STORRS, Conn.—Junior third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.), graduate second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) and graduate right fielder Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) each had two on a cold, blustery afternoon but Villanova (28-22, 15-7 BIG EAST) was shut out, 3-0, in the second game of a three-game series at Connecticut (36-15, 20-3 BIG EAST) at Burrill Family Field on Saturday afternoon. Smith hit her fifth double in the last six games and raised her batting average in BIG EAST games to .397 with one game remaining in the regular season.
 
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Huskies plated a pair of one-out runs on a double to the gap in right-center field. An insurance run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth accounted for the only run of the game in what was a tight pitchers' duel between senior Sara Kennedy (Newtown, Conn.) and Connecticut left-hander Meghan O'Neil (12-6, 2.93 ERA). Making her 22^nd appearance and 14^th start of the season, Kennedy (6-7, 2.82 ERA) pitched better than her final line would indicate. She was charged with three earned runs on six hits while walking none and striking out four in a 74-pitch complete game.
 
Kennedy faced the minimum number of batters through three innings, retiring eight of nine batters and erasing a one-out single in the bottom of the second by getting Rosie Garcia to hit into an inning-ending double play. Garcia hit a high chopper to short that senior Megan Kern (Royersford, Pa.) made a nice grab of to start a 6-6-3 twin-killing. It is the eighth double play that Kern has started at short this season. Kennedy lost for only the third time in her last 14 regular season conference appearances dating back to last season. She leads the Wildcats pitching staff with a 1.70 ERA spanning 49 1/3 innings versus BIG EAST opponents this year.
 
Villanova had no shortage of run-scoring chances against O'Neil despite the final score. The first four hitters in the batting order combined for seven of the Wildcats eight hits on the day, but Villanova stranded 10 runners in the game and left the bases loaded in the first and third innings. Two-out hits by Rauch and Kern in the top of the seventh got the tying run to the plate for a final time before O'Neil finally induced a bouncer back to the circle for the last out of the day.
 
Smith singled up the middle leading off the game and Rauch beat out an infield hit that deflected off O'Neil to give the Wildcats an immediate scoring chance in the top of the first inning. With two on and one away, Giampolo singled on a short bloop down the right-field line and the runners had to hold up until the ball dropped in. That left the bases loaded with one away, but the next two hitters each struck out to end the early threat. Later in the game, Giampolo hit her 40^th career double leading off the top of the fourth inning in a scoreless game but never advanced beyond third base.
 
UConn finally broke through against Kennedy in the bottom of the fourth when Briana Marcelino led off with a single and Reese Guevarra was hit by a pitch. Kennedy struck out Lexi Hastings before allowing a two-run double off the bat of Jana Sanden, who had delivered a walk-off two-run single in the series opener a day earlier. Her double gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead, with Kennedy avoiding further trouble in the inning by retiring Olivia Sappington and Garcia in order.
 
Villanova had a chance to get even in the top of the fifth inning when sophomore pinch hitter Tess Cites (Horseheads, N.Y.) drew a one-out walk and Smith followed with a double to left-center. Kern walked to load the bases with two away in the inning, but all three runners were left stranded the end the frame. Down to their last out in the top of the seventh, the Wildcats extended the game on Rauch's single to right and Kern's double off the fence in center. Kern was on base twice in the game and has tied the longest streak of both the season and her career by reaching base safely in each of the last 14 games. Rauch extended her own on-base streak to 20 games with two hits.
 
The top two teams in the BIG EAST standings will meet in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. before both squads head to Rosemont, Ill. for the BIG EAST Championship next week.