PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It was a day filled with highlights on the softball diamond for the Villanova Wildcats, who completed their second straight sweep of the 2024 BIG EAST calendar with a 17-5 victory over the Providence Friars.
The Wildcats' 17 runs marked the first time since 1999 that all of those runs had crossed the plate for VU, and April of 2022 was the most recent instance of five home runs.
Every player in the starting lineup scored for Villanova (14-11, 6-0 BIG EAST) with a quintet of Wildcats recording two-hit games and five different players sending balls out of the yard.
Tess Cites scored a game-high three times on the afternoon while Ally Jones drove in five to tie her career-best. Elaina Wagner, Chloe Smith and Ava Franz all contributed multiple knocks on the day with Victoria Sebastian and Elizabeth Gray both earning a pair of appearances on the basepaths with two walks each.
Alyssa Seidler earned her sixth victory of the year with a three-strikeout, three-plus inning performance as Caroline Pellicano provided mop-up duty with just one unearned run surrendered in her 1.2 frames in the circle.
Villanova's 6-0 start to BIG EAST play marks the best start of the Bridget Orchard era and the top beginning to a conference schedule since 2004.
The Wildcats started out the game hot with a Cites rope off the top of the wall for a double. Smith sent a hard-hit ball to the right side that required a dive from an infielder and prompted an overthrow, scoring Cites for a 1-0 visitor's lead.
Lilly St. Jean extended that advantage in the next VU hacks, belting one out of the park to the opposite field for her second of the weekend and a 2-0 Wildcat edge.
The reigning BIG EAST Player of the Year Cites was not to be outdone by her teammate, knocking one over the wall in left field with Sebastian on base for a two-run bomb to get her side ahead by four.
It wasn't long before the visitors added to that advantage with a third dinger coming in the third inning. This time it was Wagner, blasting a no-doubter to score three and generate a 7-0 score.
Providence broke up the no-hitter and shutout in the bottom of the third with a single, two-out double and RBI infield single to turn it into a six-run game.
The 'Cats didn't take long to answer back, putting a pair of runners aboard with just one down in the fourth before Jones lifted one out of the yard for a three-run bomb and a 10-1 edge.
PC responded quickly though, using their first leadoff hit of the ballgame in addition to a one-out base on balls before a double to the wall brought the lead to a touchdown. The Friars added one more to their ledger with a two-out two-bagger, but Pellicano battled back to keep her side up six.
Villanova loaded up the bases in the top half of inning five, with Wagner singling up the middle and later coming in to score on a passed ball. Smith lifted a single into right field that scored one, then Jones drove in a pair with a laser for a double. That's when the Wildcats really blew the game open as a Franz round-tripper scored three and brought a 17-4 advantage for her side.
The Friars managed an unearned tally in the bottom of the fifth, but the 12-run lead induced the second run rule of the weekend and back-to-back Wildcat sweeps to open BIG EAST play.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats return back to the Main Line for a four-game stretch, hosting the Saint Joseph's Hawks in a midweek contest at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday before a three-game series opposite the Georgetown Hoyas at the weekend.
