COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Cassidy Curd retired 11 straight batters in relief of starter Jala Wright and tenth-seeded Duke beat seventh-seeded Missouri 6-3 on Friday for its first super regional win in program history.
Duke (51-6) is one win away from advancing to its first Women’s College World Series. Game 2 of the best-of-three Columbia Super Regional is schedule for Saturday.
Francesca Frelick, who is third in the country in sacrifice flies, delivered a two-run shot in the second inning, her sixth homer of the season, to put Duke ahead 2-1. Kelly Torres scored on the play to reach 100 career runs.
Two batters later, D’Auna Jennings drove it to the wall for an RBI triple, scoring Amiah Burgess from first for a two-run lead.
Missouri tied it in the bottom of the second at 3-all to force a pitching change. Curd entered with two outs before stranding runners on first and second with a pop up.
Duke took the lead for good with a two-run fifth, aided by an overturned call at the plate that allowed Aleyah Terrell to score. Jennings added a run in the seventh with some cleaver baserunning during a rundown.
Curd (12-3) struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings, including her 300th career strikeout.
Laurin Krings (16-9) allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings for Missouri (47-17), makings its 10th super regional appearance.
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