VILLANOVA, Pa. – The first midweek game of the 2025 calendar is on tap for Villanova softball as the Wildcats will welcome the Monmouth Hawks for a 4:00 p.m. game on Wednesday afternoon at the Villanova Softball Complex.

MEETING UP WITH MONMOUTH    
For the first time under head coach Bridget Orchard, the Monmouth Hawks will appear in the opposite dugout this week. The programs have met 43 times historically with VU maintaining a 29-13-1 lead, most recently splitting an April doubleheader at VU in 2017. A familiar face makes her return to the Main Line as Monmouth graduate assistant Dani Dabroski will be back at the Villanova Softball Complex. A 2023 VU alum, the New Jersey native won a pair of BIG EAST titles in her career as a Wildcat outfielder. The slap-hitter slashed .258/.348/.307 at VU, accumulating 79 hits and 73 runs with 42 walks in four seasons before spending her graduate season closer to home with the Hawks. A high school teammate of current Wildcat Alexa Raphael, Dabroski is in her first year of coaching while finishing up her MBA. In another Monmouth connection, Orchard's son Lucas is a freshman guard on the MU men's basketball team, appearing in 12 games as a first-year.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OTHER 'CATS     
After the graduation of some of the best hitters in program history last year, the Wildcats had a lot of spots to replace in the lineup entering 2025. Beyond just last year's all-conference selections Ava Franz and Elaina Wagner setting the tone, the 'Cats have gotten production out of the other spots at key times this season. Senior Kelsey White started out the year on a tear with three home runs and has her average up to .269 so far while Brooklyn Ostrowski has become the everyday starter at first base with 15 hits and a .283 average. The sophomore class has been and will continue to be critical for Villanova, led by designated player Maranda Runco who paces the squad at a .368 average with 18 hits and 32 total bases as classmates Grace Reed (six hits, 2 home runs), Elizabeth Gray (.263 average) and Mackenzie Waghorn (grand slam in win over No. 15 Virginia Tech) have each produced bright spots.

HEAR ABOUT THE HAWKS

• Monmouth owns a 7-15 record so far this year, sweeping the opening CAA series over North Carolina A&T last weekend and picking up three wins at Presbyterian's Scotsman Invitational after starting the year 0-10.
• Giana Scotti leads the Hawks with a .302 average and 16 hits in the 2025 campaign, totaling a team-best 13 walks, 10 RBI and 22 total bases on the year. Gabby Gesualdo, Lexi Castaneda and Kylee McLain each have 15 hits for a Monmouth lineup that hasn't hit a home run yet this season.
• Three pitchers have gotten all of the outs for Monmouth's pitching staff with 50-plus innings coming from each of Jayla Cadena (4.15 ERA) and Olivia Lewis (7.79 ERA, 36 strikeouts), while Izzy Bonacci has started six games in the circle with over 26 stanzas on her ledger.

The matchup will stream on FloCollege with statistics courtesy of StatBroadcast.