TAMPA, Fla. – Kat Gallant dominated in the circle and the entire lineup delivered at the dish as the Villanova softball team took down Central Michigan 10-0 in five innings at the USF Softball Stadium on Saturday.
Gallant recorded her first ever one-hitter for the Wildcats, picking up her second win of the year while striking out eight and allowing just two baserunners.
Brooklyn Ostrowski and Tess Cites each had two-hit games for Villanova (6-9), each driving in two runs with one of Ostrowski's coming on a no-doubt blast in the second. Ally Jones also scored twice with her performance including a solo shot as the 'Cats worked eight walks and recorded nine hits as a squad.
VU started rolling early on in the ballgame with the first six batters reaching base to force a CMU pitching change before an out was recorded. Cites started the party with a single up the middle, three straight players drew walks including a bases-loaded eight-pitch BB for Chloe Smith to plate the first tally.
Ostrowski ripped a liner off the shortstop's glove for a run-scoring single, then Elaina Wagner belted a pitch off the left-center fence to drive home a pair and get the Wildcats up 4-0.
A walk loaded the bags once again before a heads-up play by Emily Orr plated another, dribbling a ball down the first base line and backtracking in the baseline to distract the fielder from throwing home so that Ostrowski scored.
The 'Cats batted around and with the lineup turned over, Cites walked to put ducks on the pond again which Ava Franz followed up with her second walk of the stanza to move the score to 6-0 after just a half inning. It was the most runs Villanova has scored in a single frame all year, beating out the four-run performance in the second against Longwood.
Ostrowski got her second hit of the day in a big way, blasting a no-doubter out of the yard for a solo shot to get the game to 7-0. VU loaded the bags again as Wagner reached on an error, Orr singled into left for her first base hit of the season and Maddie Burrows drew a walk.
Central Michigan brought in their third pitcher of the morning and she hit Cites with the first pitch, pulling the 'Cats ahead 8-0.
Jones recorded her second homer of the weekend to the exact same spot as Friday's bomb, belting a laser over the fence in left field to lead off the third and advance her team's lead to 9-0.
Burrows ripped a double into left center to kick off the fourth, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a Cites base knock up the middle to grant the Wildcats a double-digit advantage.
CMU broke up the perfect game and no hitter with a leadoff walk and a two-out bloop single during the home half of that frame, but Gallant surrounded those by striking out three Chippewas for another scoreless stanza.
Nobody reached base in the fifth for the Wildcats, so Gallant went back to the rubber in search of finishing the ballgame early. The sophomore hurler delivered for Villanova, completing her one-hitter with a pair of batted-ball outs and a swinging strikeout to end the game after five.
The VU win marks the program's fourth ever over Central Michigan, drawing closer to a .500 record with the Chippewas all-time at 4-5.
UP NEXT: One more contest awaits the Wildcats on Saturday, taking on Georgia Southern at 6:30 p.m. in the nightcap of the USF Softball Tournament.
