Box Score VILLANOVA, Pa. — The Villanova softball team lost the series opener to Butler Friday 6-2 afternoon at the Villanova Softball Complex.
The game was the 'Cats (5-20, 3-2 BIG EAST) conference home opener.
Kat Gallant (L, 2-8) got the start for Villanova, pitching five innings, striking out three and giving up five earned runs on eight hits.
The Bulldogs (8-9, 1-0) scored three runs in the top of the first to take an early lead. VU responded with a
Maranda Runco RBI double in the bottom of the first to make it a 3-1 contest.
Runco would come up big again for the 'Cats in the bottom of the third, hitting her fifth home run of the season and 26th of her career to bring Villanova within one at a 3-2 deficit. The home run tied Runco with her former teammate and current VU graduate manager,
Brooklyn Ostrowski for seventh all-time in program history.
Butler plated two more runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to head into the seventh final inning up 6-2.
Villanova loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh on three consecutive singles by
Jacquelyn Cox,
Maddie Burrows and
Katie Reed to bring up Runco, representing the tying run. However, the Bulldogs escaped the jam unscathed and came away with their first BIG EAST win of the season.
Up Next
Villanova looks to tie the series versus Butler Saturday at noon. The contest will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats provided via StatBroadcast.
