VILLANOVA, Pa. -- It's finally time for conference play in the 2024 softball season as the Villanova Wildcats (8-11) welcome the reigning league champion Seton Hall Pirates to the Villanova Softball Complex for a three-game series from Mar. 8-10. Due to inclement weather in the area on Saturday, the schedule has moved to a Friday doubleheader at 1:00 and 3:30 p.m. followed by a solo game on Sunday.

VETERANS VITAL TO VILLANOVA    
One of the Wildcats' biggest strengths entering 2024 was their veteran lineup, and it's proved to be every bit true through the opening weekend of March. Tess Cites has regained her Player of the Year form with a .382 average, including 35 total bases, 15 runs and 16 bases on balls. Ally Jones heated up in Tampa by hitting .600 in Villanova's four wins there, getting herself to a team-high 13 RBI. Ava Franz has started every game at shortstop and has a VU second-best 18 hits despite high strikeout numbers.

BEWARE OF BROOKLYN    
One of the most positive developments in Villanova's non-conference slate has been redshirt junior Brooklyn Ostrowski, who was a mainstay in the VU lineup for the first tournament as the designated player. Following the injury to Victoria Sebastian against James Madison, the older Ostrowski sister has been of even more importance as she's started every game at first base and it's paid dividends. In 2024, Ostrowski leads the Wildcats in extra-base hits with a pair of doubles, a triple and a tie for the team high at four home runs. She's one of four players with double-digit hits on the year, her 12 RBI rank second behind Jones, she's slugging .588 for the team's second-best mark and she's made a team-high 82 putouts at first.

LAST TIME(S) WE MET    
It's time for a rematch of last season's BIG EAST Championship game as the reigning league champion Seton Hall Pirates come to the Main Line to take on the Villanova Wildcats. These sides met twice at Burrill Family Field in Connecticut last May, with the Pirates coming out on top in both the first round contest and the championship game. Seton Hall took the first matchup in extra innings despite a Cites two-run homer with the 'Cats down to their last out to tie up the matchup, then SHU captured its first BIG EAST championship since 2005 using clutch hitting and timely outs. In last season's regular season series, the Wildcats emerged with two victories in a Friday doubleheader to earn the tiebreaker and No. 2 seed.

Live stat links for each of the games this week can be found at villanova.statbroadcast.com, while each of the contests will be streamed on FloSports.

Keep up with the Villanova University softball program through social media by following on Twitter (@VUSoftball) and Instagram (@novasoftball) and 'liking' on Facebook (/VUSoftball).