VILLANOVA, Pa. – The 2025 Villanova softball season came to a close on Wednesday night, suffering a 13-10 defeat to Butler in the nightcap of day one at the BIG EAST Championship.

Ava Franz contributed a three-hit, three-run performance for Villanova (27-26-1) while Brooklyn Ostrowski totaled the first seven-RBI game for a VU player since 1990 with a two-homer outing.

Kelsey White added two runs on a pair of knocks with Elaina Wagner reaching twice on the evening (one hit, one walk, one run, one RBI).

Lexi Kobryn picked up the loss in three-plus innings as the starter while Kat Gallant went over two frames in the circle, striking out a pair of batters.

Just as in the first game, the Wildcats got started in a hurry with the game's first scores in the opening frame thanks to a slew of veterans. Franz doubled on the first pitch she saw and Wagner worked a walk before White scored Franz on a two-out single into left.

Ostrowski blasted the first pitch she saw out of the yard, clearing the wall and a leaping glove in center for a three-run dinger and a 4-0 Wildcat edge. 

Butler responded with a pair of runs on three straight hits to lead off the bottom half of the frame, but Kobryn battled back and induced a trio of flyouts to calm the storm and keep her team ahead 4-2.

Franz singled in the third and went station to station, getting to second on a grounder and third on a White sacrifice bunt then scored on an Ostrowski sacrifice fly to get up 5-2.

The Bulldogs responded with a run of their own as a bunt single and stolen base preceded a one-out double that scored the leadoff runner for a 5-3 ballgame.

BU took the lead in the fourth on a bases-clearing triple then piled on as a two-run dinger and five other hits granted Butler an eight-run inning and 11-5 advantage after four.

Franz and White stayed hot with singles in the fifth before Ostrowski put her second homer of the game out of the park to bring her squad back within 11-8.

Three straight singles put the Wildcats in business in the sixth with Runco's knock scoring pinch hitter Jaclyn Morra before Wagner plated Ava Mahnken to make it an 11-10 game in the sixth.

Butler snatched back a pair of runs with a four-hit sixth inning, going up three runs heading into the final stanza.

The Wildcats went three-up, three-down in the seventh, drawing the game to a 13-10 final.

UP NEXT: Villanova's season comes to a close, the first time under head coach Bridget Orchard that the Wildcats have failed to reach a BIG EAST final.