NEW YORK—Freshman right fielder
Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) was named the BIG EAST Rookie of the Week and senior pitcher/first baseman
Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) earned a spot on the Honor Roll in an announcement made by the conference office Monday afternoon. It is the first career weekly accolade for Cites, while Rauch has now been recognized in five consecutive weeks.
There were only two games on the Villanova schedule last week, with the Wildcats taking on UMBC in a doubleheader on Friday afternoon. Cites had a monster game in a 12-2 victory in the first game against the Retrievers, hitting the first two home runs of her collegiate career and driving in six runs on the day. She homered in consecutive innings, first going deep on a two-run shot in the third inning and later hitting a grand slam in the top of the fourth inning.
Cites recorded only the eighth game in school history in which a Villanova hitter had six or more runs batted in. The most recent such game was on February 28, 1999 when Megan O'Leary hit two home runs and had six RBI against Saint Francis. Cites also tallied the 30
th multi-homer game in the Wildcats record book, but the first by a Villanova freshman since all-time program home run leader Meghan Morese hit two home runs against Bethune-Cookman on March 5, 2006.
Through the first six games (four starts) of her collegiate career Cites is batting .333 (3-for-9) with four walks, no strikeouts and a .538 on-base percentage. She has reached base safely in seven of her 13 plate appearances on the year.
Rauch won her eighth consecutive start in the 12-2 win over UMBC, going five innings and allowing two runs on five hits while walking none and striking out seven. Over her last nine appearances (eight starts) dating back to March 7 against Hofstra, Rauch is 8-0 with a 0.91 ERA, seven complete games and four shutouts. She has held opponents to a .172 batting average during the dominant stretch and has struck out 73 batters over 54.0 innings pitched.
Villanova saw an 11-game winning streak come to an end in the second game of the doubleheader against the Retrievers but is 14-2 over its last 16 games beginning with Rauch's start on March 7. In 12 appearances overall this season, Rauch is 12-2 with a 2.55 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings. Her current strikeout ratio of 9.10 strikeouts per seven innings would be a single-season school record if it holds over an entire season (minimum 100.0 innings pitched). Rauch is also batting .377 with four home runs, 14 runs batted in and a .465 on-base percentage.
A busy stretch is coming up for the Wildcats, who open a 12-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon with a doubleheader against Delaware State. First pitch in Game 1 is scheduled for 2 p.m.
