GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Graduate Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) homered leading off the top of the eighth inning to drive in the first runs of the game but Villanova (3-7) came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision against Louisville (7-3) in both teams' final game of the T-Mobile Tournament at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on Sunday morning. It was the second straight matchup between the teams that went to extra innings during the weekend.
 
The game was scoreless through seven innings but packed plenty of late punch in another close affair between the former BIG EAST rivals. In the bottom of the seventh inning senior center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) made a strong throw to the plate on a two-out single up the middle and the Wildcats threw out the potential game-winning run on an 8-2-5 putout to send the contest into extra innings. It was the 14^th career outfield assist for Hayes, who threw out two runners trying to score last season.
 
Hayes was the free runner at second base to start the top of the eighth inning and she scored ahead of Rauch when the All-American slugger blasted the first pitch of the inning over the right field fence for her first home run of the season. Rauch smashed her 40^th long ball in a Villanova uniform and the 56^th home run of her collegiate career. Her fellow fifth-year member of the Wildcats roster, Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.), followed the home run with a single to left but the two runs were all Villanova could manage in their half of the eighth inning.
 
Three runs in the bottom of the eighth gave the Cardinals a walk-off win. Carmyn Greenwood led off with a single that scored free runner Easton Lotus for the first Louisville run against freshman Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) who had carried a shutout through the first seven innings in her second collegiate start. White (1-2, 1.91 ERA) got Taylor Roby to pop up to short for the first out of the inning, but cleanup hitter Korbe Otis hit a game-tying triple to the gap in left-center field and Hannah File followed with a single up the middle that brought in Otis with the game-winning tally.
 
The outcome did nothing to diminish White's strong start against a dangerous ACC foe. She wound up scattering just the two earned runs over 7 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out three. White has made five appearances and thrown 14 2/3 innings over the first two weekends of the season while walking just two, striking out nine and yielding four earned runs.
 
In the first seven innings on Sunday, White limited the Cardinals to going 2-for-14 with runners on base, including just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The lone hit was Lotus' two-out single in the seventh inning which resulted in Ally Alexander being thrown out trying to score. Lotus beat out an infield single and stole second to start the bottom of the first inning but White retired three straight and eight of the next nine as she got into an early groove.
 
Giampolo was on base three times for Villanova, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and her team-high eighth walk of the season. Rauch also drew one of the five walks issued to Wildcats batters, while senior Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) and junior Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) each had base hits.
 
Villanova had an early scoring chance in the first inning when Rauch drew a leadoff walk against Roby, Kern singled with one out, and a wild pitch put runners at the corners. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning sophomore Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) walked to load the bases, but Roby induced a groundball to second to end the inning and wound up allowing just one more base runner over the next four frames.
 
The offense started to pick up for the Wildcats in the later innings. Giampolo singled down the left field line to open the sixth inning and Cites drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, but Roby worked around the leadoff runners each time in part by generating double plays on the infield. Smith singled and junior Victoria Sebastian (Ridgewood, N.J.) walked with two out in the seventh before Roby got another of her 12 outs on the ground to keep the game scoreless.
 
Greenwood led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double to left, but White came up with big pitches when she needed them to get out of the jam. An infield pop up by Roby was the first out of the inning, Greenwood took third on a groundout to short by Otis and File flied out to center to strand the go-ahead run at third base. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Alexander and Maddi Grant hit consecutive one-out singles to set the table for a potential game-winning rally. White struck out pinch hitter Sydney Bickel on three pitches, then gave up the hit to Lotus to set in motion the play that led to Hayes' big assist.
 
Villanova faced its toughest competition of the young season this weekend with matchups against two nationally-ranked opponents – No. 4 Florida and No. 14 Duke – in addition to a pair of games against a strong Cardinals team. After giving up 10 runs to Louisville in a nine-inning marathon on Friday morning, the Wildcats settled in for the weekend and had a 2.13 staff ERA over the final four games of the tournament.
 
The only win of the weekend for Villanova was a 6-2 victory over Florida A&M on Saturday morning which marked the program's 200^th all-time victory in the state of Florida. In their trips to the Sunshine State over the years, the Wildcats have an overall record of 200-174-1 (.535).
 
Coming up next weekend Villanova will head to East Carolina to compete in the Pirate Invitational against host ECU along with Gardner-Webb and Fairleigh Dickinson. The first game of that tournament is against Gardner-Webb on Friday at 10 a.m.