COLUMBUS, Ga. – The University of West Florida softball team improved to 8-1 on the year with two more wins at the Cougar Classic on Sunday. The first win came against Lander, a 5-2 decision, and the second was an 8-4 victory over tournament host Columbus State.
 
West Florida was led offensively by Meghan Toney, who capped off her weekend with two more multi-hit games and had 10 hits and four stolen bases in the four-game tournament.
 
Jacey Castro was another major factor in UWF's offense, which averaged six runs per game. The senior from Chuluota, Florida, led the team with five runs scored, two doubles, a home run, five RBI, 12 total bases and an .857 slugging percentage.
 
The Argonaut pitching staff held Lander and CSU to just six total runs on Saturday and Sunday. Opponents hit just .137 against the UWF staff.
 
GAME 1: West Florida 5, Lander 2
Toney kept hitting in Game 1, going 3-for-4 with a run, an RBI and two stolen bases. She wraps up the two games against Lander with an .875 batting average (7-8), three runs, an RBI and four stolen bases in as many tries. She is now 24-for-25 in stole base tries in her career.
 
Becca Taylor threw a complete game for the second consecutive outing, allowing just four hits and a walk across her seven innings of work. While Taylor allowed two runs, both were unearned and she saw her season ERA drop to 2.73 after beginning the weekend at 6.00.
 
She has issued just four walks in 25.2 innings this season, giving her an impressive walk rate of 1.09 per seven. Taylor allowed just one hit over her final four innings of work on Sunday, and she retired eight batters in a row from the fourth through seventh innings.
 
Things were squared up at 0-0 until the 3rd inning, when Lander struck for a run. West Florida got it right back in the bottom half, however, when Jacey Castro singled up the middle to score Toney.
 
Holding the 1-1 tied, Rhiannon Sassman and Meghan Toney led off the fifth inning with back-to-back singles, before they each advanced on a wild pitch. Castro reached on an error, and Kathleen Smiley singled through the right side to score Sassman. Just two batters later, Rachel Wright ripped a single into center field and brought in Toney for what ultimately turned into the game-winner.
 
UWF capped up the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning after Sara Spears led off with a triple, her first career extra-base hit. After getting off to a bit of a slow start in the season's first weekend, Spears has gone 4-for-7 with that triple, three runs, two RBI, one walk and a stolen base in the Cougar Classic.
 
With Spears on third, Toney grounded out to short to score the run and give UWF a 4-1 lead. Castro lifted a two-out double into left center field and Smiley hit a comebacker that deflected off Lander pitcher McKenzi Ferguson and scored Castro.
 
GAME 2: West Florida 8, Columbus State 4
West Florida got out to a quick 1-0 lead, when a single from Castro scored Sassman, after the sophomore led the game off with a single. It marked Castro's eighth RBI of the season and Sassman's team-best 11th run scored.
 
The bottom of the first got off to an unfavorable start, as Sarah Maloney clipped leadoff Keely Waugh. Calli Star dropped a bunt on the next pitch and reached when Caitlin Steel's throw was a touch high. Both runners advanced after miscommunication from the Argonaut defense.
 
West Florida quickly shaped up, however, as Sassman fielded a grounder from McKenzie Fagioli to keep the runners stuck at second and third, and Maloney got swinging strikeouts from Kia Smith and Kayleigh Bryant to end the inning unharmed.
 
UWF seemed to use that jam in the first as motivation to keep things going in the second, as Tiona Hill led off with her second double of the year. Caitlin Steel moved her to third with a sacrifice bunt and Sara Spears brought her in with a grounder to first to put the UWF lead at 2-0. The RBI was Spears' third of the year.
 
Columbus State bounced back with a 3-spot in the bottom of the second, coming on three hits and two walks to take a 3-2 lead after two innings.
 
Toney and Castro led off the third with singles and each advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch to bring up Rachel Wright with two away. Wright ripped a single into center field, scoring both runners and giving UWF a 4-3 lead. UWF made the lead 5-3 in the fourth, when Toney picked up her second hit of the day. That marked the junior's sixth multi-hit game in nine contests this season.
 
CSU fought back and cut the deficit to a run in the bottom half of the inning, but singles from Callan Taylor and Wright to lead off the top of the fifth put the UWF lead back at two. With two on and no outs, Tiona Hill dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt and Steel drove Taylor in with a line drive into left to put the score at 6-4.
 
Castro picked up her second and third RBIs of the day in the sixth inning, when she drove a two-run home run over the fence in left center field that scored her and Sassman to put the score at the final 8-4.
 
Maloney finished the day with five strikeouts and just four hits allowed, putting her opponents' batting average for the year at an even .100.
 
West Florida will open its home schedule and the conference season next weekend with a three-game set against Mississippi College at the UWF Softball Complex.