VILLANOVA, Pa.—Graduate pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) and senior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) put an exclamation point on a three-game sweep with home runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and Villanova (19-19, 7-4 BIG EAST) got back to .500 on the season with an 8-2 victory over Georgetown (12-20, 2-8 BIG EAST) at the Villanova Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon. The win wrapped up a series sweep of the Hoyas and was the Wildcats ninth win in their last 11 games.
 
The final score from Sunday's series finale doesn't tell the whole story, as Villanova had just five hits and came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning leading by a narrow 3-2 margin. Each of the first three runs the Wildcats scored crossed the plate in the bottom of the first inning and did so before Villanova had gotten its first hit of he day. Georgetown chipped away at the Wildcats early lead with single runs in the fourth and sixth innings before Villanova put the game out of reach with its five-run, homer-fueled outburst with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Rauch extended the Wildcats lead to 6-2 with a towering blast to right-center that nearly reached the throwing cage used by the track & field team in the open field well behind the outfield well. It was not the first time Rauch has put that kind of distance on a ball, as her record-setting home run against Penn last year which made her the Villanova career home run leader memorably sailed near the top of the throwing cage in one of the longest home runs the Wildcats home field has ever seen.
 
Sunday's home run for Rauch also had historic implications as she tied the Villanova all-time record for career runs scored. Rauch has crossed home plate 156 times during her Wildcats career and is now tied with Brittany Husk (2015-18) in the program record book. She is within one run batted in of tying that career record as well, with the existing RBI mark of 148 having stood since Sara Carlson (2000-03) wrapped up her All-American career nearly 20 years ago. Rauch is already the Villanova all-time leader in home runs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.
 
Did we mention that she pitched a five-hitter in Sunday's win? The reigning BIG EAST Player and Pitcher of the Year improved to 6-1 in her last seven starts with her eighth complete game of the year. She scattered five hits, including a leadoff home run in the top of the fourth inning which got the Hoyas on the board, but did not walk a batter and struck out eight to earn her 10^th win of the season. Rauch (10-5, 2.81 ERA) ended the fourth inning with her 100^th strikeout of the season and later struck out the final batter of the sixth inning to strand the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base. She struck out the side in the seventh inning to close out the win.
 
With their early lead trimmed to a single run as they batted in the sixth inning, the Wildcats set the table for Rauch when sophomore left fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) and senior center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) drew consecutive one-out walks. Georgetown reliever Kayla Dunn, who entered the game in the bottom of the first inning and had pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings up to that point, retired junior third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) on a hard lineout to short for the second out. Rauch was up next however, and she hit the first pitch she saw for a three-run home run to give Villanova some breathing room.
 
Senior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) extended the inning further against Dunn with the Wildcats third walk of the inning, and Henry drilled a 2-1 pitch to right-center over the fence for her fourth home run of the season and second of the weekend. Henry is the reigning BIG EAST home run champion and she had four extra-base hits versus the Hoyas with two doubles and two home runs in the series.
 
Smith finished the day with two hits at the top of the batting order and is now batting .381 (16-for-42) in 12 games since moving to the leadoff spot. She led off the bottom of the second inning with the first Villanova hit of the game, a double to left-center field which caromed off the top of the outfield fence and hesitated ever so slightly before falling back into the field of play for a two-base hit rather than what would have been her third home run in the last five games.
 
In the bottom of the first inning Smith led off with a hard shot to left-center field which center fielder Cameron Kondo ran down with a running catch. It wound up being the only out Georgetown starting pitcher Julia Parker (4-10, 4.38 ERA) recorded on the day, as there were three walks, two hit batters and a fielder's choice in the next six plate appearances. Rauch walked to get an unusual three-run rally started, while Kern and Henry were consecutively hit by pitches to load the bases with one out.
 
Graduate second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) bounced a ball to shortstop and the Hoyas tried to get a force-out at the plate, but the throw was low and Rauch slid in under the tag as the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead on the RBI fielder's choice. Freshman right fielder Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) and junior catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) drew back-to-back walks which forced in the second and third runs of the inning before Parker was lifted in favor of Dunn. In an odd coincidence, it marked the third time in the last eight games that Villanova chased an opposing starting pitcher with one out or less in the first inning.
 
Georgetown catcher Mae Forshey led off the fourth inning with a home run to get the Hoyas on the board and Abby Smith made the score 3-2 with a one-out RBI single in the top of the sixth. There were runners at first and second after that single by Smith, but Rauch retired Alyssa Chavez on a lineout to third and struck out pinch hitter Brittany Lew to end the threat.
 
After playing 13 of their last 18 games at home – with an 11-7 record during that stretch – the Wildcats head on the road for the next two weeks, beginning with a three-game BIG EAST series at Creighton during the coming week. The series will be played Thursday through Saturday in Omaha, Neb..