BIG EAST Championship Begins For Villanova With Wednesday Matchup Against Providence

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The 2025 BIG EAST Championship kicks off on home turf for third seeded Villanova softball, who will take on the Providence Friars in the tournament’s opening round at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

BIG EAST BATTLERS    

For the ninth straight season, Villanova (27-24-1, 15-9 BIG EAST) is heading to the BIG EAST Championship and for the first time since the renovations, the ‘Cats will be hosting it at the VU Softball Complex. The reigning champions, who stormed their way through the 2024 field with wins on all three days they played, will be the third seed at this year’s conference tournament. St. John’s and Connecticut secured the league’s two byes with the Johnnies clinching the regular season title with a win over UConn on the final day of the regular season. Last year’s runner-up Creighton will square off against five seed Butler in the week’s opening game on Wednesday while Providence snuck into the last spot after a tie with Seton Hall, and the two Wednesday afternoon losers face elimination in the 6:00 p.m. nightcap.

RESULTS AGAINST THE FIELD    

It was hard to follow up a 2024 season where the ‘Cats were world beaters, falling in just five conference matchups total after winning the first nine games in BIG EAST play. It was a bit of a rockier path this season with Villanova needing wins in the final weekend to keep the season going, but the Wildcats are back in the tournament as a three seed after a 15-9 campaign. Villanova got swept at the BIG EAST-leading St. John’s Red Storm in late April and dropped two of three vs. Connecticut to lead off the year. Butler also took a pair of contests from the ‘Cats, but Creighton and Providence were both victims of Wildcat sweeps in the regular season. Despite some of those results, Villanova is 20-4 in home conference games (an .833 winning percentage) over the last two years, going 10-2 against BIG EAST opponents at the VU Softball Complex in each of the last two campaigns.

THREE WILDCATS NAMED TO ALL-BIG EAST FIRST TEAM    

Villanova placed multiple players on the all-conference team for the ninth straight year as Kat Gallant, Maranda Runco and Kelsey White were all named to the All-BIG EAST First Team. It’s the first time since 2016 and just the third time in program history that the ‘Cats have seen three or more players named to the league’s top team, and VU was one of just two BIG EAST teams to have at least a trio of players selected to the First Team. White and Runco were selected for their first career postseason honors while Gallant followed up a second team nod from her freshman year for her second all-league laurel. White was a unanimous selection as the league’s top utility/pitcher with Gallant earning one of four first team pitcher slots and Runco slotting in as the conference’s top designated player in her first season as a starter.

A PEEK AT PROVIDENCE

• The Friars (22-29, 11-13 BIG EAST) earned their way into the tournament field as the sixth seed, edging out Seton Hall for the final spot thanks to a series victory over the Pirates in the first weekend of April.
• Elisa Smith is Providence’s top hitter and only field player on the All-BIG EAST team with 36 runs and a .383 batting average. Cameron Dunn contributes an OPS over 1.000 with a team-best eight homers plus 84 total bases and Gabriella Lee adds 44 hits and 16 stolen bases.
• The PC pitching staff features a number of talented arms, led by All-BIG EAST Second Team selection Tori Grifone’s 20 starts and 110 innings with a .249 average against her. Jessica Walter contributes a 3.58 ERA, Alyssa Twomey has 61 strikeouts in 24 appearances and Alannah Hopkins has pitched 18 times for the Friars.

The matchup, along with seven other BIG EAST Tournament contests to start the week, will stream courtesy of the BEDN on FloCollege with statistics on StatBroadcast.

Keep up with the Villanova University softball program through social media by following on X formerly known as Twitter (@VUSoftball) and Instagram (@novasoftball) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/VUSoftball).