On April 24, for the second time in graduate student Paige Rauch’s Villanova career, she held the opposition hitless,The win not only resulted in a key Big East series victory, but also capped off a 12th consecutive win for the surging Wildcats, the third-longest winning streak in program history.But if not for a change to Rauch’s mindset pregame, she may not have made program history.
This could be seen in the boxscore, as Rauch only struck out four batters and walked one in a 92-pitch outing. This was dramatically different than heragainst Florida Atlantic, when she fanned 13 and threw 111 pitches. Rauch’s no-no put an explanation point on a series shutout for the pitching staff against Providence, marking the first time in program history that Villanova held an opponent without a run over a three-game series.
If that was not enough, Rauch also had her fingerprints all over the box score with her bat, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored Rauch contributing in both the circle and the box is nothing new. The Windsor, New York native is the Wildcats’