VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova softball suffered a loss in its penultimate non-conference matchup, falling to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon.

Ava Franz and Grace Reed each totaled two hit days for Villanova (22-18) with Franz contributing two doubles. Elaina Wagner put forth the only other VU hit on the afternoon and also reached on a walk while Kelsey White earned two bases on balls in the game.

Kat Gallant received the loss despite striking out two and allowing just two runs in five innings of work as Caroline Pellicano tossed two frames of one-hit ball in relief duty.

After a 1-2-3 first inning from Gallant, Lehigh got the game's first hit with a two-out single up the middle in the second, then a double to deep center scored the runner from first and made it a 1-0 Mountain Hawk advantage.

Four straight singles led to a second run for the visitors with nobody down in the ensuing frame, but Gallant settled things down with two straight batted-ball outs and a swinging K to keep the deficit to a pair.

Franz began the fourth with a double into right center, White worked her second walk of the afternoon then Reed ripped a single over second to load up the bags. But a 5-2-3 double play and a swinging strikeout meant a scoreless stanza, maintaining a 2-0 game after four.

Gallant and Pellicano combined for 11 straight retired Mountain Hawks from the fourth up until a base knock with two down in the seventh, but Pellicano stranded her at first to give the Villanova lineup a chance.

Lehigh's pitcher was able to preserve the shutout though, striking out the first two before fielding one herself for a 2-0 Mountain Hawk victory.

UP NEXT: The Wildcats will take their final flight of the regular season this weekend, heading out to Chicago for a three-game series against the DePaul Blue Demons from April 19-21.