ATLANTA, Ga. – The Villanova Wildcats captured their first victory of the 2024 campaign on Friday afternoon with a 5-1 takedown of the Longwood Lancers in VU's third game at the Buzz Classic.
Elaina Wagner provided a spark for Villanova (1-2), blasting her first home run as a Wildcat as part of a two-hit, two-RBI day. Victoria Sebastian was responsible for three runs of her own with a pair of runs batted in and a run scored.
Kelsey White picked up the victory for the Wildcats after tossing five innings with four strikeouts and no earned runs. Kat Gallant earned her second career save with a pair of hitless innings including two Ks.
Following a scoreless opening frame, the Lancers got on the board first by using a single, two-base error and a groundout to plate an unearned run and own a 1-0 advantage after an inning and a half.
With the Wildcats victims of a perfect game through eight outs, Sebastian became the first baserunner with a two-out walk to turn the lineup over. Tess Cites sent a blast to the left field corner that the fielder mishandled, allowing Sebastian to come around from first for an unearned run that tied the game.
In the next frame, the 'Cats got their first hit in 11 innings off the bat of Chloe Smith, who roped one down the third base line for a single with two outs in the fourth. Lilly St. Jean followed that up with a shot into center field, but it was caught at the warning track to save the Lancers from damage.
Longwood used a walk, stolen base and infield single to put runners on the corners with one down in the fifth, but in her first game as an outfielder Wagner tracked down a fly ball and held the runner at third before a White strikeout closed the inning scoreless.
Wagner came up to lead off the next frame and did some damage with the bat, slamming one over the fence for her first collegiate homer to grant VU its first advantage of the day.
Gallant entered in relief for the Wildcats, providing a scoreless sixth inning in the circle for VU. Smith and St. Jean each drew two-out walks in the Villanova hacks, then Wagner kept up her impressive afternoon with a critical RBI base knock by shooting a ball below the shortstop's glove and into the left-center gap for a run-scoring two-bagger.
Sebastian came up with two runners in scoring position and delivered as she did all of last year, working an eight-pitch at bat before sending one back up the middle to clear the bags and provide her squad with a four-run edge which Gallant preserved with a flawless seventh in the circle.
The victory marks Villanova's first in the series as it's the only contest between the two schools, but grants Villanova a 10-3 against Big South opponents.
UP NEXT: The Wildcats play in the final game on Friday evening as well, squaring off once again with Georgia Tech before wrapping up their stay in Georgia with a rematch against Longwood on Saturday morning.
