TUCSON, Ariz.—An energizing postseason run, the first BIG EAST title and first NCAA Regional victory in program history, and the team's fourth-highest winning percentage in a season will be the highlights to remember from a 2021 season for the record books. Villanova (37-15) saw its season come to an end on Saturday night with a 6-2 loss to Ole Miss (36-21) in an elimination game in the Tucson Regional at Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium, but not before the Wildcats put themselves into the national conversation with a breakthrough season unlike any other in the program's 45-year varsity history.
In her third season leading her alma mater, head coach
Bridget Orchard delivered Villanova to the next level of its progression into being a perennial BIG EAST contender and a dangerous team capable of making noise on an even bigger stage. Despite the uncertainties of what the regular season would hold, the Wildcats won 12 games against the top-65 of the RPI and tallied the highest winning percentage in BIG EAST games (15-2, .882) in school history. That success carried over to the postseason as Villanova overcame a loss in its first game of the BIG EAST Championship to reel off four straight victories and capture the program's first conference title.
This weekend marked the next step in the team's emergence and the Wildcats rallied for a 4-3 win over UMBC earlier on Saturday for their first-ever NCAA Championship win. Villanova has gone 80-52 (.606) over the past three seasons.
It was a short turnaround for the Wildcats after defeating the Retrievers on Saturday evening. Villanova was back on the field to face the Rebels after a break of approximately 40 minutes. Ole Miss played earlier in the day in the winner's bracket of the Tucson Regional and was dealt a 12-6 loss by host and national #11 seed Arizona.
The Wildcats were the home team for both of their games on Saturday and saw the Rebels jump on the board early with four runs in the top of the first inning. There were fireworks from the power bats in the Villanova lineup even despite the early deficit. Sophomore catcher
Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) hit her eighth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth inning and freshman right fielder
Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) pinch hit and blasted a solo homer off the light pole in left-center field one inning later. Jones homered twice on Saturday, including a two-run shot in the UMBC game which tied the score at 3-3.
After the third career home run by Cites cut the Villanova deficit to 6-2 in the fifth inning, the Wildcats threatened further before being turned aside in the frame. Senior right fielder
Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) and senior second baseman
Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) hit consecutive one-out singles to get junior shortstop
Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) to the plate with the potential tying run on deck. Kern put a hard swing on a 2-2 pitch and hit a line drive to the left side, but it was caught by Rebels second baseman Blaise Biringer who started a hard-luck 4-6 double play to end the inning.
Junior pitcher
Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) got the start on the mound for Villanova and senior pitcher
Anissa Amarillas (Placentia, Calif.) worked five innings of relief in the contest. Amarillas allowed two earned runs on five hits while walking three and striking out two in her 23
rd appearance of the season and 89
th of her career. She was charged with single runs allowed in the fourth and fifth innings, but stranded six runners on base while she was in the game to prevent Ole Miss from building a larger lead.
Jones went 2-for-3 in the game and had four hits on the day, while Rauch was the Wildcats lone batter who had at least one hit in all three games this weekend.
