GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Junior Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) pinch hit with two outs in the fifth inning and drove in two runs with a single up the middle but Villanova (2-5) was turned aside in a narrow 4-2 loss to No. 14 Duke (5-1) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on Friday afternoon. It was the second game of the day for the Wildcats, who earlier were defeated 10-7 in nine innings by Louisville in a morning contest.
 
Villanova continued to produce good scoring opportunities as its offense rounds into form, and in the two games played on Friday the Wildcats combined for 13 hits and 10 walks. Graduate Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) tied her career high with three free passes versus the Blue Devils while both senior Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) and graduate Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) were on base twice with a hit and a walk.
 
Playing as the home team in the neutral-site contest at the T-Mobile Tournament, Duke scored single runs on RBI groundouts in each of the first two innings before plating two runs in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Caroline Pellicano (Norristown, Pa.) entered in the bottom of the fourth inning and wound up pitching three scoreless innings of relief. She had the bases loaded with nobody out against her in the fourth but escaped that jam unscathed and cruised through her final two innings of work.
 
It was after Pellicano got out of the fourth inning jam that Villanova manufactured its only two runs of the game. Rauch walked with one out in the top of the fifth and Kern came back from an 0-2 hole to even the count and double to left-center field with two out in the inning. Smith came up as a pinch hitter and hit the first pitch she saw back up the middle to halve a 4-0 deficit. The inning continued with sophomore Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) being hit by a pitch before Blue Devils pitcher Claire Davidson (1-0, 2.84 ERA) induced a groundball for the final out.
 
Earlier in the game each of the Wildcats first three batters reached to start the game. Rauch singled to left leading off in the first inning but was thrown out at second trying to extend the hit to a double. Giampolo and Kern each followed with one-out walks, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the inning with the game still scoreless.
 
Senior Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) led off the second inning with a line drive single to center and tied a career high by extending her streak of reaching base safely to seven. She is the lone Villanova batter who has been on base in each of the first seven games of the season. Junior Victoria Sebastian (Ridgewood, N.J.) walked with one out in the second inning ahead of a Duke pitching change with Davidson replacing starter Jala Wright.
 
Over the first two innings freshman Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) did a good job of preventing big innings by the Blue Devils in her first collegiate start. She allowed a double and a single to the first two batters she faced in the bottom of the first inning, but allowed only one run on an RBI groundout to second and stayed out of further trouble with an infield pop-up and a groundout to short. Duke manufactured a run against White (0-1, 1.91) in the bottom of the second inning with a one-out double, a wild pitch and a groundout to short which scored the runner.
 
In the bottom of the third inning an error on a fielder's choice led to two unearned runs scoring as the Blue Devils stretched their lead to 4-0. Pellicano gave up a single, a walk and a hit by pitch to the first three batters she faced in the fourth inning before slamming the door on a pop-up to third, a swinging strikeout and a lineout to first. She faced the minimum number of batters over the final two innings, giving up only a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth which was negated on a caught stealing.
 
Villanova will be back in action at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning for a matchup with Florida A&M (1-4), followed immediately by a scheduled 11:30 a.m. contest with tournament host and fourth-ranked Florida.