INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—Freshman right fielder Brooklyn Ostrowski (Port Chester, Pa.) hit her first collegiate home run to supply all of the offense in a 3-0 shutout as Villanova (11-7, 3-0 BIG EAST) finished off a three-game sweep of Butler (9-11, 2-4 BIG EAST) at the Butler Softball Field on Sunday afternoon. Senior starting pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) pitched her second shutout of the weekend and her fourth in a span of 11 days as the Wildcats won their eighth straight game.
 
Ostrowski blasted a three-run homer to straightaway center field with nobody out in the fourth inning to give Villanova all the scoring it would need. Already in the game as the right fielder and flex player, Ostrowski hit for sophomore first baseman Victoria Sebastian (Ridgewood, N.J.) with runners at first and second and nobody out. She took a called strike before connecting on the 0-1 offering for not only her first home run, but also the first hit in a BIG EAST game of her collegiate career.
 
Junior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) singled to left leading off the fourth inning and junior Erin Gray (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) pinch ran for her ahead of a four-pitch walk to senior shortstop Julia DaCosta (North Attleboro, Mass.). Henry went 2-for-3 on the day and continues to lead the Wildcats in batting on the season with a .396 average. Five other players had one hit apiece for Villanova, which added to seven hits on the day with five walks.
 
Rauch (6-2, 2.85 ERA) has been in untouchable territory on the mound of late. Her latest masterpiece was Sunday's four-hitter in which she walked one and struck out six. She retired the side in order three times in seven innings and allowed just two base runners to reach as far as second base. Rauch gave up a one-out single in the bottom of the first, but the runner was called out for leaving the base early on a hit-and-run attempt. She then retired the next seven batters in a row, including 1-2-3 innings in the bottom of the second and third innings.
 
In six appearances on the mound since March 10, Rauch has made five starts and one relief appearance while giving up just two runs in 36 2/3 innings pitched. She has pitched to a microscopic 0.38 ERA over this stretch, including shutouts against George Washington on March 11, Hofstra on March 13 and Butler on both Saturday and Sunday as the Wildcats opened BIG EAST play with a series sweep of the Bulldogs.
 
Rauch was also on base three times with a single and two walks in Sunday's series finale. She made history in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader when she hit two home runs to tie the Villanova career record with 34 homers, then later in the same game became the first batter in school history to be intentionally walked twice in the same game. In the third inning on Sunday senior second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) led off with a single, Rauch walked and the pair executed a successful double steal.
 
Junior center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) and sophomore left fielder Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.) had the other hits in the game for the Wildcats, who batted .269 as a team and outscored Butler by a 10-1 margin in the weekend series. The host Bulldogs hit just .155 against Rauch and junior pitcher Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.), who tossed a complete game of her own in the second game of the series.
 
Villanova is 3-0 to start BIG EAST play for the first time since the 2004 team won its first seven conference games. This week the Wildcats will play a single midweek game at Delaware on Wednesday at 3 p.m. before hosting a league series against Creighton next weekend.