Friday's game will be the third meeting ever between Villanova and the Rebels, who previously played each other twice during the UCF Spring Fling in Orlando in 2013. Ole Miss won each of those games and the Wildcats are 2-18 all-time against the teams that currently make up the SEC, with both wins coming against South Carolina during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Of the other two teams that make up the Tucson Regional this weekend, Villanova is 3-2 against UMBC (1-1 this season) and has never faced Arizona.
Villanova earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship from the BIG EAST Conference after winning its first conference title. The Wildcats have won 36 games this season which is tied for the fifth-most wins in a season in school history. The team's current winning percentage of .735 ranks as the fourth-best winning percentage in the Villanova record book. This season marks the 14th time in program history and the first time since 2016 that the Wildcats have won at least 30 games in a season. Villanova owned a record of 30-12 when it notched its 30th victory of the year on May 8. It was the fifth time in program history that the Wildcats have had a record of 30-12 or better through 42 games.
This weekend is only the fourth time in program history that Villanova is traveling west of the Mississippi River, although three of the four trips have come in the last two seasons. The Wildcats first became a varsity program in 1977 and did not travel west of the Mississippi River until 2004 when they played in a regular season tournament at the University of Houston. Early in the abbreviated 2020 season, Villanova played in a tournament at the University of Arkansas and another at the University of San Diego. The Wildcats are 9-8 in the 17 games they have played on these three trips.
Despite a limited non-conference schedule and restrictions on travel to early-season tournaments, the Wildcats have nevertheless played four of the teams in the NCAA Championship field this season. Villanova split midweek doubleheaders on the road against both George Washington and UMBC, while the Wildcats also faced both Liberty and Notre Dame in the Liberty Softball Classic during the team's first weekend of competition. Villanova played nine of the top 65 teams in the RPI rankings that were posted through games of Sunday, May 16 and tallied an 11-10 record in those games.
The 2021 season has been a remarkable one for the Wildcats from a statistical standpoint, as the team has set or tied 12 school records on the year. Villanova has broken the team single-season record for home runs (56) and walks (184), tied the record for intentional walks (6) and currently has the highest OPS (.885) in school history. Individually, senior pitcher/utility Paige Rauch (Windsor, N.Y.) has become the Wildcats all-time career leader in batting average (.427), on-base percentage (.540), slugging percentage (.851) and OPS (1.391) while setting new Villanova marks for career home runs (39) and walks (96). Rauch has also broken the program's single-season records for walks (44) and shutouts (nine).
Rauch was one of four Wildcats who were named to the NFCA Mideast All-Region teams on Thursday. She and sophomore third baseman Chloe Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) earned first team all-region accolades, while sophomore catcher Ally Jones (Brielle, N.J.) was a second team selection and junior catcher Ryan Henry (Ramsey, N.J.) was a third team honoree.
Despite its offensive success this season, Villanova is not always the type of team that breaks out in the early innings. The team has had to be resilient this season when it is not scoring early in games, and nearly half of the Wildcats run production (135 runs out of 286) have been scored from the fifth inning on. That stat was even more stark during the BIG EAST Championship when Villanova played five games and scored 28 of its 37 runs from the fifth through seventh innings. Rauch leads the Wildcats with 25 RBI from the fifth inning on, while senior second baseman Angela Giampolo (East Windsor, N.J.) has 18 such RBI and Henry has 17.
TUCSON REGIONAL COMPLETE SCHEDULE
(All times Pacific)
Friday, May 21
Game 1 – Villanova vs. Ole Miss (3:00 PM, ESPNU)
Game 2 – Arizona vs. UMBC (5:30 PM, ESPN3)
Saturday, May 22
Game 3 – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner (2:00 PM, TV TBA)
Game 4 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser (4:30 PM, TV TBA)
Game 5 – Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Winner (7:00 PM, TV TBA)
Sunday, May 23
Game 6 – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner (5:00 PM, TV TBA)
Game 7 – If Necessary (7:30 PM, TV TBA)
https://villanova.com/news/2021/5/21/softball-gameday-wildcats-set-for-game-against-ole-miss-in-tucson-regional.aspx
2021-05-21 19:23:23Z
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