PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team swept NAIA Lindenwood-Belleville on Wednesday, by scores of 12-0 and 3-2. Rhiannon Sassman, Emily Pettigrew and Kalyn Chapman each recorded multi-RBI games in the front end of the doubleheader, and UWF pitchers Sarah Maloney and Chapman struck out 10 batters in Game 2.
 
GAME 1: UWF 12, Lindenwood-Belleville 0 (5 innings)
Becca Taylor earned her ninth win of the season after going three perfect innings and striking out one. With the win, Taylor's ERA dropped to 1.57 and her opponents' batting average improved to .229 for the season. Kalyn Chapman came in relief of Taylor and kept up her streak of dominance in the circle. After striking out three in two scoreless innings, Chapman's ERA dropped to 1.75 on the year.
 
Taylor and Chapman rank fifth and sixth in the Gulf South Conference in ERA, making UWF the only team with two pitchers in the top six in ERA.
 
West Florida got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first after Meghan Toney, Rhiannon Sassman and Kathleen Smiley drew consecutive walks, and Sassman and Smiley came in on an Emily Pettigrew single to third. The Argonauts batted around in the third, picking up five runs on five hits and three walks.
 
Chelsy Krantz and Caitlin Steel led off the five-run second inning with back-to-back singles before Rachel Wright moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Sassman tallied the first two of her RBI in Game 1 with a sharp single through the right side, and Chapman brought in another run with a single just one batter later. Kayla Rosario drew a bases-loaded walk before Krantz picked up her second single of the inning, wrapping up the scoring in the second for UWF.
 
It was much of the same in the third for UWF, as Wright led off with a triple and Toney drove her in with a single. Sassman and Chapman each doubled to left field in the inning, resulting in an RBI for each batter. Pettigrew and Caitlin Steel both reached and runs would come in to score in each of their plate appearances.
 
GAME 2: UWF 3, Lindenwood-Belleville 2
Sarah Maloney got the Game 2 start, struck out four batters and allowed just one hit in 3 1/3 innings in the circle. She was in line for her fifth win of the season until Lindenwood struck for two runs in the fourth inning. Chapman came in relief again, going 3 2/3 and striking out six while allowing just one hit.
 
Chapman ranks third in the GSC in strikeouts with 70, while Maloney ranks ninth, with 34. The pair ranks third and fourth in the conference in strikeouts looking.
 
Wright was the lone player with two hits in the game, and Toney recorded one hit and drew two walks. Wright singled to lead off the bottom of the first and advanced to second and home on separate passed balls. Tori Wilkins led the second off with a double and came around to score on a double from Wright just two batters later, extending the UWF lead to 2-0 after the first two frames.
 
After Lindenwood evened things up in the top half of the fourth, Sara Spears led the bottom half off with a walk. Toney drew a walk to put a second runner on, and Sassman loaded the bases with a single. Smiley brought in the game-winning run with a sacrifice fly to center field.
 
UWF will visit No. 6 North Alabama in Florence, Alabama, over the weekend, with Saturday's doubleheader set to start at 2 p.m. and the series finale on Sunday will begin at 1 p.m.
 
For information on all UWF athletics, visit www.GoArgos.com.