VILLANOVA, Pa.—Senior right fielder Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) reentered the game to drive home the go-ahead and eventual winning run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning as Villanova (27-11) tallied a 3-2 victory over Princeton (0-1) at the Villanova Softball Complex on Wednesday afternoon. Rauch also had an RBI double earlier in the game, junior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) hit her third home run of the season and the Wildcats closed out their regular season non-conference schedule ahead of six straight BIG EAST games over the next two upcoming weekends.
 
Villanova saw a 2-0 lead after four innings slip away when the visiting Tigers plated single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game in their season opener and first contest in 423 days. The last word belonged to the Wildcats however, as Rauch drove in junior center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) with the winning run and senior pitcher Anissa Amarillas (Placentia, Calif.) worked around two base runners in the seventh inning to strand the potential tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position to end the game.
 
In addition to Rauch's two hits which raised her team-leading batting average to .427 on the year, Hayes was on base three times and sophomore left fielder Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.) reached twice on a pair of walks. Hayes walked in the second inning, singled through the right side in the fourth and was hit by a pitch in the home half of the sixth inning. She got herself into scoring position each of those times on base by stealing second for her seventh, eighth and ninth steals of the season. Hayes recorded the 17^th instance in school history of a player having three stolen bases in a game and the first since Brittany Husk had three steals against Monmouth on March 11, 2017.
 
Kern led off the bottom of the second inning by roping the first pitch of the inning down the right field line and far over the fence to give Villanova a 1-0 lead. In the fourth inning, Hayes singled with one out and Dabroski walked on seven pitches before Rauch lined a ball which just stayed fair down the right field line for a double which scored Hayes with the game's second run. There were runners at second and third with one out for the Wildcats after the Rauch double, but Princeton freshman starting pitcher Molly Chambers avoided further trouble in her collegiate debut by inducing a shallow fly to left and a groundout to second.
 
Junior starting pitcher Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) made her first appearance since March 20 and pitched three scoreless innings with three strikeouts and just two hits allowed. She is one of two players, along with Kern, who have recently returned from injuries as Villanova heads into its most critical games of the year with its healthiest available roster. Kennedy worked around a leadoff double to start the game and a single to start the second inning by retiring five of the final six batters she faced, including two of her three strikeouts to start the third inning.
 
Earlier in the game, the Wildcats threatened but failed to score after loading the bases in the bottom of the first inning. Senior second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) singled with one out, sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) was hit by a pitch and sophomore Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) walked. Jones was 1-for-2 with a walk on the day to raise her team-best on-base percentage to .528 on the year. She has drawn 18 walks in 89 plate appearances this season, with 16 of her bases on balls coming on a full count.
 
Freshman relief pitcher Caroline Pellicano (Norristown, Pa.) entered in the fourth inning and stranded the bases loaded in a scoreless frame. A runner reached on a fielding error to start the inning, Pellicano walked Lauren Murphy with one out and Grace Jackson beat out a bunt single to load the bases. Pellicano escaped the jam by getting a called third strike for the second out and a bouncer back to the circle to end the inning.
 
Amarillas (6-3, 3.84 ERA) scattered two hits and two runs in the final three frames to earn the win. The Tigers got on the board in the top of the fifth inning when Haley Hoffman doubled to right-center leading off and then came around to score on consecutive swinging sacrifice bunts. Princeton tied the game in similar fashion in the sixth inning after a leadoff single by Mackenzie Meyer and Murphy's second walk of the game. Jackson sacrificed the runners to second and third with one away and Meyer scored on Hannah Lutz' run-scoring groundout on a roller up the first base line.
 
Playing their second midweek game in as many days just 48 hours before the start of a BIG EAST series at Seton Hall this weekend, the Wildcats took the opportunity to get 15 players into the game and spell some of their everyday starters for an inning or two late in the contest. Freshman right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) came in to play right field for Rauch in the top of the fifth inning, with Rauch reentering in the bottom of the sixth to take her turn at the plate with the go-ahead run on base.
 
Chambers went the first five innings on the mound for Princeton and allowed two earned runs on five hits while walking four and striking out two. Alexis Laudenslager (0-1) was the pitcher of record after working the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Villanova will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it opens its series against the Pirates with a 12 p.m. doubleheader in South Orange, N.J.