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Game 1: Armstrong State – L, 3-7
Game 2: Southern Indiana – W, 4-3
Game 3: West Virginia Wesleyan – L, 0-1
 
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UWF Softball All-Time Awards Page
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – For just the third time in program history, the University of West Florida softball team earned a trip to the NCAA Championship, going 1-2 in Salem, Virginia. UWF took the South Region Championship for the first time since 2003, sweeping Lee in a best-of-three series and holding a 45-13 record.
 
The preseason saw sophomore Rhiannon Sassman named to the 2017 NFCA DII Player of the Year Watchlist, a season after being UWF's second-ever NFCA All-American. The shortstop delivered, leading UWF in batting (.381), runs scored (50), triples (7), RBI (40), total bases (112), slugging (.619), walks (31), and on-base percentage (.477).
 
The Argonauts opened the season with a bang in the Gulf Coast Invitational in Gulf Shores, Alabama, throwing no-hitters against Miles and No. 22 Missouri-St. Louis and bringing home a 4-1 record. Junior Sarah Maloney was named the Gulf South Conference Pitcher of the Week for her efforts against UMSL, as she struck out nine batters in the first no-hitter of her UWF career, and Becca Taylor and Taylor Rolison started the year with a combined no-hitter against Miles.
 
Shortly after the trip to Gulf Shores, UWF started Gulf South Conference play and went just 2-7 in the league after the first three series, ranking 10th out of 12 teams. But a turning point in the season came almost immediately, as the team quickly found a groove and ran off a 23-game winning streak, which included a sweep over No. 14 Alabama Huntsville in Pensacola and series sweeps over Union, West Georgia, and West Alabama on the road.
 
The team went 15-0 in GSC play during the streak and made the jump to first place in the league with a 17-7 record in the conference. It marked the first time since March 3, 2013 that the Argonauts held at least a tie for first place in the league.
 
West Florida averaged more than 7 runs per game over the stretch, and the pitching staff posted a 1.13 team ERA over 155 innings with 7 shutouts. Senior Becca Taylor put together a perfect 14-0 record over 15 games and held batters to a .172 average, with a 0.90 ERA. Offensively, the Argos were led by Jacey Castro, who hit .463 with team highs in runs (23), hits (37), doubles (8), triples (5), total bases (60), slugging (.750) and on-base percentage (.516).
 
A week after the streak ended, UWF earned a spot in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association's top 25 for the first time since May 2016, and after splitting against Shorter and taking two games from Delta State, the Argonauts moved up to No. 12 nationally.
 
UWF wrapped up the regular season with a sweep over Lee at the UWF Softball Complex, moving up to No. 10 in Division II and taking the top spot in the NCAA South Region rankings. The NFCA ranking was UWF's highest since 2005, when the team ranked No. 3 in DII.
 
The Argos faced a familiar foe in the GSC Tournament in Huntsville, Alabama, and used a three-run seventh inning and a walkoff single from Tiona Hill to take a 5-4 win over Shorter before ultimately falling to Mississippi College in the semifinal round.
 
That would be the first of several come-from-behind wins for UWF in the postseason. After securing the No. 1 seed for the NCAA South Regional Tournament, the Argonauts took a win over Claflin on the opening day of the tournament and followed with one-run wins over Valdosta State on each of the next two days.
 
West Florida's 4-3 win in the semifinal round of the tournament was highlighted by a four-run fifth inning and a game-saving catch by Rachel Wright against the left center field wall, which came in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and two outs in a one-run game.
 
Tiona Hill struck again a day later, bringing in two runs with a single up the middle to score Meghan Toney and Jacey Castro and taking a 7-6 win to advance to the first Super Regional in UWF softball history.
 
Becca Taylor shut out Lee in the first of two Super Regional games in May, going seven innings and allowing just five hits from the Lady Flames. Hill and Toney came through again, as each drove in a run in the 2-0 win. The second day of the Super Regional provided a little more excitement, and the Argos pulled out another win.
 
Trailing 4-0 with no hits through the first five innings, UWF pounced on Lee starter Taylor Moran for seven runs in the sixth inning and rallied to a 7-6 win to advance to the NCAA Championship for the third time in program history.
 
The Argonauts made the most of their time in Salem, Virginia, spending a morning with kids at St. Anne's Episcopal School, visiting the Salem Museum and attending the NCAA Championship Banquet on Wednesday night before starting play against Armstrong State on Thursday.
 
Armstrong took a win in the first game, but UWF bounced back with another comeback win on Friday against Southern Indiana. Caitlin Steel's two-run double in the top of the seventh turned out to be the game-winner, and it gave West Florida its second win in NCAA Championship history.
 
UWF won 46 games in all, 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.
 
 
TEAM AWARDS (voted on by teammates):
 
Best Hitter and Team MVP: Jacey Castro
 
Castro saw time in left field and at first base during the 2017 season, earning All-American honors from the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association. She is the second D2CCA All-American in program history and the first since Shannon Miles in 2010, and Castro also brought home All-South Region honors from the NFCA and the D2CCA and was a first team All-GSC selection. She led the team with 73 hits and 7 home runs, and those 73 hits are the most for an Argonaut since Karri Bisbee's 82 in 2010. Castro's 110 total bases rank second on the team behind Rhiannon Sassman, and she just the second Argonaut since 2010 to record at least 100 total bases in a season.
 
Best Pitcher: Becca Taylor
 
Taylor led the GSC and South Region with 27 wins, which are the most for a UWF pitcher since 2005. The senior also had the most appearances (41) for an Argonaut since 2005, the most starts (38) since 2001, and the most innings pitched (220.0) since 2009. A four-year player at UWF, Taylor enters the UWF record books with top 10 spots in walks per seven, starts, innings pitched, and wins. Taylor will join the UWF softball staff next season as a graduate assistant and earned first team All-GSC and All-South Region honors from the NFCA and D2CCA.
 
Best Defender: Caitlin Steel
 
Having thrown out a Gulf South Conference-best 25 runners over her two seasons at UWF, Caitlin Steel has established herself as the top defensive catcher in the South Region. Steel's defensive efforts played a major role in her earning All-South Region honors from the NFCA and D2CCA and an All-Gulf South Conference nod. Steel allowed just four passed balls all season and saw fewer attempted stolen bases against her than all but two qualified catchers in the league, while playing 53 of UWF's 61 games behind the plate.
 
Newcomer of the Year: Tiona Hill
 
A junior transfer from the College of Central Florida, Tiona Hill made an immediate impact in the UWF lineup. The Clearwater, Florida, native ranked fifth in the GSC with three triples and led UWF with 17 doubles – a total that is the most for an Argonaut since 2001. Hill's biggest contributions came in the postseason, when she had walkoff singles against Shorter in the GSC Tournament and against Valdosta State to advance to the NCAA South Super Regional. Hill was good for a .448 average and 15 RBI with runners on and two outs, and she hit nearly .400 with runners in scoring position from the 5-hole in the lineup.
 
Hardest Worker: Rachel Wright
 
Rachel Wright was one of just three Argos to start all 61 games in the 2017 season, doing so in center field. She was a key part of UWF's 23-game winning streak in the middle of the season, hitting .303 with six doubles, 16 runs scored and 20 RBI over the stretch. Her knack for coming up big in the postseason showed up again this year, as she tallied three hits and made a game-saving catch at the wall against Valdosta State in the South 1 Regional Semifinal. Wright added two hits in UWF's win over Southern Indiana and scored the first and game-tying run for West Florida in the victory.