GAINESVILLE, Fla.—In the opening game of the T-Mobile Tournament on Friday morning Villanova (2-4) rallied to tie the score three different times before ultimately falling, 10-7 in nine innings, to Louisville (5-1) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on Friday morning. The contest was the first of two on the day for the Wildcats, who will face No. 14 Duke later in the afternoon.
 
Before the final pitch was thrown Villanova overcame a slow start and deficits of 4-0, 6-2 and 7-6 against its former BIG EAST rivals. Sophomore Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) was 2-for-4 and hit her second home run of the season, while graduate Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) and senior Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) also had two hits apiece. A resilient Wildcats lineup started to break out with seven runs on eight hits over the final six innings after being held scoreless with only one hit through the first three frames.
 
Villanova played as the home team and came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 6-4. Giampolo drew a leadoff walk and was safe at second when an error was committed on Kern's fielder's choice back to Cardinals relief pitcher Gabby Holloway. Junior Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) walked to load the bases with nobody out, and another Louisville error on a fielder's choice by senior Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) two unearned, game-tying runs.
 
Later in the inning the Wildcats loaded the bases again with one out on an intentional walk to Cites, but freshman Ava Franz (Aston, Pa.) flied out to right and Jones was thrown out at the plate for a 9-2 double play which ended the inning. Villanova stranded 11 runners on base and had the potential winning run in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth innings in addition to bringing the tying run to the plate with two runners aboard in the bottom of the ninth.
 
The international tie-breaker was in effect for the game and the Cardinals scored the free base runner at second base in the top of the eighth inning with a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the frame, Franz was the Wildcats runner at second base and she immediately moved up to third on Holloway's wild pitch with senior Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) at the plate. Hayes grounded out for the first out of the inning but graduate Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) drilled the first pitch she saw for a game-tying double to the gap in left-center field.
 
After a pitching change, Rauch took third on a wild pitch but Chardonnay Harris (2-1, 6.00 ERA) struck out the final two batters of the inning to keep the game tied. Louisville went in front for good in the ninth inning when Carmyn Greenwood hit a two-run home run with one out and Kendall Smith added a solo shot with two away.
 
It still took a close call for the Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth to close out a Villanova batting order which is starting to round into form as the Wildcats get more repetitions and see more live pitching in their early-season games. Kern was the runner at second base to start the bottom of the ninth inning and Henry singled up the middle with one out to put runners at the corners and bring the tying run to the plate. Henry eventually moved to second on a wild pitch with two outs before Harris recorded a strikeout to end the game.
 
Eight of the nine starters in the Villanova lineup reached base safely at least once in the game and the Wildcats added to their nine hits with four walks and a hit by pitch. Henry's single in the ninth inning makes her the team's only hitter to reach base safely in all six games of the young season, while Giampolo's two runs scored bring her career total to 139 and put her 17 runs away from tying the program's all-time record of 156 runs scored.
 
Louisville got off to a fast start in the early innings and led 4-0 by the middle of the fourth. Easton Lotus singled to start the game and Greenwood followed with a two-run homer off Rauch for an instant 2-0 advantage, while Taylor Roby hit a solo shot in the third inning and Jenna Servi added an RBI groundout in the fourth. At least one of the teams scored in every inning except the second in a closely contested affair.
 
The comeback effort by Villanova started in the bottom of the fourth inning when Kern led off with a single, Jones drew a seven-pitch walk and junior Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) singled with one out to load the bases. Cites followed Smith with a single through the left side to drive in the Wildcats first run of the game. Hayes was hit by a pitch with two outs to force in a second run and cut the deficit in half.
 
In the top of the fifth inning Greenwood bunted for a single against senior Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) and Roby followed with a two-run home run which restored the Cardinals margin to four runs at 6-2. Villanova was just getting warmed up however, and the bottom of the fifth inning began with consecutive singles by Giampolo and Kern which eventually led to an RBI fielder's choice by Jones. A solo home run by Cites leading off the home half of the sixth got the Wildcats to within 6-4 before the dramatic final three innings unfolded.
 
Louisville was a member of the BIG EAST from 2006-13 and Villanova had been 2-14 against the Cardinals during those years. The teams had never bet before or since until Friday's matchup, but they will face each other again on Sunday morning to close out this weekend's tournament at Florida.