Duke softball is on verge of Women’s College World Series. How Blue Devils got there
Rapidly and methodically, with one major outside disruption thrown in, Duke’s softball team went from its infancy to the verge of the sport’s marquee event in five short years.
Beginning with their first season of competition in 2018, the Blue Devils have taken important steps each season from their first winning season to their first win over a ranked team to their first ACC championship.
Last weekend, Duke not only hosted an NCAA regional for the first time by earning one of the nation’s top 16 seeds but the Blue Devils won that championship and advanced.
Now Duke joins 15 other teams playing in the Super Regional round with a berth in the Women’s College World Series on the line. Seeded No. 12 nationally, the Blue Devils play a best-of-three series at No. 5 seed UCLA beginning Friday in Los Angeles.
“Going to L.A., it’s something that none of us have ever experienced,” said Kristina Foreman, who plays second base for the Blue Devils. “But we’re really excited to go out there and compete. We know what it takes. We have what it takes. We just have to go do it.”
Duke (44-9) appeared on the way to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2020, winning 23 of its first 27 games, before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the rest of the season. Last season, the Blue Devils went 44-12, surprisingly winning the ACC tournament to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time.
But they played their NCAA regional on the road at Georgia, where the host Bulldogs beat Duke twice to win that regional and move on in the tournament.
This season, Duke welcomed the Bulldogs to Durham for the double-elimination regional. In Sunday’s championship round, Georgia beat Duke, 5-3, but the Blue Devils responded by rallying from a 5-1 deficit to win 13-5 and claim the program’s first regional title.
“It’s amazing!” Duke sophomore pitcher Jala Wright said last Sunday. “This is what we wanted. This is the best feeling ever. Being a part of this team, being with these girls, this is what we worked hard for all season. And we’re not done yet.”
Duke coach Marissa Young’s team includes a number of standout players, including pitcher Peyton St. George, Rachel Crabtree at first base and power-hitting outfielder Jameson Kavel, who played on that first team in 2018.
Now they have the Blue Devils among the final 16 teams remaining in the tournament, needing two wins at UCLA this weekend to advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
“What I wanted for the program from day one was to be playing at the Women’s College World Series,” Young said, “but I want it most for this senior group because they’ve been the ones here laying the foundation, putting in the work, and I want them to experience all of the enjoyment of playing at the highest level.”
The early years
Duke played its first softball game in February 2018. The school started a program from scratch in one of the premier conferences in the country.
The Blue Devils hired Young, the former Big Ten Player of the Year from Michigan, to lead the team. Young, who was previously an assistant at North Carolina, had two years to build a program before taking the field.
The team went a respectable 29-27 in that first year, 13-11 in the conference.
“You know, year one was tough,” Young said. “Everyone was figuring things out together on the fly. And, you know, there wasn’t a staff who had been together that had competed and there wasn’t a team that competed.”
The second team posted a 25-31 record, forcing them to “grow” as St. George put it. But it was just a matter of chugging away, waiting for things to click.
They were working together, figuring out things “on the fly” as Young put it.
Duke figured things out enough to go 17-7 at home, but ended the inaugural year on a four-game losing streak. Young expected the first-year team to take some lumps, but wouldn’t use that as an excuse. She could have easily put a bunch of cupcakes on the schedule. She did the opposite.
“From day one, I’ve challenged this team and this program to a tough schedule,” Young said. “I think we could have easily won a lot more games earlier in our history had we scheduled differently. I knew that putting them in those challenging environments would enable them to be prepared for the success that they’re having now.”
Duke’s non-conference schedule included Florida Atlantic, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Kentucky and South Carolina, not to mention a tough ACC slate.
“So, you know, it wasn’t about the quick fixes and the easy road,” Young said. “We took the hard road and, you know, it’s paid off.”
Cathy Jacobsen sent her daughter, senior Caroline, to Duke from Tallahassee, Fla., when the program was just in its second season. The energy around the program is like night and day.
“The facilities look the same,” Cathy Jacobsen said. “But in terms of fan support, it has definitely increased. I think people in the community are super fans. They come to every game. They have nobody on the team, but they come here to support, which I think is huge.”
When the elder Jacobsen thinks about how far the program has come, one word comes to mind.
“Incredible,” she said. “Year one, they committed themselves to Duke before there was even a field. That says a lot about Duke and the coach, and they were willing to take a chance. Starting in year two, they hit the ground running, so I think it’s pretty amazing to see in year five how far they’ve come.”
The build up
It didn’t take long for Duke to breakthrough.
After going 54-58 over the first two seasons, the Blue Devils surged in their third season before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. When the season was abruptly ended in March 2020, Duke was 23-4.
“Team three was kind of the turning point for us,” St. George said. “It’s when we kind of put ourselves on the map.”
That hot start to 2020 included a 1-0 win at No. 4 Texas, the program’s first win over a ranked team.
In 2021, at just 4 years old, the Duke softball program took off.
Young led the team to an ACC championship and played in the regional for the first time. Duke won 44 games last season before falling to Georgia.
“They weren’t satisfied,” Young told The News and Observer in an interview earlier this month.
It’s weird to think that a team that didn’t even exist five years earlier wouldn’t be happy with simply hosting its first regional. They wanted to advance and they succeeded.
“If you had told me, on team one, that we would be hosting a regional,” St. George said. “We would have thought you were crazy, but we would have never doubted you because we’ve put in the work. It was just a matter of when things are going to click.”
Some folks would think the Blue Devils were ahead of schedule. Young doesn’t see it that way.
“It’s honestly on time,” Young said. “I’m a big competitor and obviously having coached in the ACC prior to coming to Duke, I, you know, kind of have lay of the land and knew what it would take to be competitive in this conference. And, you know, I’m never satisfied with just being average or, you know, just getting the program started. I’ve wanted this program to be great right from the start. That’s been our goal.”
Young was fortunate that everyone within the program had the same vision she did — win and make an impact right away.
“I think there were a lot of outsiders that looked at us and me, especially, I thought that I was crazy and overzealous and you know, wishful thinking,” Young said. “But we all believed from day one, and we’re committed to that vision and making it happen.”
The biggest roadblocks early on was simply lack of experience. Young, who played in a College World Series when she was at Michigan, knew she couldn’t simulate those big moments.
Last season’s trip to Athens was just a small taste.
“I think this group is poised,” Young said. “We’ve had the experience of being in the postseason. I think this is the year.”
There are nine seniors or graduates on the Duke roster. Young had several conversations with them leading up to last weekend’s regional. About the trailblazers they are at Duke, taking a chance on a program that had to earn its stripes in college softball.
“I can’t say enough about this group of seniors, you know, as a coach and a leader you can have all the thoughts and vision and plan that you want,” Young said. “But it doesn’t get done unless you have great people. And they have been the people that have been in it and in the fight since day one. So you know I think coming into it, they thought that they were just going to be laying the foundation of this program.”
Young said the group thought they would come back years from now and celebrate what they started. Instead they are making history as they go.
“For them to be able to see that they’re still here, enjoying the fruits of their labor and that they’ve taken this team from ground zero to a national powerhouse,” Young said. “You know, they’re proud of that and excited to go out on top.”
