VILLANOVA, Pa. – For the second straight day at the Villanova Softball Complex, the Wildcats and Creighton played in an extra inning affair. This time, it was Villlanova taking a 5-4 victory in 10 innings against the Bluejays with Ava Franz belting a walkoff homer in the tenth inning on Saturday afternoon.

Franz had a banner day at the plate for Villanova (11-13, 3-2 BIG EAST), totaling three hits and four RBI on the day including a pair of run-scoring singles and a dinger for the final tally.

Brooklyn Ostrowski scored a pair of runs on the afternoon with a single and a hit by pitch on her ledger while Maddie Burrows and Alexa Raphael each crossed the plate once.

Lexi Kobryn threw the first five innings as the starter for the Wildcats with Kat Gallant picking up her sixth win after five scoreless frames of relief and three strikeouts.

The Bluejays threatened to strike in the second inning, getting a leadoff single before a double found the gap and bounced to the wall. Creighton sent the runner home, but Franz tossed a dart to the plate to beat the runner and keep the game scoreless.

Elizabeth Gray became the first Villanova baserunner in the third, working a two-out walk though unable to get past first to keep zeros on the board.

CU broke the tie in the fourth, utilizing a trio of singles (a pair coming with two outs) to turn it into a 1-0 ballgame.

Maranda Runco snapped the Creighton no-hitter to kick off the home half of that frame, singling into left before an Ostrowski hit by pitch and Kelsey White base knock juiced the bags. 

Franz came up and ripped a ball at the shortstop, bouncing off her glove and into the outfield to score a pair and turn it into a 2-1 VU lead. 

That score changed on a dime with the Bluejays taking advantage of a fifth inning leadoff single and one-out error as a three-run homer gave CU a 4-2 edge.

Burrows laced a single into center to start off the next VU hacks and Ostrowski scored her from first with a shot into the outfield that glanced off a glove and to the wall to bring the 'Cats back within one. Franz came up again with a runner in scoring position and delivered, singling through the right side to drive in Ostrowski and make it a tied game at 4-4.

Creighton got a double to lead off its seventh inning swings, but Gallant fanned a pair of hitters and got a flyout to keep things level. The right-hander worked out of a leadoff hit again in the eighth and proceeded to not surrender another runner over the next nine hitters. 

The 'Cats couldn't get much going at the plate in the first two extras outside of a walk, so it came down to two outs in the bottom of the tenth with Franz at the dish. And the senior pulled through in a big way, belting a 3-2 pitch out of the yard to right center field for a walkoff dinger and 5-4 victory.

With the win, Villanova captures the season series over the Bluejays with one game still to play to wrap up the three-game set.