TAMPA - On a day honoring the University of South Florida softball team's five senior starters, it only seemed fitting those seniors play a deciding factor in the game.
Seniors collected four of the Bulls' six hits, including a game-winning double off the bat of Alexis Nowell as No. 17 USF (44-8 overall, 16-3 Big East) completed the sweep of Villanova with a 3-2 win to finish the regular season with a 29-2 record at home.
Tied at two in the bottom of the seventh, Jessica Mouse led off with a singeing liner back up the middle, and moved to second on Laura Fountain's sacrifice bunt. With two outs and a full count to Nowell, the senior second baseman blasted a double that one-hopped the fence in left-center, bringing home Mouse to send USF into a senior day walk-off celebration.
The Wildcats used three walks and a wild pitch to take the early lead in the second, a lead which would hold for the first half of the game.
USF battled back with a run in the fourth, collecting back-to-back one-out singles from Janine Richardson and Kourtney Salvarola. Richardson would score on Jessica Mouse's suicide squeeze bunt to tie things up.
The Bulls manufactured one more run in the fifth without collecting a hit. Courtney Goff pinch-ran for Alexis Nowell after USF's second baseman was hit by a pitch. Goff advanced to second on a groundout, stole third, and scampered home with the go-ahead run as the throw to third from the Villanova catcher sailed into left field.
Down to their last out in the seventh, the Wildcats pieced together a hit batter and two singles before scoring on an errant throw to extend the game.
Sophomore pitcher Sara Nevins pitched the final three innings for the Bulls, allowing just two hits and no earned runs to pick up her 25th win. Sam Greiner started and threw one-plus innings, allowing one run but no hits. Lindsey Richardson pitched three scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits.
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