PENSACOLA, Fla. – Timely hitting, plate discipline and a strong pitching performance from Sarah Maloney were the keys to a Game 2 win over No. 23 North Alabama on Saturday afternoon for the University of West Florida softball team. UWF now stands at 10-7 on the year with a 2-6 record in the Gulf South Conference.
 
West Florida softball team picked up its second win over a ranked team of the year with the victory in the backend of the doubleheader, after falling 5-0 in Game 1.
 
Jacey Castro had the day's only multi-hit game, picking up two in the second half of the day, and Rhiannon Sassman stretched her on-base streak to 17 games and has reached in every game this season.
 
Game 2 marked Maloney's third complete game of the season and she allowed just one hit over seven innings.
 
GAME 1: UWF 0, No. 23 UNA 5
It was tough sledding for UWF in the front end of the doubleheader, as the team could muster just two hits in seven innings against Hillary Carpenter. The first came from Kathleen Smiley in the second inning, when she lifted a ball into right field that fell between Sabrina Gilliam and Shelby Woodard. The second was from Sara Spears, who hit a sharp grounder up the middle in the sixth.
 
It was a strong performance from last year's All-South Region Pitcher of the Year, who struck out just two and walked two in the game.
 
It was an uncharacteristically tough day for Becca Taylor, who walked five batters and surrendered seven hits. Still, Taylor showed flashes of excellence, as she retired seven UNA batters in a row from the end of the first through the third inning.
 
North Alabama tacked on a couple of runs in the fourth and fifth innings, after scoring one to cap off the first and take the 1-0 lead.
 
UWF's tough batting numbers in Game 1 came as a result of some bad luck, as Spears, Rachel Wright, among others, hit sharp line drives directly at UNA fielders.
 
GAME 2: UWF 6, No. 23 UNA 1
It was a different story for the UWF offense against Raven Cole, as the Argonauts worked the Orange, Texas, native for 11 walks over seven innings of action. West Florida hopped out to a 1-0 lead in the second, when Spears drew a bases-loaded walk to score Callan Taylor, who walked three times herself.
 
UNA picked up a run in the third, when Amy Carden scored on a passed ball to even up things at 1-1.
 
Despite the run from North Alabama, Sarah Maloney held UNA hitless through the first four innings. It looked like Carden would cause trouble again in the fifth, when she led off the inning with a double. But Maloney was at her best under the pressure and got back-to-back groundouts to Meghan Toney before striking out Gilliam to strand the runner at third.
 
Maloney's ERA dropped to 2.51 for the year after the complete game.
 
UWF broke the 1-1 tie in the fifth, when Wright came around to score on a long fly ball from Jacquelynne Poling that UNA could not handle in left center field. After an infield single from Jibrasha Moore, Jacey Castro's second single of the day brought Poling in to put the score at 3-1.
 
West Florida added some insurance with a two-out rally in the sixth inning, when Smiley reached on an error and saw Baleigh Boltz drive a pinch-hit double into the right center field gap to bring Smiley in.
 
Tiona Hill hit a sharp single to left that scored Boltz, and Hill scored on a wild pitch with Poling back at the plate to score the sixth and final run for UWF.
 
The series wraps up tomorrow with a 1 pm finale at the UWF Softball Complex.