VILLANOVA, Pa. – Anissa Amarillas scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings to help lead Villanova past Providence 2-0 in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday at the Villanova Softball Complex. The Wildcats took Game 1 6-1.
 
Three scoreless frames of pitching by Amarillas sent the Wildcats (22-10 overall, 6-1 BIG EAST) into the bottom of the half of the third inning in a 0-0 contest. With one out, Paige Rauch lined a ball to center field that dropped in front of a sliding effort by Friars' CF Missy Cunnigan and skipped on by to the wall for a triple. Then Chloe Smith came through with a clutch two-out RBI single off the glove of first baseman Gianna Magrino to make it 1-0.
 
From there, Amarillas navigated her way through the Friars lineup in the fourth and fifth innings. A Villanova error that gave the Friars a runner at first in the top of the fifth was quickly erased when catcher Ryan Henry fired a strike to shortstop Julia DaCosta to catch Magrino attempting to steal. The Wildcats' hurler then struck out Madi Traver after a two-out single by Lauren Nunez to escape the top of the sixth inning unscathed.
 
Smith was at the center of Villanova's second run scored in the sixth inning. Her long fly ball to left eluded Friars' left fielder Jessica Tomaso in the bright sunshine, falling for a triple. DaCosta then delivered a double off the wall in left center to give Nova a 2-0 lead.
 
Amarillas then set the Friars (2-9 overall, 1-6 BIG EAST)  down in order in the top of the seventh with first baseman Victoria Sebastien ranging two steps to her right to snare a hot grounder that allowed her to beat Marisa Jenkins to the bag for the final out of the day.
 
These two teams complete the three-game series here Sunday with a single game set for noon.