February 12, 2016 CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The University of West Florida softball team fell to Lee in both games of a Friday doubleheader in Cleveland, Tennessee, to open Gulf South Conference play. The Argos totaled nine runs on the day, just a day after sweeping Miles in a doubleheader in Birmingham. With the losses, UWF stands at 7-3 on the season with an 0-2 mark in the league.
Game 1: UWF 3, Lee 4The Argonauts' three errors proved to be costly, as two in the fifth inning and one in the sixth eventually led to two of Lee's four runs. Though Angie Hughes of the Lady Flames struck out eight, UWF was able to string together enough hits in the third to give itself a cushion.
The UWF offense sparked in the third when
Rachel Wright started a rally with a one-out walk. The next four Argos reached base, as
Meghan Toney doubled to move Wright over to third, and
Jacey Castro and
Kathleen Smiley hit back-to-back RBI singles.
Rhiannon Sassman doubled to bring in Castro and cap off the three-run inning.
West Florida held the lead until the sixth, when Lee tacked on two runs in addition to the two the Lady Flames added in the fifth. Lee's Lexie Dean came around to score the team's first run in the fifth on an Emily Dagnan single after advancing on consecutive wild pitches. Two UWF errors led to Dagnan coming around to score and cutting the Argo lead to one.
The Argos started a two-out rally in the sixth, with a
Kayla Rosario single, a
Chelsy Krantz walk and a
Caitlin Steel single all coming in succession. All runners were stranded, however, when Hughes forced a fly ball out to end the inning. In the home half of the sixth, Lee picked up its final two runs and took the 4-3 lead that the game ended on.
Becca Taylor went the distance for UWF, striking out and walking two in the effort. Each batter in the heart of the UWF order,
Jacey Castro,
Kathleen Smiley and
Rhiannon Sassman, drove in runs, while Castro, Wright and Toney each scored once.
Game 2: UWF 6, Lee 7Toney led UWF offensively with three hits and three runs scored in the second game. Her first came in the top of the fourth, with a single between third base and shortstop, and
Kathleen Smiley's second home run of the year drove her in just two batters later. With a 2-1 lead in the fourth, Lee struck with back-to-back hits from Hallie Davis and Courtney Crawford to tie it up. A UWF error then led to a second run of the inning coming in, and Lee held the lead until the end.
After the Lady Flames put up four in the fifth, UWF came back with two in the sixth and seventh innings, though the Argos fell just short.
Rachel Wright led off with a walk in the fifth, and Toney singled for a second time to put Wright in scoring position. Smiley then reached on a ground ball to shortstop that resulted in an error, and Sassman grounded out to first, scoring Wright in the process.
Emily Pettigrew picked up an RBI with a single one batter later, bringing Toney in for her second run of the afternoon.
The seventh started with a pinch-hit double from
Jessica Wilkinson through the left side. Krantz came in to run for Wilkinson and eventually scored on Castro's two-run double that also brought in Toney. Down one with two outs in the final frame, Smiley hit a cleanly fielded grounder to short to end it.
UWF will wrap up the series tomorrow with a single game beginning at noon.
For information on all UWF athletics, visit
www.GoArgos.com.
