Duke softball’s Aminah Vega added another major honor to a senior season packed with them, earning the 2026 ACC Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year as the league unveiled its All-ACC Academic Team Tuesday afternoon.
Vega paired a big year at the plate with a strong classroom resume, finishing with a 3.83 GPA and graduating in May with a degree in psychology. She also picked up NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete and College Sports Communicators Academic All-District recognition.
On the field, the two-time NFCA First Team All-America selection powered one of the country’s top offenses. Vega led Duke in batting average (.462), runs (87), doubles (21), triples (5) and total bases (174).
She also left her mark all over the Duke record book. The DeBary, Florida, native set the program’s career doubles record at 67 and established the single-season doubles standard with 21, topping Claire Davidson’s 2024 mark of 20. Vega started at second base in all 60 games this spring, finished second in Duke history with 301 career hits, and became the Blue Devils’ career home run leader during the NCAA Super Regional at Arkansas when she hit her 55th career homer to pass Ana Gold’s 54.
In all, 13 Blue Devils were named to the All-ACC Academic Team for their work in the classroom and on the field during the 2026 season.
Among them, seniors Cassidy Curd, D'Auna Jennings and Vega were honored for the fourth consecutive year. Classmates Kairi Rodriguez and Aleyah Terrell earned the distinction for the third time, while senior KK Mathis was recognized for the second straight season.
The rest of Duke’s first-time selections included transfers Larissa Jacquez, Layla Lamar and Jessica Oakland, redshirt freshman Ava Bradshaw and freshmen Ariel Krueger, Adelyn Matthews and Jayla Stafford.
Duke has now placed at least eight players on the All-ACC Academic Team in five straight seasons, and the Blue Devils have had at least three honorees in each of the last nine years.
To qualify, players must post a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester and a 3.0 cumulative GPA during their academic careers, while also appearing in at least 50 percent of their team’s games and 20 percent of the contests for pitchers.
In Other News...
Duke Just Got The Offseason Outcome Every Blue Devils Fan Wanted
Patrick Ngongbas decision to stay in Durham gives Duke something every program wants in May: a proven young big man with more room to grow. After a sophomore season that showed real progress on both ends, he heads into his junior year with the kind of profile that can stabilize a roster and raise the ceiling for a team still trying to build around talent that can last beyond one spring.
There is also a bigger layer here for Duke, because Ngongbas stock already points toward the first round and the next 12 months could shape just how high he climbs. His development has been encouraging, but there is still some risk in the background after missed time early in his career, which makes this return meaningful for both player and program as he tries to turn promise into something even more valuable. [Read more 🡒]
Duke's First 2026 ACC Test Comes With One Strange New Threat
Dukes first ACC test of 2026 comes with a little more uncertainty than usual, because Stanford arrives in Durham with a defense that should look a lot like the group that took the field a year earlier. The Cardinal are expected to bring back most of their defenders, which at least gives the trip some continuity even after a rough 2025 showing against the pass. For the Blue Devils, that means opening league play against a team that may be in the early stages of a reset, but not one without familiar pieces on the field.
The other side of the ball is where the intrigue starts to build. Stanford is trying to get its offense moving again, leaning on returning backs and a new answer at quarterback, and that combination could make this September matchup harder to read than a typical early conference game. Duke has not seen Stanford in Durham in years, so this is also one of those first-look Saturdays where the name on the helmet may not tell the whole story by kickoff. [Read more 🡒]
Duke May Have Quietly Added Another Future NBA Piece
Duke added another intriguing frontcourt option for next season when a versatile forward arrived through the transfer portal from Belmont, giving the Blue Devils a player who already knows how to impact the game in a variety of ways. He comes in with a productive track record and the kind of two-way profile that fits naturally in Durham, where development and ceiling often matter as much as immediate production.
Last season, he posted 10.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per game while earning first-team all-conference and all-defensive recognition in the Missouri Valley. If that skill set translates the way Duke hopes, he could end up being more than just a useful addition for one season, with the sort of long-term upside that keeps NBA evaluators watching even as his role with the Blue Devils takes shape. [Read more 🡒]