSU (2-1), No. 17 Stanford (4-2), No. 20 UCF (4-3) and No. 25 Michigan (6-3). On the other side, they lost games to No. 1 Oklahoma (4-0), No. 14 Washington (4-3), and No. 15 Alabama (5-4) as well as the two games to No. 6 FSU (4-1,7-3). Their other two ACC defeats were to Notre Dame (5-4) and Louisville (13-9).

This year’s Duke squad is well-balanced, ranking in the top four in the ACC in both hitting (.317 average) and pitching (2.07 ERA).

“Obviously, Duke is having another good year,” Virginia Tech head coach Pete D’Amour told Tech Sideline. “They seem to do everything well. They can pitch, hit and have a lot of good athletes.”

Freshman outfielder D’Auna Jennings paces the Blue Devils in hitting (.427), base hits (38) and stolen bases (7-8). Graduate student Deja Davis (.378) leads the ACC in doubles (11) and can often be found in the leadoff spot. Sophomore infielder Ana Gold has 10 home runs this season, a team-best.

Junior Jala Wright (6-3, 2.57 ERA), who was second behind St. George last season, has taken over as the No. 1 pitcher, starting 11 games and striking out 80 batters in 73.2 innings. Meanwhile, freshman left-handed pitcher Cassidy Curd (7-0, 1.45 ERA), who was ranked No. 25 by Extra Innings Softball last season, has lived up to her billing. Curd has allowed 2 earned runs in her last 18 innings while recording wins over UNC and FSU. She has started seven games for the Blue Devils and has 70 strikeouts in 53 innings.

Duke will change pitchers often — the team only has two complete games all season. As a staff, it has five saves, two of which were Wright.

The Hokies, meanwhile, seem to have found their bats, registering a season-high 15 hits in a 9-5 mid-week win over Liberty on Tuesday. They still lead the country in home runs with 63 (1.97 per game).

“We need to continue to get better at controlling the strike zone offensively,” D’Amour said. “And keep being aggressive on defense and limit our ‘poor’ pitches in the circle. It should be a fun weekend.”

Emma Lemley (16-2, 1.80 ERA) remains the workhorse of the staff, pitching almost 60% of the innings. She leads the country in strikeouts with 186 in 120.1 innings.

Here’s the tale of the tape: