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PENSACOLA, Fla. – No. 25 West Florida will visit Shorter in Rome, Georgia, this weekend for a three-game series that will serve as the team's final road trip of the regular season. UWF enters the weekend at the top of the Gulf South Conference with a 19-8 record, and the Argonauts lead the league with 35 overall wins.  
 
The doubleheader on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday will begin at 1 pm ET in Rome, at the Alto Park Softball Complex.
 
If live stats are available for any games in the series, links will be made available before the game on GoArgos.com and on Twitter, which fans can find by following the team @UWFSoftball.  
 
Do You Remember Shorter?

• Dedicated UWF softball fans may remember the Argonauts' stretch of playing Shorter at the end of the 2016 season. West Florida and the Hawks matched up six times in UWF's final 12 games of the year, with West Florida winning four of the six.
• The stretch started with a three-game series in Pensacola to end the regular season, during which Shorter took two wins and ended a 15-game West Florida winning streak. The Argonauts got the better end of the deal in the postseason, taking two wins in the Gulf South Conference Tournament and another in the South Region Tournament in Valdosta, Georgia.
• There will be some familiarity in the circle for UWF over the weekend, as Shorter returns all three of its pitchers from last year. UWF hit .305 against SU's primary starter Payton Lippert, scoring 14 runs against her in 29.1 innings.
• Shorter had no answer for Rachel Wright last year, as the Tate HS product hit .478 with three home runs, two doubles, eight RBI and a .957 slugging percentage.

 
Back on Top (of the GSC)

• After a 2-1 weekend against Delta State, West Florida held on to the top spot in the Gulf South Conference standings with a 19-8 record. After the series against West Alabama, UWF made the move into first place in the Gulf South Conference for the first time since March 3, 2013. At 19-8, UWF holds sole possession of first place, with a one-game lead over No. 17 Alabama Huntsville, Valdosta State, Lee, and Mississippi College. West Florida was sitting in 10th place at 2-7 in league play prior to the UAH series in March. UWF leads the conference in winning percentage (.761) and shutouts (12), while ranking second in scoring (6.1 runs per game), slugging (.466), ERA (2.49) and batting (.326).
• UWF has had the luxury of not having to rely on one player to get things done since the start of the UAH series. Nine players have hit .298 or higher, eight have had an on-base percentage of at least .370, four have had a slugging percentage over .500, and six have recorded more walks than strikeouts.
• The Argonauts have been doing everything well in conference play, as well, with a .310 batting average and 71 extra-base hits in just 27 games. The pitching staff has held GSC offenses to just a 2.89 ERA, a .239 batting average and three shutouts.
• West Florida also leads the league in weekly conference awards, with six. Becca Taylor has been named the GSC Pitcher of the Week three times, which leads the league, Sarah Maloney was named Pitcher of the Week once, and Jacey Castro and Rhiannon Sassman have also each earned one GSC Player of the Week honor.

 
In the South Region Rankings

• West Florida was put in the No. 2 spot in the initial NCAA South Region rankings that came out on Wednesday, sitting behind just Saint Leo from the Sunshine State Conference. North Alabama, Valdosta State, Alabama Huntsville and Lee ranked Nos. 3 through 6, and Shorter, Tampa, Mississippi College and Palm Beach Atlantic rounded out the top 10.
• The South Region is made up of the Gulf South, Sunshine State and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic conferences, with eight total teams reaching the South Region Tournament. Each of the three conferences earns an automatic qualifier, leaving five at-large bids for the remaining spots.
• The GSC has sent the region's representative to the Division II Softball Championship every year since 2009, with a GSC team making an appearance in the national championship in six of those eight seasons. Valdosta State (2013) and North Alabama (2016) have won national championships.
• UWF ranks third in GSC history with 22 wins in the NCAA Tournament, averaging two per trip.
• West Florida ranks seventh or better among South Region teams in winning percentage (.761, 3rd), slugging percentage (.466, fifth), ERA (2.49, sixth), and batting average (.326, sixth).

 
We Are Ranked

• After wrapping up a 23-game winning streak and finishing the week having won 25 of their last 28 games, the Argonauts entered the NFCA Top 25 poll for the first time since May 4, 2016.
• West Florida is one of four South Region teams in the poll, joining No. 9 Saint Leo, No. 17 Alabama Huntsville and No. 23 Tampa. Mississippi College is receiving votes and Valdosta State dropped out of the top 25 for the first time this year.
• UWF is 5-6 this year against teams in the Top 25.

 
On the Road Again

• The trip to Rome, Georgia, will be UWF's final road swing of the season, and the Argonauts have won a conference-best 15 road games this season.
• Jacey Castro and Rhiannon Sassman have led UWF on road trips, hitting .446 and .426, respectively. Castro leads the team with 29 hits, 5 home runs, and a .754 slugging percentage, and Sassman has team highs in triples (3), walks (12) and OBP (.548).
• Becca Taylor has led UWF's pitching staff with a 1.94 ERA in 65 innings on the road, holding opponents to a .206 batting average and throwing six complete games in 12 starts.

 
Hitting the Century Mark

• Head coach Melissa Paul is approaching her 100th win at UWF, with 96 career victories at the university entering the weekend at Shorter.
• After a tough first half of her first season with West Florida in 2015, Paul's Argonauts went 18-17 to wrap up the year, before going 42-17 in 2016. That 18-game turnaround from 2015 to 2016 is the 13th-biggest in Division II history.
• Paul's current career winning percentage at UWF (.623) would put her in the top 40 among active DII coaches, and in the top 60 all time in DII.

 
Milestone Watch

• With a line drive to center field to start Game 2 of the Delta State series last Saturday, Jacey Castro picked up her 100th career hit and 20th career double in a UWF uniform.
• Last year, Rhiannon Sassman became the first Argonaut since 2010 to record 100 total bases in a single season, and she and Castro are each nearing that total this year. Sassman (93) and Castro (91) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in the GSC in total bases.
• Meghan Toney is just one run away from scoring the 100th of her career, and she leads active UWF players with 156 career hits.
• Rachel Wright has 99 career hits entering play this weekend, and 32 of those have gone for extra bases.
• Becca Taylor is rapidly moving toward a few high marks for her career. Her next win in the circle will be her 50th, and she will be just the 10th UWF pitcher to reach that mark. Her next start will be her 72nd, tying her for 10th in UWF history, and she is just 19 innings away from the 10th most innings pitched in the UWF record books.