OMAHA, Neb.—On a windy day with softballs liberally flying over the wall at the Creighton Sports Complex three home runs by Villanova (22-19, 10-4 BIG EAST) negated four homers hit by Creighton (14-20, 4-12 BIG EAST) and the Wildcats came from behind in a 10-5 victory on Saturday afternoon. Junior catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.), sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) and senior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) all homered in the sixth inning as Villanova scored nine unanswered runs to complete a three-game sweep and win their eighth game in a row. The Wildcats also extended their school-record streak to 12 straight games hitting at least one home run.
 
It was Jones who started the home run barrage leading off the sixth inning. She tied the game at 5-5 to complete the Wildcats rally from four runs down through three innings of play. The host Bluejays hit four solo home runs off graduate pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) in the first two innings, three of which came back-to-back-to-back leading off the home half of the second. A fifth run for Creighton off senior Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) in the third inning pushed the margin to 5-1 and that was still the score until Villanova started its comeback in the top of the fifth.
 
Three runs in the fifth inning chipped away at the deficit and pulled the Wildcats to within 5-4, while the three home runs in the sixth inning were part of a six-run outburst that gave Villanova the lead and put it firmly in control over the last two innings. After Jones tied the game on her drive to center field leading off the sixth inning, sophomore right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) walked ahead of consecutive singles by senior center fielder Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) and junior left fielder Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.). Cites was thrown out at the plate on Dabroski's single, but the momentum was already rlling for the Wildcats and Smith blasted a go-ahead three-run homer over the fence in right-center field. All four of her home runs this season have come during the team's eight-game winning streak.
 
Villanova still wasn't done in the big inning as Rauch one-hopped the fence for a one-out double and Henry put the finishing touches on the rally with a long two-out home run to right-center. Henry had three hits and drove in four runs in the game and is batting .318 with three home runs and 13 RBI over the last six games. Smith and Hayes added two hits apiece and Cites continued to be a catalyst in the lineup with a pair of walks to go along with her team-high fifth and sixth stolen bases of the season. Rauch was on base twice with a walk and her fifth double of the season. There were 10 different batters who reached base safely at least once in the game as the Wildcats racked up 10 runs on 12 hits.
 
For all the home runs in the game, two of the biggest hits of the day for Villanova came from freshman pinch hitters Ava Franz (Aston, Pa.) and Amanda DeSantis (Endwell, N.Y.) leading off in the top of the fifth inning. Head coach Bridget Orchard turned to her bench with the Wildcats down 5-1 at that point and it paid off as Franz singled off the first base bag and DeSantis followed with a hard-hit infield single. Smith singled up the middle for her first hit of the day to load the bases with nobody out, and from there Villanova did a great job of chipping away for three runs. Rauch walked to force home the first run of the inning before senior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) and Henry hit consecutive run-scoring groundouts to plate two more runs.
 
Much earlier in the game, the Wildcats struck first when Kern walked with two outs and nobody on in the top of the first inning and Henry followed with a line-drive RBI single off the fence in center field. Creighton tied the score at 1-1 on Kailey Wilson's home run in the bottom of the first inning to foreshadow the firepower to come from both teams.
 
The Bluejays led off the bottom of the second inning with their 6-7-8 hitters – Sam Alm, Emma Rosonke and Shayna Dahlen – hitting three consecutive home runs to right field, right-center and down the left field line, respectively. Rauch got the next two outs before Kennedy (5-6, 3.34 ERA) entered and eventually pitched the final 5 1/3 innings to earn the win.
 
Creighton manufactured a run in the third inning and extended its lead to 5-1 on Rosonke's sacrifice fly, but that out also started a stretch in which Kennedy retired 11 of 13 batters through the end of the sixth inning. She retired the side in order in the bottom of the sixth in a shut down inning after Villanova took the lead, then worked around two baserunners in the bottom of the seventh when she got Bluejays cleanup hitter Kiara Mills to line into a double play to end the game. Kennedy wound up scattering four hits and a run while walking one and striking out two in her 5 1/3 innings of work. She is now 7-2 with a 2.04 ERA in regular season BIG EAST games over the past two years.
 
Next up for the Wildcats is a Tuesday afternoon road game against Drexel at 3 p.m.