Pirates and Wildcats Face Off This Weekend in Villanova

Villanova, Pa. - Only two BIG EAST weekends remain in the regular season, and the Seton Hall softball team will be on the road for both, beginning with a three-game series at Villanova. The Pirates and Wildcats will do battle beginning with a Friday afternoon contest at Villanova Softball Complex. All three games of the series will be streamed live on FloSoftball with the BIG EAST Digital Network producing Friday's broadcast, and Villanova taking over for the remaining two games.

LIVE LINKS

Friday, April 29 at 3 p.m. - GAME ONE LIVE STATS | GAME ONE LIVE VIDEO
Saturday, April 30 at 12 p.m. - GAME TWO LIVE STATS | GAME TWO LIVE VIDEO
Sunday, May 1 at 12 p.m. - GAME THREE LIVE STATS | GAME THREE LIVE VIDEO

LAST TIME OUT
The Pirates dropped a midweek contest to Drexel on Wednesday, 7-2, despite freshman Lauren Caye getting on base four times. She finished the day 2-for-2, walked twice, stole a base and scored a run. Fellow freshman Jenna Blevins drove in both Pirates runs, the first on a bases loaded walk and the second on a sacrifice fly. The Pirates had plenty of chances to score on the day but left 10 runners on base.

SCOUTING VILLANOVA

The defending conference champion Wildcats are currently second in the BIG EAST standings with a 13-4 record, three games behind Connecticut. Overall, Villanova is 26-19 and has won 12 straight games.
Villanova leads the conference in overall home runs with 47 with 23 of them coming in conference play (second-most).
Villanova has the second-best overall ERA in the league at 2.91, and it gets even better in BIG EAST play where the Wildcats have a league-best 1.90 ERA.
The Wildcats are led by two-way extraordinaire Paige Rauch. On the mound, she is 13-5 with a 2.55 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 112-1/3 innings pitched. At the plate, she's hitting .308 with 10 home runs, 31 RBI and 40 runs scored. She ranks second in the BIG EAST in runs scored and home runs, as well as fourth in ERA and third in strikeouts.
Seton Hall is 39-46 all-time against Villanova. This is the program's first visit to Villanova since 2018.

NEWS & NOTES

Seton Hall has six BIG EAST wins this season, already surpassing last season's total of five. If the Pirates can get to 10 wins, they'll match the 2019, 2015 and 2009 teams for most conference wins since 2005.
With the Pirates' first win against Manhattan on April 2, head coach Angie Churchill picked up her 200^th career NCAA victory.
Taylor Hill has been dominant during conference play, hitting .426 with 12 doubles, three home runs, 11 runs scored and 23 RBI. In conference games only, she leads the BIG EAST in doubles and is second in RBI, third in batting average and sixth in slugging (.770).
Hill was named BIG EAST Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week on April 18 after scalding the ball in four games, hitting .571 (8-for-14) with two home runs, four doubles, six runs scored and 13 RBI in leading Seton Hall to a non-conference win over Rutgers and a BIG EAST series win at Georgetown. Her slugging percentage for the week was 1.286, and her on-base percentage was .600.
Hill, Janae Barracato and Shelby Smith have all been named BIG EAST Player of the Week this season, and Hill and Lauren Caye have earned Freshman of the Week honors as well.
Smith has been a rock for the Pirates in the circle. On April 8 vs. DePaul, she tossed 13 innings and allowed just two runs while striking out 11. On April 14 at Georgetown, she gave up just one unearned run over seven innings. In overall stats, she is ninth in the BIG EAST in ERA (3.18), eighth in opponent batting average (.248) and fifth in strikeouts (118). In conference only stats, she is eighth in ERA (3.04) and second in strikeouts (74).
Smith currently has not walked a batter in 20-1/3 consecutive innings.
The Pirates are second in the BIG EAST in doubles with 68 and are eighth in the nation in doubles per game at 1.79.
Hill is also sixth in the nation in individual doubles per game at 0.41.
On Feb. 20, the Pirates accounted for 30 runs, 28 hits and nine home runs in two wins over UMBC and Saint Joseph's. The 19 runs in the win over UMBC in game one set the program record for most runs in a game while the 17-run differential was the largest margin of victory in program history. The 19 hits tied a program record.
The Pirates have scored 10-plus runs in seven games this season.
With Wingo's home run against Monmouth on March 23, 10 different Pirates have hit a dinger this season compared to eight different Pirates who jumped the yard from a season ago.