This coming weekend is the biggest series for the Huskies so far this season, as they’re set to host the Villanova Wildcats for a three-game set. The second to last regular season series for UConn has big playoff implications as the Huskies (12-6 in Big East play) sit in second behind the Wildcats (16-2 in Big East play) and just six games left before the conference tournament.
Villanova comes in at 25-19 overall but have really separated themselves as the top team in the Big East. The only conference team to beat the Wildcats has been Creighton, who took two out of three from Villanova at the beginning of April. The Wildcats are led by a very strong offense, one that opponents have a 5.40 ERA against. Seven out of their nine qualified hitters have an OPS above .850, including three with over 1.000, being Ally Jones, Lilly St. Jean and Tess Cites. Six different batters, Ava Franz, Brooklyn Ostrowski, Elaina Wagner along with Jones, St. Jean and Cites, have over 20 RBIs on the year. Ostrowski leads the team with 11 home runs on the year, while the team has produced 52 as a unit in 44 games. Villanova’s pitching has also been solid this year too, as the team has a 3.57 ERA as a staff. Caroline Pellicano leads the team in appearances with 25 along with four starts with a 2.19 ERA. Alyssa Seidler is the team’s main starter, having 16 on the year, she has a 3.51 ERA in 79.2 innings pitched.
UConn enters 26-20 on the year having rebounded from their cold start. Despite another rough patch recently, the Huskies have proven to be resilient once again, winning seven out of their last nine while entering Friday on a three-game win streak. The backbone of this year’s team has been their pitching staff. UConn has a combined ERA of 2.89 on the year, led by Payton Kinney (2.17 in 74.1 innings) and Meghan O’Neil (2.25 in 65.1 innings). Hallie Siems leads the staff in innings pitched (119.1) along with an ERA of 3.23 in 29 appearances. The offense is led by Lexi Hastings, Grace Jenkins, Hope Jenkins, Rosie Garcia and Jana Sanden, all of which have 5 or more home runs, 20 or more RBIs and 7 or more doubles. With the season winding down games like this weekend are important while UConn looks to extend their 30-win season streak to three years straight for the first time in program history.
This will be these teams’ first matchup since the Wildcats knocked out the Huskies in last year’s Big East tournament. UConn won the first three meetings, sweeping Villanova on their homefield, but the Wildcats got the last laugh with their 4-3 win in the conference tournament to send UConn packing.
Game one is set for 3 p.m. on Friday followed by 6 p.m. on Saturday and the finale is set for 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Friday and Sunday’s matchups can be followed on FloSoftball while Saturday night’s game will be broadcast on FS1. After this series wraps, UConn heads to Washington D.C. to take on Georgetown to finish the regular season.