PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF softball team reached the 40-win mark for the first time since 2010 after going 1-1 to complete its run in the Gulf South Conference Tournament on Saturday. UWF picked up the win in an elimination game early in the afternoon over Shorter and dropped a nail-biter against Valdosta State shortly after.
 
UWF will find out on Monday morning if its season will get extended when the NCAA announces the 16 four-team regionals. The selection show will be streamed live on NCAA.com/live at 9 a.m. CT.
 
Friday and Saturday's action was delayed by inclement weather, as UWF was originally scheduled to play Shorter on Friday afternoon in an elimination game. With more rain on the way on Saturday, West Florida saw the game against Shorter moved back an hour from its original start time, and it was eventually moved from North Alabama's home field to the Florence Sportsplex. Game 2 against VSU also took place at the Sportsplex.
 
West Florida played 40 total innings over five games in the GSC Tournament, scoring 29 runs and hitting .333 with nine home runs as a team. With its 3-2 record in the tournament, UWF augmented its single-season improvement from 2015 to 18 games, which ranks as the 13th-best turnaround in Division II history.
 
Freshmen Kathleen Smiley and Rachel Wright led West Florida with three hits on the final day of the competition. Wright hit two home runs in the game against Shorter, which gave her three this week, and Smiley's longball against Valdosta State was her second this week and seventh this year. Team highs in the tournament included Smiley's nine RBIs, three home runs each from Wright and Kalyn Chapman and Wright's 10 hits.
 
In all, UWF faced Shorter five times in an eight-day, Saturday-to-Saturday span. The Argos took the last two, both of which came in the GSC Tournament. The five games went a total of 45 innings.
 
GAME 1: West Florida 6, Shorter 4
It looked like Smiley might have had her second home run of the week in the first inning against Shorter, as she hit a deep fly ball that was caught by SU centerfielder Tiffany Holland as she reached and fell over the temporary fence at the Florence Sportsplex.
 
Wright broke the scoreless tie in the second inning with a deep shot to center field that easily cleared Holland's reach. West Florida picked up another run in the third, giving the Argonauts a 2-0 lead, when Chapman hit a sharp grounder to shortstop that could not be handled by Shorter's Kendall Johnson and allowed Meghan Toney to score.
 
Kameron Carter cut into the UWF lead with a solo home run to left field in the fourth inning, giving her 15 on the year. Johnson struck for a run in the fifth to tie the game with a single to left field.
 
The teams traded zeroes in the sixth and the West Florida offense blew up for a four-spot in the top of the seventh. Emily Pettigrew kicked off the inning with a bunt single toward third, and Toney moved her to second with a groundout. Rhiannon Sassman hammered a single up the middle against Shorter reliever Payton Lippert to put runners on first and third, and Smiley followed that by lifting a single into right field for the first run of the frame.
 
Two batters later, Wright connected again for her second home run of the game. This one was a three-run shot for the Cantonment, Florida, native that put UWF up 6-2, and it marked her second two-home run game of the season.
 
Shorter battled back in the bottom half, scoring two runs on a double to right field from Holland. With two on and one out, Becca Taylor induced groundouts from Carter and Ericka Bynum to end the game and give UWF a 6-4 win.
 
GAME 2: Valdosta State 5, West Florida 4
Game 2 got off to a bit of a rough start, as UWF recorded three lineouts in the top of the first and VSU shortstop Jamie Phillips lifted a home run to left-center to lead off the bottom half.
 
West Florida bounced right back in the top of the second, starting with back-to-back singles from Wright and Jacey Castro. Chelsy Krantz followed with a 10-pitch at-bat that resulted in a sharp grounder to shortstop that Phillips did not handle, and Wright came across to tie the game.
 
Offense was limited for both sides for the next three innings, and UWF and VSU totaled just two combined hits from the third through fifth innings. Toney led off the sixth with a walk to get a quick rally started for West Florida, and Smiley drilled her second home run of the week to left center field to give UWF a 3-1 lead.
 
Valdosta tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth to put the score at 4-3 in its favor. UWF charged back in the seventh, with Krantz singling up the middle to lead off the inning and Caitlin Steel drawing a walk to put two on. Pettigrew reached on a fielder's choice, but Krantz was thrown out at third for the first out of the inning. Sassman was hit by a pitch three batters later to load the bases with Steel on third and Pettigrew on second.
 
With two outs and the bases loaded, Smiley approached the plate, already with a home run to her credit on the day. A 2-0 fastball from Huntyre Elling went over the head of catcher Lauren Shaw, allowing Steel to take home and tie the game at 4-4.
 
VSU took the win in the bottom of the seventh, when Heather Robinson drew a bases-loaded walk.