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ROSEMONT, Ill. – Second-seeded DePaul concluded Friday’s BIG EAST Softball Championship, presented by Jeep semifinal action by knocking off No. 3 seed Villanova by a score of 4-0. The Blue Demons advance to the BIG EAST title game Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET, where they are set to match up against top seed St. John’s. The championship game will be broadcast on FS2 with Bob Holtzman as play-by-play, Dave Bernhard as color analyst and Matt Schumacker as sideline reporter.
After dropping a 3-0 conference series to Villanova in the regular season, DePaul was focused on redemption. The Blue Demons took an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the first. Dylan Christensen gave the Blue Demons their first baserunner of the game with a one-out walk while BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Jessica Cothern singled up the middle and then Nicole Pihl found the right center gap on a scorching line-drive triple.
DePaul cushioned its lead with a run in the third frame off an RBI triple to right center from Megan Leyva, making it 3-0.
Villanova would look to answer but would not be able to find the necessary hits. The Wildcats would collect two hits in 24 at-bats.
Following a pair of shutdown innings, DPU closed out the game with an insurance run in the six.
In the circle, freshman pitcher Missy Zoch delivered an ace, striking out four and allowing zero runs over seven complete innings. The hurler improves to 13 wins this season. BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year Brette Lawrence would take the loss for the Wildcats, surrendering seven hits over six innings.
With the victory, DePaul improves to 28-21 overall. Earlier this season, the Blue Demons claimed a 2-1 conference series over St. John’s with scores of 10-3, 10-7 and 3-5.