ROME, Ga. – The University of West Florida softball team fell in both games of its doubleheader with Shorter University Saturday afternoon. The Argonauts (15-27, 7-18 GSC) lost game one 8-0 in five innings, and fell short of a comeback in game two 5-3.
 
Game 1: West Florida 0, Shorter 8 (5 Innings)
 
Shorter jumped to an early lead over the Argos by scoring four runs in the first inning and added another run in the second to lead UWF 5-0 after two. West Florida struggled at the plate all game and were held to just two hits in the game. The Hawks extended their lead to 8-0 with two runs in the fourth and completed the run rule with the games winning run in the fifth.
 
Senior Jenna Belser (Chipley, Fla./Holmes County HS) and junior Emily Pettigrew (Navarre, Fla./Pensacola State College) registered the only hits for UWF after each went 1-for-2 in the game.
 
Becca Taylor (Panama City, Fla./Rutherford HS) was credited with the loss after going one inning and junior Lauren Register (Vernon, Fla./Vernon HS) followed with three innings allowing three runs on three hits and totaled three strikeouts.
 
Game 2: West Florida 3, Shorter 5
 
Once again Shorter was the first team to get on the scoreboard but were limited to just one run in the first inning. The Argos got on the scoreboard for the first time in the third inning when Belser drove in Bianca Lopez (Stuttgart, Germany/Patch American HS) on a sacrifice fly. West Florida took their first lead of the day in the fifth inning after Meghan Toney (Huntsville, Ala./Madison County HS) drove in two runs and put UWF up 3-1.
 
However, Shorter responded with a four run bottom of the fifth and retook the lead over the Argos, 5-3. UWF had two runners on in the sixth inning, but failed to produce a timely hit and left runners on second and third. The Hawks would go on to shutout UWF in the seventh inning and take the 5-3 victory.
 
Leading things at the plate for the Argos was Toney who finished the game 3-for-4 and two RBI. Lopez scored two runs for UWF and went 2-for-3 at the plate.
 
Taylor was in the circle once again for UWF and went 4.1 innings, gave up nine hits and five earned runs, while striking out three batters to earn the loss.
 
West Florida and Shorter will wrap up the three game series with a single game tomorrow, slated to start at 1 p.m. ET.
 
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.