PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF softball team's Gulf South Conference Tournament championship win in 2019 was the program's first since 2005, and it kickstarted a thrilling postseason run that culminated in another appearance at the NCAA Championship later in May.
 
The conference title was West Florida's fourth, and it came in head coach Ashliegh McLean's first year at the helm.
 
"I think we were comfortable all weekend because we were at our own place and the girls were hyped the whole time," McLean said after the win. "It's really special. I've been here for a while as a player, all the way up to being the head coach. The girls earned it, the seniors here put in a lot of work to help turn this program around, so to see them walk away with a conference championship is just the beginning of the season for us."
 
West Florida was dominant all weekend – the pitching staff allowed just three runs over four games and the offense averaged seven runs per contest in the tournament, while picking up run-rule wins over Delta State and Valdosta State. The title matchup – a 4-1 win over West Georgia – was as complete a game as UWF played all year.
 
Jacquelynne Poling delivered a base-clearing double in the third inning to give the Argonauts a 3-0 lead, and Callan Taylor added another insurance run in the fifth to put UWF ahead 4-0.
 
"I was just thinking that I needed to pick up the team," Poling said about her at-bat. "I just went up ready to swing at anything that was good, especially with the bases loaded."
 
That would be more than enough support for pitchers Grace Gilbert and Kelsey Sweatt, who combined to allow just five hits and one run against West Georgia.
 
Gilbert retired eight of the last nine batters she faced, and Sweatt entered in the sixth to hold on to the lead. The sixth inning ended with a diving stop from Gilbert, then playing second base, and Sweatt struck out UWG's Madison Slappey to end the game and give UWF the win.
 
UWF ended the weekend with the best batting average (.362), best ERA (0.88), most hits (34), most runs (28), and most strikeouts in the circle (24) among all teams in the tournament.
 
Sweatt also earned the tournament's Most Outstanding Player honors, after spinning a 0.50 ERA over 14 innings with 18 strikeouts and two walks.