FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – It's NCAA Tournament time for the Villanova softball program, the third time ever that the Wildcats have reached the 64-team field. Villanova (31-22) was placed in the Fayetteville Regional alongside host #12 seed Arkansas, at-large Arizona and OVC champion Southeast Missouri State.
The BIG EAST's automatic bid winner will begin its third NCAA appearance in four years on Friday evening, squaring off against the No. 17 Arizona Wildcats at 6:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
BRIDGET ORCHARD, BOSS OF THE BIG EAST
Ever since Orchard's return to Villanova as the head coach in 2019, the Villanova softball program has been a force to be reckoned with. In each of Orchard's five seasons at the helm of her alma mater, the Wildcats have appeared in the conference championship game. The opening year under the '97 alumna featured a runner-up finish before back-to-back league titles in 2021 and 2022, the first BIG EAST championships and NCAA berths ever for Villanova. Now hailed as the Co-Coaching Staff of the Year in her 27th year as a head coach, Orchard, along with her longtime assistant Gabby Luety and first year pitching coach Grace Fagan, brought the third title in four years back to the Main Line with last week's victories.
BACK TO THE RAZORBACKS
The 'Cats have not often ventured beyond the Mississippi River in the history of the softball program, with just seven separate non-conference trips that far to the west and only one before the Bridget Orchard era. Two of those travels came during 2023 (Texas State and Stanford) and three came in 2020, including an expedition to Fayetteville for the Woo Pig Classic. So it's fitting that the Wildcats will return to Bogle Park as Arkansas was just the second school west of the Mississippi to welcome Villanova within its confines. That ended up being a highly successful trip for the Wildcats, escaping with a 3-2 record after upsets of No. 23 Baylor and No. 9 Florida State despite a pair of losses to the No. 22 Razorbacks.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
While Villanova's #91 RPI rank won't blow anyone away, 14 of this year's NCAA Tournament teams have appeared on the non-conference schedule for the 'Cats in the last two years, including host sites Alabama, Duke and Missouri (all played this year) as well as Stanford, who the Wildcats visited last season. Ten of VU's opponents this season ranked in the top 75 of the national RPI, namely those three host teams as well as fellow tournament squads Boston University, Florida Gulf Coast and Virginia.
LIVING BY THE LONG BALL AND THE LONG AT BAT
As has become tradition under coaches Orchard and Luety, the Wildcats are built on power and patience. So far in 2024, Villanova has blasted 58 dingers, which ranks second in program history for a single season with at least two games still to play. The 'Cats are averaging 1.08 homers per game, leading the conference and 32nd in the nation. And it's been coming from everyone, with six players belting five or more bombs and first career tanks coming off the bats of five Wildcats. Villanova's power came to a head in the 17-5 victory at Providence on March 17, where five players sent balls out of the yard, and against St. John's with a quartet of two-run bombs in the same game. But more than just dingers, the 'Cats have worked the fourth most walks in the nation and the most single season walks in program history while Ally Jones led the BIG EAST in walks per game and four Wildcats have over 20 bases on balls.
CLOSER CAROLINE
While it isn't a strategy all softball teams use, the Wildcats have determined their path for success in the circle is to get four or five innings out of their starter and then turn things over to their super reliever: Caroline Pellicano. Pellicano's name is littered across the VU pitching record books as the senior owns the most relief appearances and games finished in Villanova history. The most recent benchmark for the right-hander to reach was saves, where she recently broke the program record with 16 in her career and VU's top single season mark with nine during her senior year. The hardest-throwing Wildcat with a nasty offspeed pitch, the Pennsylvania native maintained a .275 BAA and 1.30 ERA in BIG EAST play with just seven earned runs and earned BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player with three shutdown performances.
Live stats for all NCAA Tournament bouts are available on NCAA.com, while all of the contests will have a video stream on the ESPN Family of Networks.
Keep up with the Villanova University softball program through social media by following on Twitter (@VUSoftball) and Instagram (@novasoftball) and 'liking' on Facebook (/VUSoftball).
