LIVINGSTON, Ala. – With an 8-1 win over West Alabama on Sunday afternoon, the University of West Florida softball team picked up its 15th consecutive Gulf South Conference win, extended its winning streak to 23 games and took a share of first place in the GSC standings. The Argonauts are now 33-8 on the year with an 17-7 conference record.

The winning streak is the second-longest active streak in Division II, behind just Colorado Mesa's 25-game run.
 
Becca Taylor got the start in the circle on Sunday and earned her GSC-best 19th win of the year, striking out nine batters over seven innings of work and holding UWA to just two hits. The Tigers tallied just three hits against Taylor in her 12 innings pitched this week.
 
Jacey Castro and Meghan Toney each recorded two hits in the win, and each member of the pair finished the weekend leading UWF in hits, with six and five, respectively. Five Argonauts had an RBI in the win, and six scored at least one run.
 
West Florida's two-run first inning started with an RBI triple from Toney down the left field line that scored Castro, and Callan Taylor lined a single up the middle to bring in Toney just two batters later.
 
UWF took advantage of a couple of UWA errors in the second, as Rachel Wright reached on a throwing error from West Alabama third baseman Ashlend Rodriguez, and Castro hit a sharp ground ball that got by shortstop Ashley Smart to bring in Wright.
 
Taylor was in control from the start, retiring six of the first seven batters she saw and allowing just one hit in the third inning that gave UWA an unearned run. Sunday's game marked the sixth time this year that Taylor has had more strikeouts than innings pitched, and her nine Ks are a season-high.
 
UWF extended its lead with a three-run fourth inning, starting with a leadoff single from Wright. After a sacrifice bunt from Caitlin Steel, the Argonauts got back-to-back-to-back hits from Sara Spears, who doubled down the left field line, Castro, and Toney. Spears' and Castro's hits each scored a run and put the score at 5-1, before Rhiannon Sassman lifted a sacrifice fly to bring in Castro and stretch the lead to 6-1.
 
Jacquelynne Poling led off the seventh inning with a pinch-hit single and advanced to second after Tiona Hill drew a walk. Following Jibrasha Moore's sacrifice bunt, Poling came around to score on a passed ball, and Hill scored after Steel got a ground ball past Smart at shortstop, putting the score at the final 8-1.
 
Taylor struck out two in the sixth and struck out the side in the seventh to wrap up the victory for UWF.
 
UWF will head to Auburn Montgomery for its last nonconference games of the season on Tuesday, with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 2 pm.