SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.—Senior starting pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) pitched a one-hitter to tie a single-season record with her eighth shutout of the year and she also hit a bases-clearing three-run double as part of a nine-run outburst in the sixth inning as Villanova (28-11, 11-1 BIG EAST) defeated Seton Hall (6-18, 2-8 BIG EAST) by a final score of 10-0 in the first game of a doubleheader at Mike Sheppard Sr. Field on Saturday afternoon. The second game was slated to start at approximately 2:45 p.m.
 
The early innings were a good pitchers' duel between Rauch (16-3, 1.73 ERA) and Pirates starting pitcher Shelby Smith (2-8, 4.78 ERA), with a lone run for the Wildcats in the top of the first inning accounting for a 1-0 lead which remained the score through the end of the fifth. Rauch retired the first 12 batters she faced and allowed just two base runners in the game on a leadoff single to right-center field in the home half of the fifth inning and a hit batter with two outs in the sixth. She walked none and struck out five while recording her 15^th complete game of the season.
 
Villanova sent 13 batters to the plate and erupted for nine runs in the top of the sixth inning, with eight of the nine runs scoring with two outs in the frame. In addition to the three-run double by Rauch, junior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) had two hits in the inning including a two-run double. Senior second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.), sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) and senior first baseman Julia DaCosta (North Attleboro, Mass.) all had run-scoring hits in the barrage of runs scoring.
 
Sophomore catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the top of the first and started the big sixth inning with a leadoff double that one-hopped the fence in left-center field. DaCosta drew a walk and Kern singled to load the bases with nobody out and set the stage for a big inning. Junior Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, but Seton Hall nearly escaped the inning with only one run scoring. Freshman right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) walked to load the bases a second time before a strikeout by Smith recorded the second out of the inning with the score still just 2-0 at that point.
 
Rauch was due up next however, and she lined a double to the gap in right-center field which cleared the bases and broke the game open as the Wildcats took a 5-0 lead. It turned out they were just getting started. Giampolo doubled home Rauch, Smith singled in Giampolo and Jones walked before Kern drove a two-run double to the gap in left-center to cap Villanova's second-biggest inning of the season behind an 11-run fifth inning against Liberty earlier in the year.
 
The one-hitter by Rauch makes her the third pitcher in school history and the first in 20 years to have eight shutouts in a single season. Theresa Hornick and Keri Stoller each threw eight complete game shutouts in 2001. Rauch moved into a tie for fifth place in school history with her 12^th shutout in a Wildcats uniform, tying Carrie Walpole (1997-00) and Shannon Williams (2002-05) on the Villanova career list. The win was the 40^th of her Wildcats career which ties her for ninth place in school history.
 
Kern reached base four times to lead the Villanova lineup. She was 3-for-3 with a walk, a run scored and the two RBI. Rauch, Giampolo and Jones all had two of the team's 11 hits. Jones, who began the day leading the Wildcats in on-base percentage with a .528 mark on the year, matched Kern by getting on base four times. She had a single, a double and two walks to raise her season marks to a .414 batting average and a .548 on-base percentage in 29 games played and 93 plate appearances.