DURHAM, N.C. -- The Villanova softball team prepares for a weekend filled with heavy hitters as the Wildcats travel to the Duke Softball Stadium for a five-game slate from Feb. 23-25 featuring the nation's sixth ranked Blue Devils, an undefeated Boston University team, a Power Five representative in Michigan State and a fellow mid-major in the Elon Phoenix.
LIVING BY THE LONG BALL
In the early goings of their 2024 campaign, the 'Cats have been outslugging their competition, going yard 10 times while opponents have managed just four. And the Wildcats haven't been relying on the returning players who accounted for 77.5% of last year's dingers, as just three of this year's homers have come from players who hit one last year (
Tess Cites,
Ally Jones and
Lilly St. Jean). In eight games, Villanova has already seen first career long balls from
Maddie Burrows,
Madison Ostrowski,
Grace Reed and
Elaina Wagner while
Brooklyn Ostrowski and
Victoria Sebastian each launched their first bombs in over two years.
SO WE MEET AGAIN
None of this weekend's opponents will be new foes for the Wildcats, with at least one contest against each of the four in history. Boston University has lined up opposite Villanova six times, with VU owning a 5-1 record against the Terriers. The 'Cats won the most recent matchup 5-3 in 2014 and the teams were supposed to renew the series last year but the game was cancelled. Villanova maintains a 2-2 mark against Michigan State with a win-loss-win-loss pattern as MSU won the last matchup in 2017. Duke beat the Wildcats 4-2 in 2012 and Elon took a 7-5 contest in the only meeting during the 2006 campaign.
NOT NORTH CAROLINA NEWBIES
The Wildcats will make a return to the state of North Carolina this weekend, a region where they've played 20 games throughout program history. Villanova looks to move above .500 in the Tar Heel State, pulling into the five-game slate at 9-11 in N.C. VU's first visit to North Carolina came back in 2005 when the squad headed to Greenville for the Holiday Inn Express Pirate Classic before a return the following year to the Elon Invitational in Burlington. It wasn't until two years ago that the 'Cats ventured back into the state as Orchard's unit played 10 games in the northern of the Carolinas from Feb. 25 to Mar. 6. The Wildcats started out hot with a 4-0 mark in ECU's Pirate Invitational, lost a pair of bouts at North Carolina and NC State, then went 1-3 in Charlotte's Queen City Classic to round out the trip.
All five of this weekend's Villanova contests will be streamed on ACCNX, with all of the games available at
this link. Live stats for each VU game in Durham can be found at
villanova.statbroadcast.com.
Keep up with the Villanova University softball program through social media by following on Twitter (@VUSoftball) and Instagram (@novasoftball) and 'liking' on Facebook (/VUSoftball).
