GAME 1 BOX
GAME 2 BOX
 
GULF SHORES, Ala. – The West Florida softball team opened the 2016 season with a split on the first day of the Gulf Coast Invitational at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex Friday.
 
UWF (1-1) opened the day with a solid 6-1 win over Tuskegee before falling to No. 7 Missouri-St. Louis, 8-6, in the evening contest. The Tritons won 48 games a year ago and ended the regular season as the No. 1 team in the country.
 
Newcomers stood out for UWF on the first day of the season, as Jacey Castro, Kathleen Smiley and Rhiannon Sassman went a combined 7-20 (.350) in the two games with six RBI and six runs scored. Castro and Smiley each homered, while Sassman reached five times on the day with a double, a triple and a walk in Game 2.
 
Game 1: UWF 6, Tuskegee 1
Kathleen Smiley hit her first career home run and drove in two as the Argos combined for eight hits in a 6-1 win over Tuskegee. Jacey Castro had a team-high two hits.
 
UWF got on the board first, going up 1-0 on a solo home run by redshirt freshman Kathleen Smiley.
 
The Argos put the game out of reach an inning later when they plated four unearned runs on two hits and benefitted from two Tuskegee errors. Smiley added her second RBI of the game on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that allowed Rachel Wright to come home. Meghan Toney scored on a Rhiannon Sassman single to right. Sassman then stole second and scored a batter later to make it 5-0 UWF.
 
UWF scored its final run of the game in the fifth when Sassman scored on a Chelsy Krantz double to deep center.
 
The 5-0 cushion gave starter Becca Taylor (1-0) more than enough support, as she went four innings and struck out four while scattering three singles. The junior retired 11 consecutive Tigers at one point.
 
Acey Spence (0-1) took the loss for the Tigers after allowing five runs on six hits in four innings.
 
Game 2: No. 7 Missouri-St. Louis 8, UWF 6
West Florida battled No. 7 UMSL in the second game of the day. Starting pitcher Kalyn Chapman walked the first batter she faced before retiring five of her next six, which included two strikeouts. Chapman ran into trouble in the third, however, as UMSL scratched across eight runs on five hits and two errors in the inning.
 
Chapman got three of those runs back in the top of the fourth, as she hit the second home run of her career at UWF and cut the deficit to five.
 
Sarah Maloney came in to relieve Chapman and went 3.2 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and striking out two Tritons. Between the day's two games, Maloney went 6.2 innings and allowed just one run while striking out seven batters in relief.
With things looking grim in the top of the seventh and the Argos down 8-3, freshman Rachel Wright started a two-out rally with a double to the gap in right-center. Fellow freshman Tori Wilkins followed that with seven-pitch walk, and Castro tacked on three runs with a home run to deep center field. Smiley approached the plate with the score 8-6 and drove a deep fly to center that was caught at the wall for the final out.
 
The freshman Sassman stood out offensively for UWF, as she drove a double into the right-centerfield gap in the second inning, drew a walk in the fourth and tripled down the left field line in the sixth. Sassman reached base a team-best five times on the day.
 
West Florida challenged two-time All-American pitcher Hannah Perryman all night, scratching out six runs on six hits and four walks, including the home runs from Chapman and Castro.
 
UWF will return to action on Saturday with two more games at the Sportsplex. The Argos will face Young Harris at 10:00 a.m. and Flagler at 2:30 p.m.