JACKSON, Tenn. – The University of West Florida kept its hot streak going with a doubleheader sweep over Union on Saturday afternoon. With the 8-2 win in Game 1 and the 8-5 victory in Game 2, UWF improved to 28-8 on the year and 13-7 in the Gulf South Conference, and the Argonauts stretched their winning streak to 18 games.
 
West Florida was led offensively by Tiona Hill and Jacey Castro, who each hit .500 on the day. Hill went 3-for-6 with a home run in Game 2, a double and three RBI, giving her a 1.167 slugging percentage for the day. Castro went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and five walks, giving her a .778 on-base percentage from the leadoff spot. Rhiannon Sassman was close behind, going 3-for-7 with three RBI, two walks and leading the team with three runs scored.
 
The Argonauts hit three home runs on the day, getting them from Hill, Rachel Wright and Baleigh Boltz, whose was the first of her career. UWF also got a great deal of help from the defense, which turned four double plays on the day and now leads the GSC with 15 double plays this year.
 
GAME 1: UWF 8, Union 2
West Florida showed patience at the plate all day, drawing six walks against Union starter Hannah Ridolfi over her seven innings in the circle. But the first base hit of the day for UWF did not come until the fourth inning, when Rachel Wright delivered her second home run of the year to put the score at 3-0.
 
Callan Taylor led off the inning with a walk and Baleigh Boltz reached on a fielder's choice to put two on for Wright, and the Cantonment, Florida, native delivered a high fly ball that stretched its way over the right center field fence. The round-tripper was Wright's second of the year and she leads UWF with 13 RBI since the beginning of the Alabama Huntsville series in March.
 
Union nickel-and-dimed Becca Taylor for a few singles during the day, but the Lady Bulldogs struggled to string anything together as a result of strong pitching and defense for UWF. After a couple of hits in the first inning, Taylor retired seven consecutive batters between the second, third and fourth innings.
 
When Union singled with one away in the fourth, Taylor forced a chopper to Tiona Hill at third, and Hill, Meghan Toney and Jacey Castro completed a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
 
It was more of the same in the fifth inning for UWF, when Tiona Hill ripped a double into left center field to score Rhiannon Sassman and Callan Taylor and make the score 5-0 in favor of the Argonauts. The bottom half of the inning ended in a similar way as well, with a 4-3 double play from Toney to Castro wrapping things up.
 
Earlier in the bottom half, Union picked up its first run of the day in one of the more unconventional ways we have seen this year. With two runners on, Ladesha Nelson attempted a sacrifice bunt that was lifted and dropped between Hill at third and Sassman at short. Union's Rachel Ridolfi did not take off on the play, and it was a footrace to get the out at second between Ridolfi and Sassman, who had picked up the bunt. Some heads-up baserunning from Emily Bennett while the play at second was going on led to a run for the Lady Bulldogs.
 
Wright led off the sixth with a single, and Sara Spears and Jacey Castro each drew a walk to load the bases for UWF in the sixth. Toney made it 6-1 with a grounder to shortstop, bringing in Wright, and Sassman singled through the right side to bring in Castro a batter later.
 
Union scratched across a run in the sixth and threatened to score more, but Taylor forced a weak grounder to Hill at third and got a strikeout to end the inning. That would be the end of the line for Taylor, who finished the game with six innings pitched, four strikeouts and just one earned run.
 
With the 7-2 lead in the sixth, Baleigh Boltz lifted the first home run of her career to stretch the lead to 8-2. Today marked her fifth career start, and she has gone a combined 6-14 (.429) with a home run, three runs scored and three RBI in those five games.
 
Taylor Rolison entered the circle to close things out in the seventh and was perfect, retiring all three Union batters she faced with a groundout back to her and two strikeouts. She has struck out 14 batters in her last 14.2 innings and allowed just 9 hits.
 
GAME 2: UWF 8, Union 5
The offenses for both teams got going much more quickly in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader. UWF got a single from Castro to lead off the game and she was eventually moved to third before Callan Taylor lined a single into left field. The inning came to a close when Castro tried to score on Taylor's single and was called out on a close play at the plate.
 
Union got the scoring started in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly from Paige Robertson to take the 1-0 lead. The inning ended with a line drive at Tiona Hill that was caught and thrown to Toney at second to turn UWF's third double play of the afternoon.
 
Hill kept her strong play going in the top of the second with a leadoff home run to tie things at 1-1. It was her third home run of the season, and Jacquelynne Poling added a double to the right center field fence just a batter later. Following a Union pitching change, Spears drove in Poling with a single through the left side to give UWF the 2-1 lead.
 
Ladesha Nelson evened the score in the second with a single through the left side, and that spelled the end of the day for UWF starter Sarah Maloney. With two runners on and one out, Rolison jumped into the circle in relief and struck out Gabby Morris and forced a popout from Robertson to end the inning. The popout was a high fly ball in foul territory that bounced out of Poling's glove and was caught by a diving Castro near the on-deck circle on the first base side of the field.
 
UWF loaded the bases in the fourth and started a four-run inning with a two-run single from Sassman and a grounder from Callan Taylor that led to an error and scored Toney and Sassman.
 
Union bounced back with a three-run home run from Gabby Morris in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the UWF lead to 6-5.
 
Boltz saved a hit in the bottom of the fifth to put the end to any Union threat, when Emily Bennett hit a line drive into left center field. Boltz made the running catch, threw to Toney, and Toney connected with Castro to finish off the 7-4-3 double play and end the inning. That was UWF's fourth double play in the doubleheader.
 
After Sassman singled with one out in the sixth, Callan Taylor hit a sharp ground ball that got by Union second baseman Marley Dyess and Sassman came around to stretch the UWF lead to 7-5. Caitlin Steel pitched in with an RBI single of her own two batters later, scoring pinch-runner Kara Wilson and putting the score at 8-5.
 
Rolison finished the game off by retiring six of the last eight batters she saw, and her final line stood at 5.2 ininngs of relief with just four hits allowed. She improved her record to 4-1 on the year.
 
The series wraps up on Sunday with a 1 pm first pitch for the series finale.