Villanova, Pa. – With a game that brought loads of offense, Villanova was able to come out victorious over Delaware by a score of 16-9.
Delaware jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and would bat around in the top of the first inning. However, the Wildcats would come storming back with eight runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Paige Rauch opened up the scoring with an RBI triple to left field that would score
Angela Giampolo.
Caroline Jones was next up to bat and delivered a two-run home run to dead center to cut the lead to 6-3.
Delaney Switzer would walk and
Lauren Hanna would hit a single to bring
Kendall Ohman up to the plate. She singled to center scoring Switzer.
Jordan Olivarez was the next batter up and singled to left field scoring Hanna.
Olivia LaQua would keep the offense rolling hitting a single to right field. The bases would be loaded for
Sydney Hayes who would hit into a fielder's choice scoring a run to tie the game at six. Giampolo would then deliver a huge double to right center field scoring LaQua and Hayes.
In the third inning Jones would come through with another clutch hit as she would single scoring LaQua and would make the game 9-6.
The Blue Hens would get three runs in the top of the fourth including a two-run home run and an RBI double to tie the game back up, but the bottom of the fourth the Cats would have another huge inning and explode for seven more runs.
A squeeze would bring home the Wildcats first run in the fourth. Olivarez got the bunt down and was able to bring home
Megan Ruiz. LaQua, Rauch, and Switzer would all come through with RBI singles, while Giampolo hit another two-run double, and Jones hit a sacrifice fly to deep center.
The offense was contagious as every starter had at least one hit and scored at least one run. Olivarez had two hits, Giampolo, Rauch, Jones, and LaQua all had three hits, and Ohman finished with four hits on the day.
Sara Kennedy picked up her seventh win on the season on the bump.
Taylor Rhinehart pitched two shut-out innings in relief, and Rauch came in to shut down the final inning.
Villanova will be on the road over the weekend as they travel to take on St. John's. There will be a double header Saturday and a single game Sunday.
