BRIGHTON, Mass. – The Wildcats will make a nearly six-hour ride north during their BIG EAST bye week as Villanova softball (16-16-1) heads to Boston College from Apr. 4-6 for a pair of doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday at Harrington Athletics Village.

PLAYED AGAINST PENN    
It was a strange Wednesday at the Villanova Softball Complex with the Wildcats eventually playing to a 12-12 tie with the Penn Quakers in eight innings due to darkness. The ballgame was a rollercoaster from start to finish as the 'Cats took a 6-1 edge, then trailed 12-7 and used a five-run seventh to force extra innings before the setting of the sun generated VU's only tie under Orchard and first since 2018. Villanova tied its season-high in runs scored and hits, getting two-hit efforts out of five Wildcats in addition to a three-hit day from Kelsey White, three runs scored by Ava Mahnken and three walks for Madison Ostrowski. Elaina Wagner and Ava Franz continued their hot streaks in the last five games, each bringing their average up to .353 in the five most recent contests with six hits and three walks.

SHIPPING UP TO BRIGHTON    
The Wildcats will spend their BIG EAST bye weekend in Massachusetts, taking on Boston College and Army in Brighton. A former BIG EAST rival hosts the three-team semi-tournament with the 'Cats owning a 26-22 all-time lead over BC after the Eagles won a 2022 matchup before the squads split a pair of games in 2023 at the Joan Joyce Classic. Kat Gallant threw a two-hit, complete game shutout in the Villanova win that year, retiring the opening 17 batters before the first hit. Army has only appeared opposite VU twice, both teams going 1-1 with Villanova securing a 4-2 win in 2018 the last time these two appeared in opposite dugouts.

BANTER ABOUT THE BLACK KNIGHTS

• Army makes the four-hour drive up to Boston College at a record of 21-14, 5-0 to start Patriot League play. The Black Knights won three at each of The Columbus Classic, Mardi Gras Mambo and Mount Softball Invitational, defeated BIG EAST leader St. John's 4-1 in early March but lost both games of a Wednesday doubleheader at Seton Hall.
• West Point is led at the plate by All-Patriot League infielder Ashton White, who's hitting .397 with 46 hits and nine doubles. Freshman Sienna Tepley adds a .362 average, Caitlyn Newburn contributes a team-best five homers and preseason all-conference selection Taylor Brown leads with 15 walks and 22 runs scored.
• Three pitchers have done the majority of work for the Black Knights, paced by sophomore Katelyn Flanders' 2.28 ERA and .206 average against. Breanna Izzo leads the staff at 87 innings in 19 appearances with 11 wins while Amanda Eaglin adds 56 strikeouts in 12 starts.

ELABORATING ON THE EAGLES

• Boston College comes into their bye weekend with a mark of 15-17, just 3-9 in their ACC slate thus far. The Eagles won three at the FGCU Kickoff Classic and ECU Tournament to begin the year then beat Pittsburgh last weekend for their lone conference series victory, but have fallen to both Providence and Connecticut on the year.
• BC is led at the plate by Alabama transfer Jordan Stephens who's hitting .333 with 32 hits and six home runs. Sophomore Emma Jackson adds a .301 average with seven doubles, while Gator Robinson has scored 21 times with 25 walks and 11 stolen bases.
• The Eagles have relied on two arms for almost 80 percent of the innings, getting 21 appearances and 12 starts from each of Bailey Kendziorski and Kelly Colleran. The freshman Kendziorski leads with 60 strikeouts in 86.1 frames of work while BU transfer Colleran adds seven wins with a .256 average against.

Due to inclement weather, the weekend's schedule has changed to doubleheaders on both Friday and Sunday with no game on Saturday. Friday's slate features first pitches at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. while Sunday's doubleheader is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. at Harrington Athletics Village.

Friday's neutral site contest feature statistics on StatBroadcast while the other three will be on Boston College's Sidearm site and each of the three VU-BC games will stream on ACCNX.