PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Villanova University softball team is rolling.
The 11-7 Wildcats have won eight straight games and sit at a perfect 3-0 in the Big East. A big reason for this success is the play of senior pitcher and first baseman Paige Rauch.
Rauch has been elite throughout her career at both the plate and on the mound on the Main Line. She recently tied the Villanova career home run record (34) and she is a career .421 hitter.
On the mound, she has a career 30-17 record with a fine 2.74 ERA, averaging more than a strikeout per inning. In 2021, she has a .379 average and four home runs in 18 games, with a 6-2 pitching record and 2.85 ERA.
So, given her success in both realms, does she consider herself a hitter who can pitch or a pitcher who can hit?
"In my mind, just because I enjoy hitting more and originally I got recruited for hitting, I think I'm a hitter who can pitch," Rauch laughed. "I feel like it's usually the opposite."
Senior Paige Rauch has enjoyed an extraordinary career playing softball at Villanova.Villanova University Athletics
Softball has been a big part of Rauch's life for years, but she remembered a time when she realized she was going to take it farther than most.
"I joined a very serious travel ball team in eighth grade and I played 18U in eighth grade," she said. "So you're 12 or 13 in eighth grade. So that's when I really knew that I had an opportunity to play the sport that I love in college."
Rauch started her college career at Fordham before transferring to Villanova, and she truly enjoys being a Wildcat.
"Just the family and the community here within athletics, it just means so much to be not even a Villanova softball player, but an athlete at Villanova," she added.
Rauch and the Wildcats will return to action on Saturday with a doubleheader against Saint Joseph's University.
