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Duke softball coach Marissa Young praises Super Regional play of Cassidy Curd, NiJaree Canady

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•05/26/23•

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Duke's Cassidy Curd, Stanford's NiJaree Canady
Nat LeDonne | Duke Athletics - Karen Hickey | isiphotos.com

In the first game of the Durham Super Regional, No. 8 Duke’s matchup with No. 9 Stanford is coming down to pitching. Blue Devil head coach Marissa Young is seeing it that way too when it comes to the matchup between Cassidy Curd and Cardinal RHP NiJaree Canady.

Young joined the ESPN2 broadcast and started by complimenting her freshman in Curd. With 12 batters down already, Young said that she is very obviously thriving on the stage of the postseason.

“She looks a lot like she did in the Clemson game at the ACC Tournament,” Young said. She’s just trusting her stuff and having a lot of fun being in this environment.”

Through four innings, Curd has posted six strikeouts already. That’s a big reason why Duke is currently shutting out Stanford by a score of 1-0.

From there, Young commented on the challenge that the fellow freshman in Canady is providing the Blue Devils. With seven strikeouts of her own at the moment, she’s preaching control and patience as they wait for Canady to throw something they can work with.

“Discipline is the key,” said Young. “She does a great job of getting you to chase up out of the zone. And I think our hitters are doing a good job of making her bring it down.”

With a low-scoring affair going on at Duke Softball Stadium, the pitching in the matchup is making all the difference. The question now is which of Curd or Canady keeps it going to give their team a 1-0 lead in the series.

Stanford’s Kaitlyn Lim breaks up Duke no-hitter with go-ahead 2-run double

Stanford right fielder Kaitlyn Lim broke up Duke‘s no-hitter with go-ahead two-run double in the top of the fifth inning in Friday’s Super Regional game.

The at-bat came with one out in the fifth inning. That’s after Cassidy Curd had held the Cardinals without a baserunner for the first four frames. Her perfect game was lost with the first batter of the inning when Emily Young walked. Emily Schultz then reached on an error to put Lim in a prime opportunity with one out.

Lim roped a double to left-center on a 1-1 count that easily scored Young while Schultz hustled her way around the bases to beat the throw home and give Stanford the 2-1 lead.