NEW YORK—Villanova (32-12, 15-2 BIG EAST) earned the #2 seed in the 2021 BIG EAST Softball Championship Presented by JEEP and will open the conference tournament with a game against #3 seed Connecticut (20-18, 12-9 BIG EAST on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Burrill Family Field on the UConn campus. The conference tournament field also includes the top seed, DePaul (25-9, 13-1) and the No. 4 seed, Butler (16-19-1, 6-11-1). Thursday's games will air live on BIG EAST Digital Network presented by SoFi.
In a year filled with unknowns from the start, the Wildcats recorded the program's highest-ever winning percentage in conference play (.882) and tied a team record for the most BIG EAST wins in a season. Villanova went 15-2 in regular season league play, including a split of a two-game series with first place DePaul at the Villanova Softball Complex last month. A third game between the teams was rained out after less than two innings of play.
Villanova is 32-12 (.727) overall entering the postseason and has reached the 30-win plateau for the 14th time in program history and the first time since the 2017 season. During the year, the Wildcats have run off winning streaks of 11 games and nine games with a balance of strong pitching and power hitting. Villanova has 48 home runs this season, just two off of tying its single-season record of 50 set in 2019. The team is batting .302 overall with a .392 on-base percentage and a .487 slugging percentage. The pitching has been equally as impressive with 11 shutouts on the year.
The first game of the BIG EAST Championship is at 12 p.m. on Thursday when #1 DePaul faces #4 Butler, followed by the Wildcats facing the Huskies in a rematch of their final regular season series this past weekend. The winners of the first two games on Thursday will meet on Friday at 12 p.m., while the losing teams will face each other in an elimination game on Thursday evening at 6 p.m. FS2 will televise the remaining games of the tournament beginning on Friday. Villanova and Connecticut have faced each other eight times in the BIG EAST Championship, most recently in 2001 when the Wildcats hosted the conference tournament.
2021 BIG EAST Softball Championship Presented by JEEP
Thursday, May 13
Game 1: #1 DePaul vs. #4 Butler (12:00 PM, BEDN)
Game 2: #2 Villanova vs. #3 Connecticut (3:00 PM, BEDN)
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 (6:00 PM, BEDN)
Friday, May 14
Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 (12:00 PM, FS2)
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 (3:00 PM, FS2)
Saturday, May 15
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5 (12:00 PM, FS2)
Game 7 (if necessary): If Winner of Game 5 wins Game 6 (2:30 PM, FS2)
