VILLANOVA, Pa. – Game one of the 2024 softball series against St. John's took a lot of twists and turns, ultimately finishing out with a 13-9 Villanova victory.
It was a rollercoaster of a game at the Villanova Softball Complex with the 'Cats notching the game's first run in the opening frame, St. John's proceeding to score nine unanswered in the next three stanzas and VU answering with 12 straight of their own.
Lilly St. Jean contributed her first career three-hit game with four RBI and a pair of runs scored for Villanova (20-17, 11-2 BIG EAST), while Ava Franz also drove home four and scored twice with a three-run homer on the day.
Victoria Sebastian and Elizabeth Gray each notched two base knocks in game one of the series, with Ally Jones scoring twice after a three-walk effort.
Kelsey White tossed one-plus innings in the start for VU with Alyssa Seidler striking out four in her 2.2 frames of relief and Caroline Pellicano picking up the win after three scoreless stanzas of work.
St. John's started out the ballgame with some early momentum, getting a pair of singles to start it out before a sacrifice moved a pair into scoring position. An error on White loaded up the bags, but the junior got out of it with back-to-back flyouts to keep the Red Storm off the board.
The Wildcats made them pay instantly with Tess Cites rocketing a double off the wall in left field before Elaina Wagner roped a base knock through the right side to score Cites and get Villanova ahead before an out was recorded.
Walks for Jones and Franz made it ducks on the pond with one down, but the BIG EAST ERA leader struck out two in a row to strand them loaded with a 1-0 VU edge.
The Johnnies answered back with a few tallies in the second, using a leadoff double and RBI single to even it up. A base knock through the right side got the visitors ahead and prompted a pitching change, after which Seidler shut things down and kept the deficit to 2-1.
St. John's kept that offense going in the ensuing frame with a five-run stanza, all coming with two outs after Seidler bounced back from a leadoff walk and single with two swinging Ks. But following that, it was another base on balls, a two-run single and a three-run homer for a 7-1 STJ advantage.
The Red Storm didn't let up, adding two during the fourth with a leadoff double, throwing error, RBI single and sacrifice fly for an eight-run edge.
On the brink of a run-rule defeat, the Wildcats put up a heck of a rally with a marathon seven-run inning to pull back within one. Sebastian worked a walk to lead off the home half of that stanza, then Chloe Smith ripped a one-hop double off the right field wall to score her classmate and get one back.
Elizabeth Gray reached on a bunt single and hurried to a vacant second base for a pair in scoring position before a groundout made it two down.
Back-to-back walks from Wagner and Jones got one across, then three straight singles from St. Jean, Franz and Sebastian plated three and Franz crossed on an ensuing wild pitch for a 9-8 game.
Gray got another infield single to open the fifth then walks for Cites and Jones loaded up the bases. St. Jean came through out of the cleanup spot, blasting a double into left to score two and grant her side an edge.
The very next pitch was crushed out of the yard off the bat of Franz to drive home three, gift the 'Cats a 13-9 advantage and cap off 12 unanswered runs.
After all the chaos of the first five innings, Pellicano went on to deliver three straight scoreless stanzas in the circle, quieting the Red Storm bats to preserve a game one victory.
UP NEXT: Two more games await in the Red Storm-Wildcats series, one each set for Saturday and Sunday at 12:00 p.m. from the Villanova Softball Complex.
