VILLANOVA, Pa. – It was a rollercoaster game in the first midweek contest for Villanova softball, with the Wildcats eventually prevailing over the Saint Joseph's Hawks 16-7 on Wednesday afternoon at the Villanova Softball Complex.
The 'Cats piled on early in the bout with five tallies in each of the first two stanzas, belting two dingers in those innings for a double-digit advantage. SJU scored seven unanswered across the fourth and fifth, then the Wildcats still managed to run rule with a five-run fifth.
Grace Reed led the way with a three-hit effort for Villanova (15-11), driving in five runs and reaching base four times on the day. Victoria Sebastian added two hits and four RBI while Tess Cites scored four times and Ava Franz drove in four with a trio coming on a second-inning homer.
Kelsey White tossed three innings of scoreless softball in the start for the 'Cats, allowing just two baserunners. Kat Gallant went 1.2 frames in relief while Caroline Pellicano earned the victory with a strikeout in one-plus innings in the circle.
The Wildcats took control of the contest early with Cites ripping a single off the pitcher and a pair of walks loading up the bags with two down. Lilly St. Jean got hit by the first pitch of her AB to get the first one across, then Reed advanced the lead in a big way with a no-doubt blast out to left center. The freshman's bomb marked the third grand slam of 2024 for the Wildcats and Reed's fourth dinger of the year, getting her side ahead 5-0 just one inning into the matchup.
A pair of bases on balls meant two aboard to begin stanza two and Franz made the Hawks pay, belting one over the wall for a three-run bomb and an 8-0 VU edge.
Following a pitching change, Ally Jones drew her second walk of the day and Elaina Wagner laced a single into left before St. Jean struck one hard over the left fielder's head to score Jones with a one-out two-bagger.
Alexa Raphael pinch ran for Wagner at third and took advantage of a drop by the pitcher on a routine throw back from the catcher, taking off for home and beating the throw for a 10-0 advantage.
St. Joe's finally got on the board in the fourth inning, doing all their damage with two outs. It was a 2-0 single followed up by three straight RBI base knocks, a triple then a double then a single to make the score 10-3.
The Hawks kept on chipping away in the top of the fifth, repeatedly putting the ball in play and capitalizing on three miscues by the Villanova defense. It was a four-run, two-hit frame for the visitors to pull the deficit down to just three.
Villanova earned one back in the home half of that frame when Cites got hit by a pitch and got around to third on a walk and double play, then Sebastian pulled through with a first-pitch single through the left side for an 11th run.
After a scoreless inning for Pellicano stranded a pair of leadoff singles, the VU bats heated up again to generate a third five-run inning and force a run rule. St. Jean walked, Reed doubled down the line for an RBI, then a walk and a couple of fielder's choices scored Reed. Sebastian came up again in crunch time and delivered, scorching a bases-clearing double into left to end the game at 16-7.
With the victory, the Wildcats increase their margin over Saint Joe's all-time with a record of 43-24-1.
UP NEXT: The 'Cats will host Georgetown this weekend at the Villanova Softball Complex, taking on the Hoyas in a three-game series from Mar. 22-24. Due to rain in Saturday's forecast, Friday has turned into a doubleheader with game one beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Villanova.
