Duke softball peppers Howard with home runs in NCAA Tournament regional win
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- Duke defeated Howard 10-1 in five innings in their NCAA regional opener.
- Duke hit six home runs and a pair of sacrifice flies to win.
- D’Auna Jennings went 3-for-3 and set Duke’s single-season hit record at 81.
D’Auna Jennings stood in foul territory and shook a bedazzled water bottle on Tyrina Jones, the center fielder giving her third baseman an impromptu shower after her first home run of the game.
Duke (40-14) used the long ball to defeat Howard, 10-1, in five innings during its NCAA Tournament regional opener Friday afternoon. The win sets up a date with the winner of Arizona-Marshall at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“I think it’s a statement win, and it’s crucial, to be honest, this time of year,” Jennings said. “It’s literally win or go home. When you win in that first game, it puts you in a good position for the rest of the weekend. … It’s very crucial for the rest of the weekend to be able to win one game, and win each day, to continue to go on to next week for supers.”
The Blue Devils hit six home runs and a pair of sacrifice flies to pick up the win, snapping the Bison’s three-game winning streak.
Duke has hit 102 home runs, setting a program record. Its previous best was 97 home runs in 2022. A year ago, the Blue Devils hit 61 homers.
“Obviously, we’ve had personnel coming in, Jess [Oakland], Ty, Layla [Lamar], [Gabriella Shadek],” said Duke head coach Marissa Lamar. “We’ve had new additions to the lineup that have brought tremendous power, but still having the staples of Dee and Aminah [Vega] that can do it as well. I love it. Just up and down the lineup, it’s anybody’s day.”
Howard (28-18) loaded the bases in the top of the fourth to put pressure on Duke’s pitching staff. Sophomore Mallory Wheeler started in the circle and pitched 3 ⅔ innings before she was lifted. Wheeler played a clean game until the top of the fourth, when she gave up a pair of two-out hits.
Ava Bradshaw entered the game and threw a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Bradshaw, after being ahead in the count 1-2, walked a second batter to give Howard its first run of the game. She limited the damage by inducing a groundout on the third opposing hitter.
Howard head coach Tori Tyson said she was happy with her team’s fight, but the squad knows it needed a little bit more. It shouldn’t have walked six batters and needed more awareness at certain times.
“I don’t want to have the same meeting twice,” Tyson said, referencing her postgame message. “I don’t want another backward score that we’re like, ‘We fought, but if only.’”
Duke cruised and held Howard scoreless the rest of the way. Kairi Rodriguez, who replaced Gabriella Shadek at catcher, hit a walk-off home run to score two and end the game in five innings.
The Blue Devils took a 3-0 lead on back-to-back home runs from two of their top hitters. Jones put the Blue Devils on the board with a two-run shot to center field in the bottom of the first. Her hit, the 21st home run of the season, drove in shortstop Jessica Oakland. Right fielder Layla Lamar added a solo home run on the next at-bat for her 14th of the season.
The Blue Devils added a fourth run in the bottom of the second when Shadek hit a leadoff home run in the second frame.
Shadek added a second solo home run in the bottom of the third to put her team up five. The freshman went 2 for 2 at the plate in her first postseason appearance.
Jennings put on a 3-for-3 performance and broke the program’s single-season hit record with her 81st hit. The senior centerfielder set the previous record in 2023. She also came around to score once on a sacrifice fly.
“She’s a gamer, and it’s not about her,” Young said. “She just wants to do her job for her team. I don’t think people talk enough about what it’s like to be the leadoff hitter in a lineup like this. It’s a lot of pressure, and she wears it with grace and loves, as she said, to be that spark for this team. She does it in such a great way, using all of her tools and coming back and giving others confidence, which allows the rest of the offense to produce.”
Friday afternoon was the second time Duke hosted Howard in an NCAA Tournament regional opener. Last season, the Blue Devils defeated the Bison, 12-0, in five innings to open the regional.
The Bison move to the elimination bracket and will play at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. They are seeking their first NCAA Tournament win in program history.
“I’m not a coach that’s going to coach them softly through this,” Tyson said. “Everybody that is in a postseason made it because they won. They didn’t do me some favor, and it was a draw out of a hat. You won, so you know what it takes to win. We can’t allow the moment to change that.
“You’re not going to make history by being careful, by being safe.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Duke softball peppers Howard with home runs in NCAA Tournament regional win."
