In a tough road matchup, Duke came up short in its trip to Columbia, S.C., to take on No. 15 South Carolina.
Although the Blue Devils kept it tight for much of the game, they couldn’t overcome the Gamecocks’ combination timely hitting and dominant pitching and lost 6-1. Pitcher Dixie Raley confounded the Duke offense Tuesday afternoon, allowing just one run across seven innings of work. The Duke pitching staff held its own through four innings, but a barrage of South Carolina hits—and an untimely error—put the game out of reach for the Blue Devils.
“We definitely struggled at the plate today,” head coach Marissa Young said. “We were overaggressive in swinging at pitches out of the zone, and [Raley] did a great job not giving us anything good to hit. We tip our hats to her, she pitched well.”
After two scoreless frames, South Carolina (24-5) drew first blood. In the bottom of the third, senior Tiara Duffy hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice. Sophomore Kenzi Maguire stepped into the box and hit a single back up the middle to score Duffy and put the Gamecocks in front.
Duke (16-11) wouldn’t stay down for long. With one out in the top of the fourth, sophomore Raine Wilson lined a double into left field and freshman Rachel Abboud immediately followed with a single to set up first and third. After Amelia Wiercioch was plunked by a pitch, graduate transfer Jill Ferraro stepped in and singled to score the only Blue Devil run of the afternoon.
Duke’s starting pitcher Wiercioch pitched well on the day, throwing four innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts. But after a shaky fourth inning that included a double and a hit batsman, and the top of the Gamecock lineup looming, the Duke coaching staff decided to replace Wiercioch with freshman Peyton St George.
With the game tied, South Carolina immediately jumped on St. George. After a leadoff double and a quick single, Mackenzie Boesel singled to break the tie. One batter later, Krystan White reached on an error by the shortstop that scored the second run of the inning. That play opened the door for a two-out double from Cayla Drotar that scored two more and put the game away.
Two out hitting was a theme for the day, as the Gamecocks consistently came through in those pressure situations. In nine two-out at bats, South Carolina created four hits and four RBIs. Duke on the other hand, had seven two-out at bats and seven outs.
“From our hitters perspective, we need to stay within ourselves and find a good pitch to hit in those situations instead of chasing pitches,” Young said. “On the other side, our pitchers need to do a better job of putting them away when they’re ahead in the count.”
Desperately searching for an offensive spark, Duke tried to make something happen in the final frame. But despite an impressive 14 pitch at-bat from Ferraro that ended in a walk, the Blue Devils couldn’t create any magic.
With the loss, Duke falls to 0-3 against ranked opponents, a mark that doesn’t include a three-game sweep at the hands of unranked North Carolina. The Blue Devils have done a good job of taking care of business against lesser opponents, but haven’t been able to break through against more talented squads.
“We scheduled games like this to give our kids a taste of what it takes to play at the highest level, and they’re learning from every game that we play against these top teams,” Young said. “So I think we’ll improve and make adjustments so that we’re in a good position, come the end of the season, when we need those games most.
Duke has little time to recover as it travels to Greenville, N.C., to take on East Carolina Wednesday.
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