DePaul University Athletics
DePaul University
Villanova
Successful Home Opener for Blue Demons
3/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | SOFTBALL
Box Score: DePaul 3, Villanova 0 
CHICAGO - Welcome home to the friendly confines of Cacciatore Stadium.
After a long stretch of 28 games away from Lincoln Park, the Blue Demons celebrated their home opener with a 3-0 BIG EAST victory over Villanova on Friday to commence the conference season.
Winning pitcher Morgan Maize was in control the whole way, scattering four hits with the lone extra-base hit a double by the Wildcats' Brittany Husk. Maize struck out four in outdueling Villanova ace Kate Poppe.
"I've been working on having more trust with my pitches," said Maize who improved to 9-12 on the season. "It was a process where I kept their batters off balance with riseballs and dropballs. I also had trust in my defense to make the plays behind me.
"I usually have a lot of nervous energy, and my goal is to get past the fifth inning. Once I saw how our defense was doing, I was able to pitch to contact and let my teammates make the plays."
DePaul (9-20, 1-0) took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after base hits from Naomi Tellez, Sabrina Kuchta and Nicole Pihl loaded the bases for Ellie Forkin's clutch pinch-hit RBI single. With the bags still jammed, Dylan Christensen took one for the team and her hit-batsman brought in the second run.
The Blue Demons added an insurance run in the fifth after Maize walked, advanced to third on Megan Leyva's double to right and came home courtesy of a Tellez sacrifice fly.
"You saw what Morgan is capable of doing, pitching over the two errors," said DePaul coach Eugene Lenti. "Everybody picked somebody else up. Morgan picked up the defense when we needed it. Ellie had a big hit off the bench."
Dropping the first game of the doubleheader left Villanova with a 9-11 record, 0-1 in conference.
