SAN MARCOS, Texas—In their second game against Wichita State (4-0) in the past two days, Villanova (2-2) plated a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning but fell by a final score of 6-2 at Bobcat Stadium on Saturday night. The contest was the fourth of five for the Wildcats at this weekend's season-opening Texas State Tournament. One more game remains for Villanova on Sunday morning to close out the tournament.
 
Sophomore Ava Franz (Aston, Pa.) and graduate student Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) each drove in runs for the Wildcats in the top of the sixth inning. Those tallies cut in half what had been a 4-0 deficit, but the Shockers got both runs back in the bottom of the sixth to account for the final scoring margin. Henry, senior Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) and sophomore Alexa Raphael (West Caldwell, N.J.) all had hits for Villanova, which has split its two games on each of the first two days of the 2023 season.
 
It was small ball that worked for the Wildcats in their sixth inning rally. Smith singled up the middle leading off the frame and was safe at second when an error was committed on a fielder's choice off the bat of sophomore Kelsey White (Taunton, Mass.). A walk to senior Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) loaded the bases with nobody out to set the stage for the Villanova runs.
 
Even in just the first two days of the season the Wildcats have been in midseason form when it comes to working tough at-bats. Villanova has consistently worked deep into counts and taken its share of free passes in its four games this weekend, resulting in 22 walks and an average of better than four pitches per plate appearance.
 
With the bases loaded and nobody out in the sixth inning, the two Wildcats runs scored on a sacrifice fly by Franz and a fielder's choice groundout by Henry. Junior Brooklyn Ostrowski (Port Chester, N.Y.) came up representing the tying run but was retired to end the inning with the score still 4-2.
 
Wichita State took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and added single runs in the third and fifth against graduate student Peyton Schnackenberg (Belle Mead, N.J.) in her second start of the weekend. Schnackenberg scattered eight hits over five-plus innings but did not walk a batter and struck out two. Junior Alyssa Seidler (West Babylon, N.Y.) recorded three outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Jones drew two walks in the game and has reached base in half of her 14 plate appearances on the weekend, including a team-high five bases on balls to go along with a pair of hits. The Wildcats have already had 12 different batters draw at least one walk this weekend, including five by Jones and four by Franz which all came in one game earlier on Saturday in a 4-2 win over tournament host Texas State.
 
Sunday's game against Kent State, who the Wildcats defeated by a 3-0 count on Friday afternoon, is slated for an 11 a.m. ET (10 CT) start on Sunday morning.