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Madeira Beach, Fla. - Playing in their second straight extra inning game of the Madeira Beach Spring Invitational Saturday night, Villanova (0-3, 0-0 BIG EAST) got 13 strikeouts from starting pitcher Kate Poppe but fell short, 6-5, in nine innings to Georgia Southern.

The Eagles would strike first in the bottom half of the first inning as Morgan Robinson doubled down the field line scoring Emily Snider to give Georgia Southern the 1-0 lead.

Neither team would score until the fifth inning where both squads' bats came alive.

After Tianah Hathaway grounded out to to second to start the top of the inning, Brittany Husk and Lauren Herschberg both singled putting runners on first and third with one out. Sierra McConnell single down the third base line scoring Husk to tie the game at one apiece.

After Chase Snell walked to load the bases, Nikki Alden forced in a run after being hit by a pitch to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Shea Palmer would tack on Villanova's third run of the inning with an RBI single up the middle scoring McConnell. Just one half inning later, Villanova tied the game up with one swing of the bat.Hathaway led off the sixth inning with a walk, and Husk would ground out to second bringing Herschberg to the plate. The Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. native slammed a two-run homerun down the leftfield line to knot the game at 5-5.

Both teams would battle until the bottom half of the ninth inning where the Eagles prevailed thanks to the International Tie Breaker rule. Georgia Southern loaded the bases and Rowan McGuire walked bringing home India Davis to seal the win for the Eagles. Kate Poppe was a stalwart going 8.2 innings and striking out 13 batters. She now has 807 career strikeouts in the blue and white. Herschberg had a nice day at the plate going 3-for-4 with two RBI's.

Villanova returns to action later tonight as they square off with the North Florida Ospreys.

Be sure to follow the team socially on Twitter @VUSoftball, Instagram @novasoftball and Facebook to stay up to date with the latest news scores and highlights from the Wildcats throughout the season.