Duke Softball has to follow up the best season of its history - a WCWS season no less - with a team that's going to look very different. Duke loses 4 starters (Torres, Tapia, Davidson, Frelick) to graduation plus our co-ace Jala Wright and our best reliever Lillie Walker. Duke didn't really have much depth on the roster to replace those players - only the Catcher position has a player already on the roster who is likely to start next year.
That said, like I mentioned in the 2024 thread, Duke has managed to handle losing lots of players to graduation with seemingly ease before: when Team5 (2022) transitioned to Team6 (2023), Duke lost its ace pitcher and four of its top five hitters from a team that made the program's first super regional...and wound up with a team that not only made the program's second super regional, but hosted that super regional. Marissa Young has handled this situation before, so we should have some hope here.
Duke brings back the following major players:
2B: Aminah Vega
3B: Ana Gold
SS: Jada Baker
OF: D'Auna Jennings, Amiah Burgess
C: Kairi Rodriguez*
P: Cassidy Curd.
Positions without obvious starters:
1B,
Corner OF,
Second Starter,
Reliable Reliever.
*Rodriguez was one of the 3 catchers Duke used in 2023 but missed all of 2024 with an injury. With both Catchers from this year's team leaving, I am slotting her in at C as a major returnee.*
Duke is currently slated to bring in four players. The announcement page of their signing lists two of them as being ranked by a scouting service, but It very much seems like softball scouting services can be all over the place (for example Sophie was ranked much higher than Cassidy Curd). Those players are:
Pitcher Ava Bradshaw (Supposedly the #12 Player)
Pitcher/Utility Gabriella Mike (Supposedly the #25 Player)
Pitcher/Infielder Hailey Shuler
Utility Player Brooklinn Thomas
Note that while Gabriella Mike and Hailey Shuler are listed as two way players, Duke doesn't seem to like to let players play two-way: the last player to do that was Davidson and she dropped pitching and players like Cassidy Curd were listed in their recruitment post as two-way and Cass has never batted. Based upon the awards both players are listed as receiving, it seems most likely that both are going to be mainly pitchers.
So the good news is that this recruiting class seems obviously tailored to cover the gap in our pitching - just like how Team 6 covered for the loss of ace PSG by recruiting Cassidy Curd. Duke may not have as elite of a pitching monster as they had this season, but with Cass growing and the new recruits coming in, I expect Duke Pitching to be elite again next year. And it's entirely possible, if not plausible, that Duke might also add a pitcher in the portal.
Hitting wise, things are going to be reliant upon the transfer portal. Duke could try to fill the missing holes in the lineup with existing players like Zampa (OF), and Le, but Zampa is proven at this point to not be able to hit and Le was barely used last year, so who knows what she'll bring.
That said, I doubt that's the plan. Plus it doesn't solve the issue that we don't have a backup catcher on the roster, even if they trust Kairi Rodriguez to do the starting job. So Duke seems almost certain to add a few starting caliber hitters in the transfer portal and definitely will be bringing in a catcher. There's a number of recruits who fit the bill in the portal - in fact, good catchers from both UNC and State are in the portal if we want to try to attract someone from a local school - and obviously Duke should be as attractive a destination as ever right now.
Duke brought in transfers each of the last two seasons in July and August, so we will find out over the last few months.
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But here's the thing: No matter who comes in, Duke is set to be a pretty good team next year just with its existing core. We bring back an All American in Aminah Vega and Cassidy Curd basically matched Jala last year despite not getting All American honors. Ana Gold had a bad season but a bounce back seems very plausible, and Amiah Burgess and D'Auna Jennings really came on at the end of the season. Even with no additions, I'd see Duke as a top 25 team and a contender to host a regional just with those players....although I'd note that we weren't on the list of the teams invited to the major Clearwater preseason tournament for the second straight year, so I wonder if we'll have the tough non conference schedule needed to get such a seeding (the same problem that got us underseeded this year).
But yeah, Team8 should be good and pretty fun, and I can't wait.
That said, like I mentioned in the 2024 thread, Duke has managed to handle losing lots of players to graduation with seemingly ease before: when Team5 (2022) transitioned to Team6 (2023), Duke lost its ace pitcher and four of its top five hitters from a team that made the program's first super regional...and wound up with a team that not only made the program's second super regional, but hosted that super regional. Marissa Young has handled this situation before, so we should have some hope here.
Duke brings back the following major players:
2B: Aminah Vega
3B: Ana Gold
SS: Jada Baker
OF: D'Auna Jennings, Amiah Burgess
C: Kairi Rodriguez*
P: Cassidy Curd.
Positions without obvious starters:
1B,
Corner OF,
Second Starter,
Reliable Reliever.
*Rodriguez was one of the 3 catchers Duke used in 2023 but missed all of 2024 with an injury. With both Catchers from this year's team leaving, I am slotting her in at C as a major returnee.*
Duke is currently slated to bring in four players. The announcement page of their signing lists two of them as being ranked by a scouting service, but It very much seems like softball scouting services can be all over the place (for example Sophie was ranked much higher than Cassidy Curd). Those players are:
Pitcher Ava Bradshaw (Supposedly the #12 Player)
Pitcher/Utility Gabriella Mike (Supposedly the #25 Player)
Pitcher/Infielder Hailey Shuler
Utility Player Brooklinn Thomas
Note that while Gabriella Mike and Hailey Shuler are listed as two way players, Duke doesn't seem to like to let players play two-way: the last player to do that was Davidson and she dropped pitching and players like Cassidy Curd were listed in their recruitment post as two-way and Cass has never batted. Based upon the awards both players are listed as receiving, it seems most likely that both are going to be mainly pitchers.
So the good news is that this recruiting class seems obviously tailored to cover the gap in our pitching - just like how Team 6 covered for the loss of ace PSG by recruiting Cassidy Curd. Duke may not have as elite of a pitching monster as they had this season, but with Cass growing and the new recruits coming in, I expect Duke Pitching to be elite again next year. And it's entirely possible, if not plausible, that Duke might also add a pitcher in the portal.
Hitting wise, things are going to be reliant upon the transfer portal. Duke could try to fill the missing holes in the lineup with existing players like Zampa (OF), and Le, but Zampa is proven at this point to not be able to hit and Le was barely used last year, so who knows what she'll bring.
That said, I doubt that's the plan. Plus it doesn't solve the issue that we don't have a backup catcher on the roster, even if they trust Kairi Rodriguez to do the starting job. So Duke seems almost certain to add a few starting caliber hitters in the transfer portal and definitely will be bringing in a catcher. There's a number of recruits who fit the bill in the portal - in fact, good catchers from both UNC and State are in the portal if we want to try to attract someone from a local school - and obviously Duke should be as attractive a destination as ever right now.
Duke brought in transfers each of the last two seasons in July and August, so we will find out over the last few months.
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But here's the thing: No matter who comes in, Duke is set to be a pretty good team next year just with its existing core. We bring back an All American in Aminah Vega and Cassidy Curd basically matched Jala last year despite not getting All American honors. Ana Gold had a bad season but a bounce back seems very plausible, and Amiah Burgess and D'Auna Jennings really came on at the end of the season. Even with no additions, I'd see Duke as a top 25 team and a contender to host a regional just with those players....although I'd note that we weren't on the list of the teams invited to the major Clearwater preseason tournament for the second straight year, so I wonder if we'll have the tough non conference schedule needed to get such a seeding (the same problem that got us underseeded this year).
But yeah, Team8 should be good and pretty fun, and I can't wait.
