NOTES
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Christian Brothers will be visiting the University of West Florida Softball Complex for a three-game set against the Argonauts on Sunday and Monday. Due to inclement weather in the forecast, the series' doubleheader will begin at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon, and the series finale is scheduled for Monday with first pitch at noon.
 
West Florida has won 12 games in a row dating back to March 7 and brings a 22-8 overall record and an 8-7 mark in the Gulf South Conference to the weekend series. All three games will feature live stats and a live video broadcast, and the links to each can be found at GoArgos.com/live.
 
The team will also be celebrating Alumni Day on Sunday. The event will begin at 1 pm on the Party Deck behind the third base dugout at Jim Spooner Field.
 
Some Christian Brothers Facts

• It's been a rough season for CBU so far, but the Lady Bucs have not been without some great performances from individual players. Kylie Steagall and Amber Johnson have been major contributors at the top of the lineup, hitting .369 with a .461 on-base percentage and two home runs and hitting .365 with five stolen bases, respectively.
• UWF is 15-2 against CBU since 2012.

 
We've Won 12 in a Row

• UWF extended its winning streak to 12 games with a clean sweep over West Georgia last weekend. Rhiannon Sassman brought home Gulf South Conference Player of the Week honors after hitting .700 with two home runs, and Becca Taylor threw 10 scoreless innings.
• The Argonauts have hit .352 and slugged an impressive .522 over the 12-game stretch with 22 stolen bases in 26 tries. Six players are hitting over .300 and nine players have at least one extra-base hit. Caitlin Steel's .519 batting average leads the team, while Sassman has slugged a team-best .800. Jacey Castro and Sassman each have 11 RBI during the streak, while Castro has also added a team-high 20 hits and five doubles.
• While West Florida's pitching staff has been strong all season, it has improved in every way over the last 12 games. Becca Taylor, Sarah Maloney and Taylor Rolison have pitched to a combined 0.88 ERA over 80 innings, with 68 strikeouts and a .205 opponent batting average. Taylor has thrown 35 innings to a 0.80 ERA with 6 wins, Rolison has struck out 10 over 9.2 innings, and Maloney has struck out 33 in 28.1 frames.

 
Rhiannon Sassman, Player of the Week

• The Gulf South Conference named West Florida shortstop Rhiannon Sassman the league's Softball Player of the Week on Tuesday, following her performance against West Georgia last weekend.
• The Orlando, Florida, native led UWF with a .700 batting average, six runs scored, seven hits, two home runs, a .750 on-base percentage and a 1.400 slugging percentage in the weekend sweep. Her week literally could not have started any better, as she reached base in her first nine plate appearances of the series, going 7-7 with two home runs, a walk and a hit by pitch in Saturday's doubleheader. She also reached each time at the plate in the series finale against Alabama Huntsville two weekends ago and in her first plate appearance on Sunday against UWG, to stretch that on-base streak to 13 consecutive plate appearances.
• There has been no sophomore slump for Sassman, who ranks 10th in Division II and leads the GSC with four triples through the halfway point in the season. She also ranks fourth in walks (18), fifth in on-base percentage (.523), runs scored (31), and hitting (.422), and sixth in slugging (.711). She also leads UWF in each of those categories.
• She has been even better during West Florida's 12-game winning streak, which dates back to March 7. In that time, Sassman has hit .457 with 12 runs, four doubles, two home runs, 11 RBI and a .800 slugging percentage.

 
The Pitching, Wow

• Perhaps the biggest improvement in UWF's performance during the 12-game winning streak has been in the circle. The staff, made up of Becca Taylor, Sarah Maloney and Taylor Rolison, has put together a 0.88 ERA with four shutouts and a .205 opponent batting average during the run.

• That's not to say UWF pitching has struggled this year, as the Argonauts rank second in the Gulf South Conference in opponent batting average, strikeout rate, ERA and strikeout to walk ratio. West Florida is the only GSC team with three pitchers in the league's top 10 in opposing batting average.
• Taylor has led UWF during the streak with a 0.67 ERA and five complete games in seven starts, holding the opposition to a .180 batting average and allowing just six walks in 42 innings. Maloney has put together a 1.24 ERA with a 4-0 record in five starts and has struck out more than a batter per inning, and Rolison has held opponents to a .200 batting average and struck out 10 in 9.2 innings.
• West Florida is ninth in DII with nine shutouts on the year, and Taylor is 17th in the country with 12 wins. That total for Taylor leads the GSC, Maloney leads the conference in strikeouts per seven innings (7.8) and ranks fourth in the conference in hits allowed per seven innings (5.52). Rolison ranks in the top 10 in the league in strikeouts per seven innings (6.6; 5th) and in hits allowed per seven (5.73; 5th).

 
#GuardTheFork

• While UWF struggled against Mississippi College to open the home schedule in February, things have started to take their usual form at the UWF Softball Complex and West Florida has improved to 11-4 at home. In 2016, West Florida put together one of the best home records in the GSC, at 15-4. The Argonauts finished the year with .789 winning percentage at "The Fork" and is 183-94 (.661) at home since 2009.
• A few individuals have posted better numbers at home than on the road this year. Caitlin Steel, who is riding a nine-game hitting streak, has hit .414 at The Fork this year, Jacey Castro has hit .396 with three doubles, and she is tied with Tiona Hill and Callan Taylor for the team lead with nine RBI at home.
• Hill and Rhiannon Sassman have each gone 15-42 (.357) at The Fork with 23 total bases and slugged .548. Sassman's .472 on-base percentage has led UWF, as have her 10 runs scored and 10 walks.
• Callan Taylor has slugged .600 at home, which leads the team, and her on-base percentage of .471 and 8 walks rank second.
• The pitching stood out for West Florida in Pensacola's friendly confines last year, as Argonauts posted a 1.51 ERA and allowed opponents to bat just .195.

 
Jacey Castro Lately

• Senior Jacey Castro has hit .418 since moving to the leadoff spot at the beginning of the North Alabama series earlier this month. In that time, she leads UWF in hits (23), doubles (5), home runs (2), RBI (11) and total bases (34). Castro leads UWF with 14 multi-hit games this season.
• Her statline continued to get better in the West Georgia series. She hit .538 (7-13) with a 1.154 slugging percentage over the three-game set.

 
Wright-ing the Ship

• Sophomore Rachel Wright continued her hot-hitting ways against West Georgia, going 3-9 with 7 RBI, a double and a home run. She saw her batting average jump 33 points in the weekend series against UAH with a pair of multi-hit games. UWF's starting center fielder went 4-for-7 in the series with a run scored, an RBI and a double.
• Wright accomplished something similar in her freshman campaign during the last month of the regular season and through the GSC Tournament. From the series against Union that started on April 2 until the end of the conference tournament on April 30, Wright boosted her batting average 31 points and hit .417 with four doubles, five home runs and 18 RBI in 18 games.

 
Caitlin Steel on a Tear

• Like Wright, UWF catcher Caitlin Steel entered the week of March 7 on a bit of a cold streak. She has been as good as ever over the last three weeks, hitting .519 (14-27) with three stolen bases against Alabama Huntsville and going 5-9 at West Georgia with two doubles and a triple. She has seen her season batting average jump from .293 to .382 over the last 12 games.
• Also like Rachel Wright, Steel thrived in the month of April last year, hitting .383 with four doubles and five stolen bases. She made headlines last year by being the second-toughest strikeout in DII.