BERKELEY, Calif. – The Villanova Wildcats took a loss in the weekend finale on Sunday afternoon, falling to the California Golden Bears 8-0 at Levine-Fricke Field.
Tess Cites registered two hits for Villanova (8-12) in the contest with three other players reaching via a walk.
Peyton Schnackenberg, Caroline Pellicano and Kelsey White all made appearances in the circle for VU. Schnackenberg earned the loss in the start, with Pellicano providing an inning of relief and White going two-plus innings.
Cites opened the matchup with a single through the left side to keep up her impressive start to the season. In the next at bat, White rocketed a pitch to third base which was snared then thrown over to first for a double play, robbing the Wildcats of an extra-base hit.
The Golden Bears began the scoring in the first inning as with two outs, the third batter got hit by a pitch before Elon Butler hit a ball to dead center for a two-run homer. Cal then tacked on two more home runs, going back-to-back-to-back for a 4-0 advantage.
California extended its lead with an unearned run in the second, with two singles and two errors allowing the score to become 5-0.
Cites recorded her second hit of the day in the third inning and moved up to second on a wild pitch, but couldn't get any further than that.
Cal made it a 6-0 game in the home half of the third frame, using back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners then craftily running the bases to bring the runner home.
Lilly St. Jean almost got Villanova on the board in the fourth, lifting a pitch down the left field line out of the park, but foul by just a few inches to keep the 'Cats scoreless. Chloe Smith then walked and advanced to second on an overthrow by the catcher, but once again VU left the runner stranded.
Madison Ostrowski led off stanza five with a walk, then moved up to second base on a fielder's choice. Cites made her third appearance on base via a four-pitch walk, then White lined a pitch into right field but it was tracked down to keep VU runless.
Cal moved its edge to 7-0 as All-American Makena Smith put another ball over the fence for her second homer of the afternoon, then the Golden Bears walked it off with another long ball in the fifth frame.
The victory for California moves the all-time series to 1-1, as Villanova took down the Bears in yesterday's bout.
UP NEXT: Villanova is done with the five-game weekend portion of its schedule, beginning BIG EAST play on Friday, Mar. 10. The Wildcats start their conference slate with a trip to Washington, D.C., taking on Georgetown in a three-game series.
