VILLANOVA, Pa.—The final home softball game of the season was a special one as generations of alumnae were on hand for the official blessing of the renovated Villanova Softball Complex and to dedicate the scoreboard for longtime head coach Maria DiBernardi, who was one of several speakers during pregame festivities and threw out the first pitch. Following the pomp and circumstance of the alumnae reception and opening ceremony, a season-high crowd more than 400 strong watched Villanova (28-20, 15-5 BIG EAST) close out a critical series win against Seton Hall (18-23, 7-14 BIG EAST) with a 5-2 victory backed by three home runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
More than 75 former players celebrated the program's past, present and future in a reception held prior to the start of the game. After the contest, all alumnae in attendance were invited down to the field for photo opportunities and to see up close the field enhancements made during the past offseason. More than anything else the day was a chance to honor DiBernardi and her decades of contribution to Villanova Athletics during her tenure as head coach from 1985-2018. She won 880 games with the Wildcats, produced 28 NFCA All-Region honorees, 77 All-BIG EAST selections and five major conference award winners. Under DiBernardi's watch Villanova produced 11 Academic All-Americans, including Sara Carlson who was the 2000-01 Academic All-American of the Year in addition to earning second team All-America recognition for her efforts on the field.
 
DiBernardi handed over the reigns of the program to one of her own former players when Bridget Orchard took over as head coach following the 2018 season. Villanova has steadily built on the foundation of success that DiBernardi created, with Orchard already having won over 100 games at her alma mater while leading the Wildcats to their first BIG EAST title and NCAA regional appearance last season. Orchard has the current Villanova team primed for another postseason run, with the team having won 18 of its last 21 games while clinching a spot in the four-team conference tournament later this month.
 
Sunday's series finale against the Pirates was an important game for potential seeding purposes in the BIG EAST standings. A veteran Wildcats squad overcame a 2-0 deficit through the first three innings of play with a game-tying home run in the home half of the fourth inning and back-to-back solo shots in the bottom of the fifth. Junior catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) knotted the score at 2-2 with a moonshot to left-center field with one out in the fourth. Senior shortstop Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) and senior offensive player Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) hit consecutive pitches over the fence in the fifth inning, while sophomore right fielder Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) capped the scoring with an RBI double down the right field line later in the fifth.
 
Power is a big part of Villanova's game and each of the four seasons that Orchard has been head coach have produced a home run total that ranks among the top eight highest single season totals in program history. The feat is especially impressive when considering the circumstances: the 2020 season was canceled after only half the regular season games had been played, the 2021 campaign began late and the 2022 season is still moving full steam ahead with the biggest games yet to be played. Jones, Kern and Henry have combined to hit half of the Wildcats home runs this season (25 of 50) even though none of them lead the team in long balls. That superlative belongs to graduate pitcher/utility Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) who has hit 10 home runs on the year. On this particular day she would settle for reaching base twice while pitching a five-hitter for her 14^th win of the season.
 
Villanova split the first two games of the weekend against the Pirates before clinching its fourth straight series win in Sunday's finale. It was Seton Hall who struck first however, as two unearned runs in the top of the second inning forged an early 2-0 lead. Taylor Hill led off the inning with a clean single to left against Rauch, while Abby Wingo's sinking liner to left field skipped past Cites for a single and an error. An RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly followed, while a later dropped third strike extended the inning for an extra batter against Rauch (14-6, 2.48 ERA).
 
The score stayed 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning as Pirates starting pitcher Shelby Smith (10-14, 3.37 ERA) gave up just one hit – a hard single inside the first base bag by Rauch – through the first three innings. The momentum started to change when Henry drilled a low liner through the left side and all the way to the wall for a leadoff double in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freshman pinch runner Alexa Raphael (West Caldwell, N.J.) entered for Henry and moved to third on a wild pitch before coming in to score on Jones game-tying home run. The big blast came on a 2-0 offering to Jones, who swung away and smashed one of the longer home runs of recent memory at the Villanova Softball Complex.
 
Kern led off the bottom of the fifth inning by hitting a 2-2 pitch out of the park to give the Wildcats their first lead of the day. She too put the ball into a orbit with a drive that hit halfway up the Pike Field throwing cage which is a standout fixture beyond the right-center field fence at the softball complex. Henry followed by hitting the very next pitch from Smith – her final delivery of the game – nearly as far to straightaway center which gave Villanova a 4-2 lead. The barrage of extra-base hits in the inning wasn't over. With two outs and nobody on, freshman right fielder Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.) drove a ball off the top of the left field fence for a long, loud double; Cites batted with two away and lined a pitch down the right field line for an RBI double.
 
After a laborious second inning and a bunt single to lead off the top of the third against Rauch, the Wildcats All-American retired 11 straight batters until Wingo singled to right field with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. A fielder's choice ended the frame and Rauch easily navigated around a one-out single in the seventh by striking out leadoff hitter Lauren Caye to end the game.
 
Villanova has three regular season games remaining and will play in a matchup of the top two teams in the BIG EAST standings when it travels to Connecticut next weekend for a three-game series. The teams played six times last season and the Wildcats won five of the six matchups, including beating the Huskies twice on their home field on the final day of the conference championship to clinch their first BIG EAST title. This year Connecticut is 18-3 in the BIG EAST standings and will be coming off a bye in the conference schedule. The first game next weekend's series is slated for 5 p.m. on Friday evening.