PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Graduate pitcher Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) squeezed the rosin bag and checked the signs on her wristband before delivering her 87^th and final pitch of the day, a fastball up to Lauren Nunez which was popped up on the third base side. She then looked on with interest as junior teammate Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) called for the ball and made the catch right along side the third base bag to end the 35^th no-hitter in program history and the second "no-no" that Rauch (13-5, 2.55 ERA) has tossed during her record-breaking Wildcats career. Junior catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) has been behind the plate for all 20 of Rauch's starts in the circle this season and has caught each of her no-hitters, with the first coming on February 15, 2020 against Florida Atlantic in Orlando, Fla..
 
Rauch pumped her fist after the final out before jogging into the team huddle in front of the third base dugout, Villanova (26-19, 13-4 BIG EAST) now having won 12 consecutive games with a 4-0 win over Providence (23-17, 9-9 BIG EAST) to finish off a three-game weekend sweep. The winning streak is the third-longest in team history, while the series sweep of the Friars is the first time that the Wildcats have ever swept a three-game series without allowing a single run. Villanova outscored Providence by a 10-0 margin in the series. Rauch tossed a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts in a 5-0 win on Friday, while senior Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) and sophomore Caroline Pellicano (Norristown, Pa.) combined on a 1-0 shutout in Saturday's game.
 
It has been all-systems go for the Wildcats during the 12-game win streak. Villanova has given up just 25 runs during the streak and is outscoring the opposition by an 84-25 margin over the 12 games. Rauch has pitched in eight of the 12 games and made six starts, including five complete games and two shutouts. She is 5-0 with a 1.41 ERA, a .138 opponent batting average and twice as many strikeouts (48) as base runners allowed (24 – 19 hits, four walks, one hit batter) spanning 38 2/3 innings pitched.
 
The winning streak is part of a larger stretch which has seen the Wildcats go 16-3 dating back to March 23 against Princeton, which was actually a 6-5 loss. Still, that game was the first in which Smith moved to the leadoff spot in the batting order with Rauch hitting second behind her. Rauch is hitting .426 with 12 extra-base hits and an .885 slugging percentage in the 19 games since, Smith has batted .379 with a .461 on-base percentage in the same stretch and Villanova as a team is hitting .307 while scoring 6.4runs per game and posting a run differential of +3.7 runs per game.
 
So it was only natural that Rauch's second career no-hitter would end on a pop-up to Smith, and that both players would lead the way offensively for the Wildcats in the historic game by going 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI apiece. They hit consecutive doubles to center field in the top of the seventh inning, Smith setting the table and Rauch driving her in for the final run of the game. The four-run lead was, of course, plenty of support for Rauch.
 
The greatest amount of intrigue against Rauch came on consecutive plate appearances to end the first inning and start the bottom of the second. With two outs and nobody on in the home half of the first, Tori Grifone grounded a 1-1 pitch through the right side and into right field. Sophomore right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) was playing shallow and came up throwing when she fielded the ball. Her throw to first base trying to get Grifone was wide of the bag, but junior Victoria Sebastian (Ridgewood, N.J.) went into a full split and kept one toe on the bag as she stretched to make the catch. Grifone was initially ruled safe for what would have been a single through the right side, but the umpires grouped together and reversed the decision to call Grifone out.
 
In the second inning, cleanup hitter Kari Shedrick led off and softly grounded a 1-2 pitch under Rauch's glove and towards senior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.). It was a bang-bang play at first base, with the ball and Shedrick arriving on top of Sebastian nearly simultaneously. The ball got away and went into the Friars dugout, with Shedrick being awarded second base on what was ruled a straight throwing error on the play. Rauch didn't leave much to chance after that. In fact, she had retired 17 consecutive batters and allowed just three balls out of the infield by the time Shedrick came up to bat with two outs and nobody on the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
Shedrick had one of the better at-bats of the day against Rauch in their seventh inning encounter, battling back from an 0-2 hole and fouling off three pitches on the way to drawing a nine-pitch walk. It had been 123 consecutive plate appearances against Rauch up until then since she last issued a base on balls, and the slightest amount of frustration was visible as she delivered a ball just off the inside corner with Nunez batting. Jones visited the circle after that pitch, while Smith checked in with Rauch after a riser was high to Nunez for ball two. Rauch then blew a fastball past Nunez and went up in the zone with another heater which Nunez popped up for the final out.
 
For the second straight day the game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. Senior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) was hit by a pitch leading off in the fourth and freshman Alexa Raphael (West Caldwell, N.J.) came in to pinch run. Raphael began the day with a team-high nine stolen bases, but she had to wait for her chance this time as graduate Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) fouled off the first three pitches she saw from Providence starting pitcher Jessica Walter (4-4, 3.90 ERA). Finally on the fourth pitch of the plate appearance, Giampolo took a pitch high and away with Raphael breaking for second. She stole her 10^th base of the season, then moved up another base to third when the ball dribbled away from the second base bag and was momentarily blocked from shortstop Jacque Harrington behind the second base umpire.
 
Giampolo was out in front of the next pitch, hitting over the fence but well foul down the left field line. She would end up fouling off five pitches in all before skying the ninth offering of the plate appearance into deep center field which Kaelyn Loncharich caught at the base of the wall for a sacrifice fly which plated Raphael with the game's first run.
 
Villanova extended the lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth inning on a rally that began with junior left fielder Dani Dabroski (Cedar Grove, N.J.) bunting for a leadoff single. Smith followed with a double to the gap in right-center field to bring home Dabroski and Rauch bunted for a single. Smith was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Rauch's hit, but Rauch took second on the throw home and scored on Kern's run-scoring single to center.
 
The next chance for the Wildcats to extend their winning streak will come in the final regular season non-conference game when Villanova travels to Hofstra this Wednesday for a 3 p.m. contest.