WASHINGTON, D.C. – In game one of today's softball doubleheader, the Villanova Wildcats used the pitching of Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) and the bat of Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) to propel them to a 1-0 road win over the George Washington Colonials. This was Villanova's first 1-0 win since the 2017 season opener against Eastern Michigan.
 
With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 3-6 on the season, while George Washington falls to 4-5. Today was the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the softball field.
 
The 1-0 victory gives Villanova its first back-to-back shutout wins since throwing four-straight from April 6-13, 2019 against Providence, Lafayette and Creighton. 
 
The only run of the game came with two outs in the top of the second when Henry hit a home run over the left center fence for her fourth long ball of the season. Henry went 3-for-3 in the win to tally three of the team's four hits. The other Wildcat hit was a double in the fourth inning by Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.)   
 
Rauch was outstanding on the mound where she threw 80 of her 104 pitches for strikes and allowed only two Colonial batters to reach second base. In seven innings of work, Rauch gave up just two hits while striking out nine for her fifth career complete shutout. With the win, Rauch is now 2-2 on the young season.
 
George Washington received a strong pitching performance from Sierra Lange who allowed four hits and one run, while striking out four over her seven innings of work. The two George Washington hits were singles from Jenna Cone and Alexa Williams.
 
Both teams were a combined 0-for-15 with runners on base.