SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.—In the final game of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon Villanova (29-12, 12-2 BIG EAST) and Seton Hall (7-19, 3-9 BIG EAST) battled back and forth for 10 innings at Mike Sheppard Sr. Field before the Pirates ultimately pulled out a 10-9 victory with two outs in the bottom of the 10
th inning. Seton Hall never had the lead until they scored the walk-off run on a wild pitch, although the Pirates had tied the game on four separate occasions only to have the Wildcats retake the lead multiple times.
Senior pitcher
Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.), sophomore third baseman
Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) and senior first baseman
Julia DaCosta (North Attleboro, Mass.) all had multi-hit games for Villanova, with DaCosta driving in three runs and putting the Wildcats in front with hits in both the third and 10
th innings. Rauch doubled twice and scored two runs, Smith had a two-run double in the eighth inning and senior second baseman
Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) was on base three times with a single, walk and hit by pitch.
Villanova had leads of 3-0 and 5-3 during the middle innings of the game, but a run-scoring double followed by a sacrifice fly for Seton Hall in the bottom of the seventh tied the score at 5-5 and forced extra innings. That is when things really started to get interesting. After the Wildcats scored three runs in the top of the eighth to go in front 8-5, the Pirates answered in the bottom of the inning and evened the score on a two-out, two-run home run. Neither team scored in the ninth inning and Villanova went back in front with a single run in the top of the 10
th, only to have Seton Hall counter again and score twice in the home half of the 10
th to first tie and eventually win the marathon contest.
Giampolo led off the top of the 10
th inning with a walk, stole second and later scored on Dacosta's two-out single to right-center. In the bottom of the inning, Darby Pandolfo drew a leadoff walk and was at second with two away when Kelsey Carr doubled her home with the tying run. Abby Wingo walked and Jordan Tressler was hit by a pitch to load the bases; a wild pitch while Jaden Tate was batting allowed the winning run to score.
Earlier in extra innings, sophomore left fielder
Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.) led off the eighth inning by reaching on an error and Rauch doubled to left field to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Giampolo singled home Dabroski with the go-ahead run and Smith hit a 1-0 pitch for a two-run double to the right-center field gap. With two outs and a runner at third base in the bottom of the eighth inning, Hailey Arteaga singled to drove in one run and Baylee Allender hit a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to send the game on to the ninth inning.
The game was scoreless through two innings before the Wildcats took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Rauch walked and Giampolo was hit by a pitch to set the table, DaCosta hit a two-run double to right-center and junior shortstop
Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) reached on an infield single which brought home a third run.
Doubles by Arteaga and Carr got the Pirates on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, while a two-run homer by Pandolfo off Rauch in the fifth inning accounted for the first tie score of the afternoon. In the sixth inning, Rauch drove in a run with an RBI groundout and Giampolo reached on an error which allowed another run to score and give Villanova a 5-3 advantage.
It was 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning when a leadoff walk, single through the left side and RBI double to right-center made the score 5-4 with the potential tying run at third base and the potential winning run in second. Rauch reentered the game at that point and allowed a sacrifice fly which tied the game, but she got the Wildcats to extra innings with a groundout and a strikeout to escape further trouble.
Villanova wraps up the regular season with a home series against Connecticut on May 8-9 before traveling to UConn just a few days later for the four-team BIG EAST Championship.
