PROVIDENCE, R.I.—For the sixth time in its varsity history and the second season in a row Villanova (24-19, 11-4 BIG EAST) has won 10 consecutive games. The latest triumph for the Wildcats was a 5-0 shutout in the opener of a three-game series against Providence (23-15, 9-7 BIG EAST) at Glay Field on Friday afternoon. Graduate pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) tossed a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts, senior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) hit a home run and graduate second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) had two hits and two runs batted in as Villanova continued its recent roll.
 
The torrid stretch the Wildcats are on began with an 11-3 victory at DePaul on April 3 and continued with BIG EAST series sweeps against Georgetown and Creighton in addition to non-conference wins over Penn and Drexel prior to reaching double digits with Friday's win over the Friars. Villanova is averaging 7.9 runs per game during the streak and is outscoring the opposition by more than five runs per game. Rauch, freshman right fielder Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) and junior third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) are all batting above .400 during the streak.
 
Friday's shutout was just the latest in a string of dominant outings for Rauch (12-5, 2.72 ERA), who has started five games and made two relief outings during the winning streak. She is 4-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 44 strikeouts compared to just 19 hits allowed over 32 2/3 innings in those seven appearances. In her last five starts, Rauch has faced 108 batters and struck out more than a third of them (38) while not issuing a single walk. Her outing on Friday was the third time this season and the 15^th time in her collegiate career that she has recorded 10+ strikeouts in a game.
 
It takes a few good breaks along the way to win 10 games in a row, but it also takes the kind of hustle that the Wildcats displayed in Friday's came to create those breaks. That was the case in the top of the third inning when Rauch came to the plate in a scoreless game, runners at first and second with one out. She struck out…and both runners scored on the third strike. On a ball in the dirt while Rauch was batting, lead runner Sydney Hayes (Douglassville, Pa.) at second base immediately broke for third and slid in just ahead of the tag on a throw down by the Providence catcher.
 
Smith followed the lead and went from second to third on the play. Moments later, Rauch went down swinging but the ball was not cleanly caught and Friars backstop Jacque Harrington threw down to first to complete the strikeout. Hayes forced the action once again, racing home on the throw down to first and sliding in safely for the first run of the game. The throw back to the plate got away and Smith sprinted home for a 2-0 lead. The play was a two-run strikeout so to speak.
 
The rest of the Villanova offense came about in more traditional ways. Henry led off the fourth inning with her sixth home run of the season on a deep drive to right. Last year's BIG EAST home run leader has been picking up steam of late; Henry is batting .306 with four home runs and a .722 slugging percentage during the winning streak. The score was still 3-0 in the top of the seventh when a two-run double off the bat of Giampolo put the game out of reach. Rauch reached on an infield single with one out and went first-to-third on a single through the right-side by senior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.). After Kern stole second, Giampolo hit with two away and drove a ball off the base of the fence in straightaway center field to score both runners.
 
Rauch allowed a one-out single to Lea Kosinski in the bottom of the first inning, then retired the next 11 batters with six strikeouts through the end of the fourth as the Wildcats built her a lead. Lauren Nunez singled leading off the home half of the fifth inning and Harrington added a one-out single in the bottom of the sixth. The three singles by the Friars accounted for the only base runners of the day against Rauch, and none of them ever advanced further than first base.
 
Each of the first eight hitters in the Villanova batting order had at least one hit in the contest. Rauch and Giampolo led the way with two hits apiece and the Wildcats reached double figures in hits (10) for the third straight game and eighth time in the 10-game streak.
 
The second game of the weekend series gets underway on Saturday at 1 p.m.