OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.—Villanova senior pitcher/utility Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) earned high praise after a 2021 season for the ages when she was revealed as an NFCA Third Team All-American in a social media announcement made by the national coaches' association on Wednesday evening. Rauch is only the second player in the 45-year varsity history of the Wildcats softball program to earn NFCA All-America honors, joining 2001 second team honoree Sara Carlson.
It has been a record-setting year for Rauch, who broke eight school records during the season and who last month became the first athlete ever to sweep the BIG EAST Player of the Year and the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year awards in the same season. She was the Most Outstanding Player at the BIG EAST Championship where Villanova won its first conference title and secured the first NCAA Championship appearance in program history. Rauch was a big part of the Wildcats emergence on the national scene and the team tallied its fourth-most wins (37) and its fourth-highest winning percentage (.712) ever.
Rauch started all 52 games Villanova played, including 29 on the mound and 23 others at either first base, right field, left field or designated player. As a batter she slashed .417/.546/.709 in 205 plate appearances and reached base safely at least once in 48 of 52 games, including each of the last 35 games of the season. Rauch led the BIG EAST in on-base percentage, hits (63), total bases (107) and walks (45). Her walk total is a new single-season Wildcats record and included a nearly inconceivable 21 walks compared to just three strikeouts in 17 regular season conference games. Rauch batted .438/.614/.875 in BIG EAST action. Her overall numbers for the year included 13 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 46 runs scored and just for good measure six stolen bases in seven tries.
One of the highlights of the season for Rauch came against Penn on April 7 when she broke Villanova's all-time career home run record with her 35th homer in a Wildcats uniform. Rauch now has 39 home runs in 132 games for Villanova and a collegiate home run total of 55 including her freshman season at Fordham and the last three years with the Wildcats. The left-handed hitting slugger is also the Villanova career leader in batting average (.427), on-base percentage (.540), slugging percentage (.851), OPS (1.391) and walks (96). Rauch stepped up her game when it counted the most and sealed the team's BIG EAST title with a three-run home run in the seventh inning of the conference championship game. She reached base 16 times in 21 plate appearances (.762 OBP) in five games during the BIG EAST Championship.
Then there is the story in the circle, where Rauch had one of the Wildcats greatest pitching seasons in recent memory. She set a single-season Villanova record with nine shutouts and recorded the ninth 20-win season in school history in 32 appearances, including 29 starts and 19 complete games. Rauch went 20-3 with one save and a 1.97 ERA over 174 2/3 innings pitched. She held opposing batters to a .222 average against her and had 189 strikeouts while allowing just 146 hits and issuing 38 walks. Rauch averaged 7.6 strikeouts per seven innings, owned a nearly 5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio and finished the season with a 1.053 WHIP. She led the BIG EAST in shutouts, strikeouts and ERA. Rauch was undefeated against BIG EAST teams, going 8-0 with a 1.27 ERA, a 0.833 WHIP and seven complete games in 10 regular season conference starts. She then pitched 28 of a possible 35 innings in the BIG EAST Championship and was 3-0 with a 2.50 ERA during the conference tournament.
The consistency of Rauch's performance this season was as impressive as her overall dominance. She earned BIG EAST weekly recognition in each of the last 10 weeks (out of 11) of the regular season, including being named the BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week on five occasions and to the league's weekly Honor Roll another five times.
Following the end of the regular season Rauch earned her second straight BIG EAST Player of the Year honor. She is the only person in program history to win this award, and Rauch also became the Wildcats fourth BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year. She was named a first team All-BIG EAST selection for the second time in her career. Last month Rauch garnered her third straight first team all-region accolade when the NFCA selected her as a first team Mideast All-Region member.
There are 54 student-athletes from 30 different institutions represented on one of three 2021 NFCA Division I All-America teams. Last month there were 380 student-athletes named all-region selections from the Association's 10 regions with first, second and third team selections. Head coaches from each respective region voted on the all-region teams and all honorees were eligible for All-America squads which are selected by a committee.
About the NFCA: Established in 1983, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) is the professional growth organization for fastpitch softball coaches from all competitive levels of play. Although collegiate coaches comprised the majority of the organization's membership in the early days, today they are joined by high school, travel ball, professional and international coaches, along with umpires, clubs, companies and fans of fastpitch softball. Growing from 40 members in 1983 to over 5,500 today, the NFCA boasts members from all 50 states and several international countries.
