COLUMBUS, Ga. – Freshman Taylor Rolison and senior Becca Taylor each pitched a shutout on the first day of the Cougar Classic, as the University of West Florida swept Lander and Columbus State on Saturday. UWF took a 5-0 win over LU in the first game and a 6-0 victory in Game 2.
 
Second baseman Meghan Toney went 5-for-8 on the day with two runs scored, two RBI and two stolen bases, while Sara Spears, Caitlin Steel and Rachel Wright each collected three hits. Spears also scored twice and drove in two runs in her first career multi-RBI game, against CSU.
 
West Florida has now thrown four consecutive shutouts and has outscored its opponents 23-0 in those four games.
 
GAME 1: West Florida 5, Lander 0
Rolison pitched a gem in Game 1, striking out three and allowing Lander to tally just two hits. She retired the final eight batters she faced and got out of a potential jam in the fifth inning to preserve a 1-0 UWF lead. With runners on first and third, Rolison forced a flyout to left field that eventually resulted in a double play and struck out 2-hitter Reychel Webster to extinguish the threat. Rolison held the Bearcats without a hit for the final five innings.
 
The rookie has thrown complete games in each of her two starts and opponents are hitting just .102 against her this season.
 
Toney was an offensive standout in the game, going 4-4 with two runs and two steals. Those four hits were a single-game career best, and she finished the day hitting .667 (14-for-21) on the season.
 
Rhiannon Sassman started things off with a double in the top of the first, and Kathleen Smiley brought her in after a single from Toney moved Sassman to third. That gave UWF the 1-0 cushion it needed to eventually take the win.
 
The score stood at 1-0 until the sixth inning, when Toney led off with a single and stole second. She came around on a single up the middle from Smiley, giving the Pensacola native her team-high ninth RBI of the young season. Freshman Miranda Smith pinch-ran for Smiley and stole second before Rachel Wright singled to left field and brought the score to 3-0.
 
Sara Spears led off the seventh with a single, one of her three hits on the day. She stole second and advanced to third on Toney's fourth hit of the game, and Toney stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Jacey Castro.
 
Castro hit a sharp grounder to third and reached on an error, bringing in Spears and moving Toney to third. Toney scored on an illegal pitch just a batter later, tallying the final run of the game.
 
GAME 2: West Florida 6, Columbus State 0
Caitlin Steel went 3-for-3 in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader, driving in a run and scoring twice. Spears kept her bat hot, and Castro and Callan Taylor each recorded two hits and scored a run.
 
Becca Taylor was dominant in the circle, allowing just three hits to a Columbus State offense that was hitting .345 and scoring seven runs per game coming into the weekend. The senior walked just one batter and forced an impressive 15 groundouts.
 
She sat down the first 11 batters she faced before surrendering two singles in the bottom of the fourth inning. Taylor then retired five batters in a row before sitting down another five in a row to wrap up the game.
 
UWF took little time to get ahead, as Steel drove in Callan Taylor on a single to left field, and Spears singled to left-center to bring in Wright. Wright, a product of nearby Tate HS, contributed with a sacrifice fly in the third to put the score at 3-0, before Toney pulled a single through the right side in the fourth to make it 5-0.
 
That single scored Spears and Steel, and that duo was paired up again in the sixth when a Spears single drove in Steel for UWF's sixth run.
 
The tournament continues on Sunday with games against Lander and CSU at 11 am ET and 3 pm ET, respectively.