Last season, Duke rose to national prominence before COVID-19 shut the season down.
And after some uncertainty, the Blue Devils will return a good portion of the leadership that got them to that point.
The team announced Friday afternoon that three seniors will use their extra season of eligibility granted by the NCAA to return to Duke for the 2021 campaign: catcher Jazmine Moreno, outfielder Dominique Salinas and third baseman Raine Wilson. All three will enroll in the university's Fuqua School of Business this upcoming year.
Moreno struggled at the plate this past season, slashing .220/.273/.268, but executed perhaps the Blue Devils' moment of the season when she threw out a stealing baserunner to clinch the first ranked win in program history.
Salinas hit .316 in 2020 and unofficially led Duke with a .519 on-base percentage, though her five starts and 19 total games weren't enough for her numbers to officially qualify.
Wilson, a three-year captain, slashed .273/.415/.530 this past year and placed third on the team with 19 RBIs. She was named to the All-ACC First Team as a sophomore in 2018 after slashing .371/.453/.593 with six home runs and 35 RBIs, all of which led the team.
The Blue Devils will enter next season looking to build off a 2020 campaign in which the team finished with a 23-4 record, just six wins shy of the program-high for wins despite playing 29 fewer games.
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