SALEM, Va. – The No. 10 University of West Florida softball team ended its season on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 loss to West Virginia Wesleyan in the NCAA Championships in Salem. The Argonauts' final record stands at 46-15, giving the program its most wins and highest winning percentage (.754) since 2005, and UWF's 88 wins over the last two years are the most in a two-year span since 2005-06.
 
The team also made its deepest NCAA Tournament run in program history, tying the 2000 team's 1-2 record in Tournament play.
 
"We had a great ballclub this year," head coach Melissa Paul said. "It's a team that has gotten this identity of being fighters and coming back in the last month of the season, and we found ourselves in some holes in the postseason, and this is just a team that won't give up.
 
"That says a lot about them and their character, and I couldn't be more proud of them. We have three great seniors who we're going to miss tremendously, and they've been a big impact for a quick turnaround of this program. They've done tremendous things for us."
 
Rhiannon Sassman tallied two of West Florida's four hits on the day, with a two-out double in the first and a leadoff single in the fourth, but the Argonauts were able to square up West Virginia Wesleyan All-American starter Hannah Vet, who earned her 28th win of the year with the complete game effort. Sassman led UWF with a .333 average and three hits over the three days at the NCAA Tournament.
 
Sarah Maloney took the circle for UWF and allowed just one unearned run over seven innings, stretching her Tournament numbers to 11 innings with just the one unearned run and a .189 opponent batting average.
 
"Some things didn't go in our favor today, and that's just the way it works," Maloney said. "You just have to find a way to work through it, and today we came up a little bit short. But that's ok. It didn't' take away from our season, because we had a fantastic season. I'm proud of this team."
 
Maloney allowed just two hits through her first four innings, but struggled to find a tight strike zone and issued five walks. The Tamarac, Florida, native worked around the walks, got some defensive help and held West Virginia Wesleyan scoreless until the fifth,
 
Perhaps the best defensive highlight came in the top of the third inning, following a double from Morgan Bruce that put runners at second and third with two outs. Catcher Sara Scoone sent a hard ground ball back up the middle that hit off Maloney, deflected off Sassman, found Meghan Toney's glove and Toney delivered a strike to first for the final out of the inning.
 
UWF threatened in the fourth, getting Sassman's leadoff single, a walk from Tiona Hill and back-to-back hard grounders from Callan Taylor and Rachel Wright that found WVWC defenders to end the danger.
 
The Bobcats struck in the fifth, getting a leadoff single from Tori Pogue, seeing Olivia Gore reach on a catcher's interference call and loading the bases with a walk from Bruce. The lone run of the game came when Scoone was hit by a full-count pitch, bringing in Gore on an unearned run.
 
Sassman ends her season with the highest batting average (.381) for a UWF player since 2013, and the most total bases (112), the highest on-base percentage (.477) and highest slugging percentage (.619) since 2010. Tiona Hill's 17 doubles are the most in a season for an Argo since 2001, and Maloney's 2.16 ERA is the lowest for a UWF pitcher since 2010.
 
Becca Taylor's 27 wins are the most for an Argonaut since 2005, and she enters the UWF record books with top 10 spots in walks per seven, starts, innings pitched, and wins.
 
UWF put together a 23-game winning streak, which is the team's longest since 2005 and marked the third-longest streak in team history.