VALDOSTA, Ga. – Becca Taylor and the UWF defense cruised into the NCAA South Region Championship with two elimination-game wins on Friday, against frequent foes Shorter and Valdosta State. UWF has now played each of those teams six times on the year and is a combined 8-4 against them.
 
West Florida is slated to play Rollins in the regional final on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET at Steel's Diamond at Blazer Park, which will mark the first time that UWF has reached the regional championship since 2005. Because UWF is 2-1 in the tournament and Rollins is 2-0, the Argos will have to win two games on Saturday to advance to a Super Regional next week.
 
Before Thursday's matchup between UWF and the Tars, the pair had most recently faced off twice in the 2009 South Regional. Like it did on Thursday, Rollins took the first game of the tournament over West Florida. The Argonauts, however, bounced back a day later and defeated RC 3-2 to move on in the regional.
 
Taylor picked up her 16th and 17th wins of the season on Friday, scattering just 10 hits allowed over 14 innings and holding opponents on the day to a .189 batting average.
 
The top of the West Florida order stepped up after the Thursday loss to Rollins, as Emily Pettigrew, Meghan Toney and Rhiannon Sassman combined to go 10-for-20 with five of UWF's nine runs scored.
 
Game 1: West Florida 3, Shorter 1
The sixth matchup between UWF and Shorter turned out to be the most thrilling, as the Argonauts scored three runs in the top of the seventh to take the win in the first elimination game of the day.
 
The game was a typical pitcher's duel, with Becca Taylor holding Shorter to just three hits on the day and SU's Payton Lippert keeping West Florida to six hits and no runs through the first six innings. The Hawks picked up the first run of the day in the third inning, with a Kameron Carter single to center field scoring Niki Cook. The Argos battled against Lippert but struggled to string hits together.
 
Things finally clicked for West Florida in the seventh, when Meghan Toney and Rhiannon Sassman went back-to-back with one-out singles, bringing Kathleen Smiley to the plate with a runner in scoring position and a chance to tie the game. Smiley did just that, as she lifted a high liner over the head of Shorter right fielder Peyton Barthel to score Toney from second.
 
Tied 1-1, Kalyn Chapman hit a grounder to second base to bring in Sassman, and Rachel Wright followed with her 13th double of the season to give UWF an important insurance run and put the Argos up 3-1 with just a half-inning remaining.
 
Taylor dazzled in the circle, forcing 11 ground ball outs and allowing just five balls to reach the outfield. UWF bounced back defensively as well, following the game against Rollins on Thursday in which the Argos committed a season-high five errors.
 
The Panama City, Florida, native retired the final eight Hawks batters of the game en route to her 12th complete game of the season and her 17th game with one or fewer runs allowed.
 
Game 2: West Florida 6, Valdosta State 2
West Florida jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead on VSU starter Huntyre Elling, whom the Argonauts have given trouble to in all three of her starts this season. Including numbers from Friday's game, UWF has tagged Elling for a .364 average and 12 runs in just 14 innings, while drawing seven walks and striking out only four times.
 
The Argos' plate discipline paid dividends in that first inning, when Toney, Chapman and Wright each drew a walk, with Wright's bringing in Pettigrew to score. Jacey Castro then singled to right field to drive in a second run and put UWF up 2-0 after an inning of play.
 
Taylor was in the circle again for UWF and picked up exactly where she left off against Shorter. After getting her feet wet in a first inning that saw the Lady Blazers load the bases, Taylor retired 14 of the next 15 batters she faced, allowing only a single in the third inning to VSU third baseman Chelsea Canara.
 
UWF tacked on two more runs in the fifth, starting with a single from Caitlin Steel and a bunt from Pettigrew that led to a fielder's choice, giving West Florida two on with nobody out. Toney dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, and Sassman chopped a grounder toward Elling. Steel read the play quickly and hustled home to put UWF up 3-0. After Smiley drew a walk, Chapman came up with the bases loaded and lifted a high fly ball to left field that scored Pettigrew.
 
VSU got a run back in the sixth, but a two-out single up the middle from Toney to score Jacey Castro and Chelsy Krantz, who led off the inning with back-to-back singles.   
 
Valdosta State began to cause a little trouble in the top of the seventh, with a leadoff home run from catcher Lauren Shaw to cut UWF's lead to 6-2. Taylor then induced a flyout from Danielle Patterson, a groundout to second from Kiley Rusen and a groundout to second from Heather Robinson to end the game.