STORRS, Conn.—Junior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) hit a game-changing grand slam with two outs in the top of the seventh inning, junior designated player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) smashed a three-run home run later in the same inning and Villanova (33-13) eliminated three-time defending champion DePaul (25-11) from the 2021 BIG EAST Championship Presented by JEEP with a 9-1 victory at Burrill Family Field on Thursday evening. Holding on to a slim 2-1 lead entering the final inning of play, the Wildcats left no doubt about the outcome of the first elimination game in this year's conference tournament with a seven-run outburst in their last turn at the plate.
 
Kern drove in five runs as Villanova staved off elimination following an earlier 4-3 loss at the hands of Connecticut, the #3 seed in the tournament. The second-seeded Wildcats responded by knocking out the top seed Blue Demons in an unlikely elimination contest. It is the second straight BIG EAST Championship in which Villanova has eliminated the top seed. Back in 2019, the Wildcats were the #4 seed and defeated #1 St. John's in the first game of what was then a single elimination tournament.
 
"I am so proud of the fight in this team," Villanova head coach Bridget Orchard said of the win. "After a tough break in the first game they regrouped and came out ready to win. They believed in themselves and every one of them battled. Megan's grand slam was huge for us and Ryan's home run was as well. It gives us great momentum heading into tomorrow."


 
Senior pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) and senior second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) were each on base three times in the top two spots of the batting order, and they combined to reach base 13 times in all in the two games Villanova played on Thursday. Senior first baseman Julia DaCosta (North Attleboro, Mass.) added two hits in the win over DePaul and Henry clubbed her 13^th home run of the season.
 
After each team traded runs in the first inning, the Wildcats inched ahead 2-1 in the top of the fifth. Sophomore left fielder Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.) singled to left field with two outs and nobody on, Rauch walked and Giampolo worked the count full before loading the bases with a walk of her own. Villanova broke the single-season school record for walks in a season and now has 172 bases on balls this season.
 
Sophomore catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) batted with the bases loaded and hit a roller in between short and third. Blue Demons third baseman Nicole Sullivan fielded the ball and her only chance to make a play was for a force out of Rauch who was the runner advancing from second to third. Rauch slid into the base just ahead of Sullivan's tag however and it was safe all around as Dabroski scampered home with the go-ahead run.
 
Rauch (18-3, 1.88 ERA) pitched a complete game five-hitter for the win, but it was her work on the mound in the fifth and sixth innings which particularly stood out. After getting the one-run lead in the top of the fifth inning, she set down the top three hitters in the DePaul batting order on nine pitches in the bottom half of the inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Sullivan reached on a one-out fielding error but Rauch got a pop-up behind short for the second out and then struck out pinch hitter Riley Pool on a rising fastball for the third out.
 
It was still 2-1 with two outs and nobody on in the top of the seventh inning when the entire game changed. Rauch was pitched around for a two-out walk, one of seven free passes she was issued by Huskies and Blue Demons pitching on the day. In eight plate appearances in the two games, Rauch saw 33 pitches and just three strikes. Pitching around her in the seventh inning backfired. Giampolo walked on five pitches and Jones reached on a fielding error to extend the inning and load the bases. Kern was first pitch swinging and crushed a ball over the right field fence for the team's fifth grand slam of the season which swelled the Villanova lead to 6-1.
 
"I knew I was early, I was swinging early all game, so I was like 'Alright just sit on it, look for your pitch' and I just saw it well," Kern said of the grand slam. Nothing is better than seeing [my teammates] all fired up. We need to just stay calm and focused, and stick to our game [going into tomorrow]."
 
There were more fireworks to come, as sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) ripped a hard single to left, DaCosta singled through the left side and Henry drove a 2-1 offering into the bullpen behind the left-center field fence as the Wildcats fans in attendance roared their approval. Henry's home run was the 50^th hit by Villanova this season, which ties the program's single-season record set just two years ago in 2019. Rauch gave up a two-out bloop single in the bottom of the seventh inning before freshman right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) tracked down a fly ball in deep right for the final out of the game.
 
Villanova will have to wait out the results of a 12 p.m. game on Friday to see who they play next, but the bottom line from a hard-working opening day of the BIG EAST Championship is that the Wildcats are indeed advancing to the second day. Connecticut and Butler will face each other in the winners' bracket on Friday afternoon, with the loser playing an elimination game against Villanova starting no earlier than 3 p.m.. The rest of the games in the conference tournament can be seen on FS2 with John Fanta, Tracy Warren and Maria Trivelpiece on the call.