Duke Softball 2025

I'm glad it worked, but I'll be honest, that's a fallacy. There is only one high level swing. By the time the ball is getting to the plate all pitches move downward. My son is now a hitting coach - he has worked with Duke, Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia among others. I think the problem wasn't that the softball coach taugght a "softball swing", it was that the baeball coaches didn't know anything about teaching proper hitting mechanics.
Yes, gravity does take over by the time the ball reaches the plate but it’s not as drastic as baseball where the ball leaving the hand is already on a downward trajectory. One of our coaches went thru the Cincinnati Reds organizations though never made the Majors, so I believe he understood what makes a high level swing and good hitting mechanics. The loading up, leading with the hips, the “click and snap,” etc. that is used in baseball also applies in softball. The change to a flatter swing rather than swinging “upwards” made all the difference in the world. That’s all I was trying to convey.
 
Texas tech has added all American hitters from Florida and Tennessee and a pretty good pitcher from ucla so they’re spending a lot to ensure Canady doesn’t have not enough support next year
 
According to D1Softball Hailey Shuler has entered the transfer portal
Likely related to this, duke has added two pitchers from the transfer portal.

Larissa Jacquez is the prize here it looks like, with two years of eligibility coming from Incarnate Word. 1.65 ERA, striking out a batter per inning….very promising stuff.

Also coming to Duke from Louisiana is Mallory Wheeler, who comes with a 3.48 ERA.

Edit: just did the math and looks like this plus the incoming 7 person freshman class fills the roster (new roster limit is 25) unless someone else transfers.
 
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Sorry about Shuler…but…Larissa Jacquez (best ERA, 1.65 in her conference as a freshman) and Mallory Wheeler (3.48 ERA and a 7 inning no-hitter vs So.Miss. as a freshman.) show promise. Plus, Ava Bradshaw, former HS all American will hopefully be totally recovered and ready in the circle. So, with Cass leading the way….and All American Jess Oakland, transfer from Minnesota ready to go…and a new influx of outstanding freshmen….fingers crossed.
 
Pitcher/utility 2025 freshman Gabriella Mike has also put herself in the outgoing Duke portal.
She’s going to Liberty apparently.

Notably that’s 2 of the 3 of last year’s frosh who played who are outgoing, leaving Brooklinn Thomas. Neither amounted to much last year for better or worse.

Curious if Linh Le (who got some interesting playing time early then got mothballed for some reason - possibly injury?) or more interestingly Jada Baker might be next - baker should’ve graduated this year and we’ve had a bunch of players transfer out after doing so like Walker or Jacobson.
 
NCAA proposed a few rule changes for next season- some like obstruction changes and double bases are minor nice changes and another might affect Duke’s D’Auna Jennings: it would make hitting a ball with a foot out of the box (or on the plate) always an automatic out, rather than simply an automatic strike. Jennings has struggled with the existing rule so this version could be brutal.
 
Writing up my Duke Softball 2026 preview soon to start a new thread, but Duke added another transfer this week: https://goduke.com/news/2025/6/24/s...duate-transfer-tyrina-jones-for-2026-campaign

Tyrina Jones out of Purdue is a shortstop who missed all last year with injury and has one year of eligibility. She's...interesting - Low batting average player who doesn't walk much but also has a lot of power when she does make contact. Not sure I can recall a player like that on a Duke team in a while - our lesser hitters tend to just be good average no power players instead of this.

Duke has a hole at 3B assuming Jess Oakland plays shortstop, so she could be aiming for a spot there.
 
NCAA proposed a few rule changes for next season- some like obstruction changes and double bases are minor nice changes and another might affect Duke’s D’Auna Jennings: it would make hitting a ball with a foot out of the box (or on the plate) always an automatic out, rather than simply an automatic strike. Jennings has struggled with the existing rule so this version could be brutal.
Jennings had some success this past year with a conventional swing, keeping both feet in the box, so she could continue down that path. Or, she could learn better discipline with her feet in her slap swings.

What is meant by 'double bases' in your message? Is this the green or red 'safety bag' at first base like in NCAA Baseball?
 
Jennings had some success this past year with a conventional swing, keeping both feet in the box, so she could continue down that path. Or, she could learn better discipline with her feet in her slap swings.

What is meant by 'double bases' in your message? Is this the green or red 'safety bag' at first base like in NCAA Baseball?
Yes, it's the green or red safety bag.

Jennings had her worst year yet this year, so I'm not sure calling it a success is true. After hitting .457/.486/.514 her Frosh year, she hit .390/.422/.462 her sophomore year and dropped further to .350/.381/.394 this year. If she's not getting on base at at least a .400 clip, she's not really succeeding.
 
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