Duke beats Missouri softball in extra-inning thriller, will play in Women’s College World Series

The wait continues for Missouri softball.

Duke center fielder D’Auna Jennings hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth, Blue Devils starter Cassidy Curd won an intense pitching duel against Missouri ace Laurin Krings, and No. 10 national seed Duke eliminated Missouri from the NCAA Tournament with a 4-3, nine-inning victory Sunday in Columbia, Missouri.

Not without a little drama to end the super regional, either.

Jennings’ solo shot over the right field wall was challenged by Missouri’s dugout, which said the center fielder did not touch home plate before heading to the dugout.

The ruling confirmed she did.

Then the floodgates opened.

Missouri closer Taylor Pannell replaced Krings on the mound, and quickly hit Duke designated player Francesca Frelick with a pitch. Left fielder Amiah Burgess drove her home with a triple up the right field line. Third baseman Ana Gold followed up by doubling her teammate home. Kelly Torres doubled in Gold to make it 4-0, and that was that.

That was just that.

In the bottom of the ninth, Missouri shortstop Jenna Laird singled. Center fielder Alex Honnold matched. Maddie Gallagher drove her teammates to second and third base, and then ...

Columbia local and Rock Bridge grad Abby Hay crunched a 3-1 pitch almost exactly where Jennings had one inning before for a three-run home run, and to put the tying run at the plate.

Jefferson City native Kara Daly's singled to put the tying run aboard.

Freshman Madison Walker lashed at a 1-1 pitch. She made great contact.

But the drive was tracked down by Jennings in center field, the star of the series and the hero in the top and bottom of the ninth.

The Blue Devils are headed to Oklahoma City for the first time in program history.

Duke (52-7), which became a program in 2018, qualified for the Women’s College World Series by defeating the Tigers. Missouri (48-18) is still without a WCWS berth in the Larissa Anderson era, and has not been to the season-ending tournament since 2011.

Krings and Curd played out one of the more dominant pitcher’s duels in a postseason that’s been packed with them in Columbia.

Krings, Missouri’s seemingly tireless senior ace, started for the seventh straight game in the NCAA Tournament. Curd, who had allowed just one hit over nine innings of relief work in the super regional before Sunday, in place of ace Jala Wright.

That made for a tense duel.

When Krings took eight pitches to retire the Duke lineup in the fifth, Curd responded with a nine-pitch, down-in-order answer.

When Krings stumped the top of the Duke lineup in the sixth, Curd returned the favor.

Krings and Curd traded scoreless innings all the way through regulation innings. Neither pitcher allowed a walk in that same timespan. The dueling aces allowed three hits apiece in regulation, none of which for extra bases.

Just how evenly matched were they?

Curd had thrown 63 strikes on 84 pitches by the time the contest hit extra innings. Krings was at 62 strikes on 85 throws. They traded 1-2-3 innings in the eighth.

When Krings was pulled after giving up the first run of the day, she had gone eight innings with four hits, three strikeouts.

Curd came out after allowing back-to-back hits to lead off the ninth with four hits tagged to her and seven strikeouts.

It was always going to take something special to separate the sides inside Mizzou Softball Stadium.

That came from D’Auna Jennings, who had been a force in center field for most of the super regional.

In the NCAA Tournament, Missouri faced the threat of elimination six times. Even in a four-run, extra-inning hole, there was fight.

But No. 6 was the feather that broke the Tiger’s back.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Duke beats Missouri softball in extra-inning thriller, reaches WCWS