Regular Season Closes For Softball With Providence Series

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The 2025 regular season will end this weekend for Villanova softball (24-24-1, 12-9 BIG EAST) as the Providence Friars come to town for a three-game series at the VU Softball Complex that’s pivotal for conference tournament berths.

PREPARING FOR PROVIDENCE 

It’s a critical BIG EAST weekend for both teams playing at the Villanova Softball Complex this weekend when the Providence Friars come to the Main Line for the regular season finale. Both teams are fighting for a berth at next week’s BIG EAST Tournament with just one game separating these two squads in the standings. The Wildcats and Friars have met on nearly 90 occasions all-time with Villanova owning 25 more wins than PC, including a 14-W edge at home and victories in the last 14 contests of the series. VU has swept the last four series matchups with Providence, including the 2024 bouts at Glay Field. The ‘Cats picked up a pair of run-rule victories to bookend that weekend with a 4-1 Friday win rounding out the set.

CELEBRATING THE SENIORS    

The regular season comes to a close this weekend in college softball, so it’s time for the Wildcats to officially honor their seniors. Villanova will recognize their four-person senior class in a pregame ceremony on Saturday, slated to begin at 11:50 a.m. on the field at the VU Softball Complex. The ‘Cats will recognize seniors Ava Franz, Alexa Raphael, Elaina Wagner and Kelsey White, a class that has won over 125 games and a pair of league titles in addition to appearing in six NCAA Tournament games. This group has combined for over 380 hits, 270 runs and 250 RBI while White alone has racked up more than 300 innings and 180 strikeouts in the circle. Raphael has been critical as a pinch runner and depth outfielder, Franz is a two-time All-BIG EAST selection whose name is all over the record books, White has won a pair of BIG EAST All-Tournament Team nods as a two-way player and Wagner had a breakout all-conference junior year before serving as a team captain in 2025.

THE BOOK ON THE BIG EAST STANDINGS    

It’ll be a dramatic weekend to close BIG EAST regular season play as three spots remain up for grabs in the conference tournament. St. John’s and Connecticut have locked up the top two seeds and first round byes as none of the others can catch those two, but the Red Storm and Huskies will compete at UConn this weekend for the league’s regular season title. Butler is the team on bye this week, stuck at 14-10 in league play which is good enough to lock in a bid but the seed line is still up in the air. Beyond that, it’s four teams competing for three spots, and all four play another team still in contention. Villanova is currently in fourth at 12-9 and two victories over PC would lock in a spot, but VU winning just one means it’s tiebreaker time. Creighton and Seton Hall are currently in fifth and sixth but the Bluejays and Pirates play each other and will need some wins to earn another week together.

FEELING OUT THE FRIARS

• Providence owns a 22-26 overall record, but is right in the BIG EAST Tournament hunt with an 11-10 mark in conference. The Friars own series wins over Creighton, Seton Hall and Georgetown as well as DePaul (a sweep), but haven’t played a BIG EAST game since April 17 due to last week being PC’s bye.
• Elisa Smith is Providence’s top hitter with 57 hits, 36 runs and a .388 batting average. Cameron Dunn adds an OPS over 1.000 with a team-best eight homers and 80 total bases, Gabriella Lee contributes 41 hits and 15 stolen bases and Emma Douma leads the team with 11 doubles on the campaign.
• The PC pitching staff features a number of talented arms, led by Tori Grifone’s 18 starts and 105 innings with a .243 average against her. Jessica Walter contributes a 2.91 ERA, Alyssa Twomey has 54 strikeouts in 22 appearances and Alannah Hopkins has pitched 16 times for the Friars.

All three matchups will stream on FloCollege with statistics courtesy of StatBroadcast. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. on Friday, 12:15 p.m. on Saturday due to Senior Day festivities and 12:00 p.m. for Sunday’s regular season finale.

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).