HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Tiona Hill's walkoff single brought in Meghan Toney and Rhiannon Sassman and sent the University of West Florida softball team to the semifinals of the Gulf South Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, West Florida advances to the semifinals for the 12th time in its history and continues its pursuit of the program's fourth GSC Championship.

The win also marked West Florida's 40th this year, making the Argonauts the first GSC team to hit 40 wins this year. This is the first time UWF has had back-to-back 40-win seasons since 2009-10.
 
Trailing 4-0 as the game entered the third inning, UWF put five unanswered runs on the board with three coming in the seventh inning to earn the victory. The walkoff single was Hill's lone hit of the day and capped off UWF's first win this season when trailing after five innings.
 
"Right before that at-bat, Coach Paul said none of the previous at-bats mattered," Hill said of the single. "We just had to fight, we had to fight for each other, we had to find a way to make it happen. People came off the bench, Kara came in and had a good at-bat, and I just wanted to keep it rolling."
 
After rain delayed the tournament's opening round for two days, Shorter came out on fire in the first two innings and picked up a quick 4-0 lead. UWF got clutch defensive plays early on from Becca Taylor, who forced a 1-2-3 bases loaded double play to end the three-run first, and from Tate HS product Rachel Wright, who fired a bullet from center field to get Shorter's Maddie Hunt at the plate for the final out of the second. That was Wright's second outfield assist of the year and UWF's ninth as a team.
 
After a bit of a rough start, Taylor found a groove in the third inning and allowed just three baserunners after the second inning, picking up her GSC-leading 24th win of the year. It also marked Taylor's fifth career postseason win.
 
The UWF offense turned things around as soon as Taylor did, despite trailing 4-0 after two innings. The third inning started with a bunt single from Jacey Castro, who had three hits on the day, and she was moved to second on Toney's seventh sacrifice bunt this year. With Castro in scoring position, Sassman lined a double into right center field to cut the deficit to 4-1.
 
The scoring continued in the third with an RBI single down the left field line from Jacquelynne Poling to score Baleigh Boltz from second, cutting Shorter's lead to 4-2.
 
UWF got to starter Hannah Draper in the second, with a leadoff double from Castro and a walk from Toney to put two runners on. Shorter then made a pitching change, bringing in relief ace Kalei Clark who got two strikeouts and a groundout to end the inning with no UWF runs.
 
The teams traded zeroes in the sixth, and UWF completed the comeback with three runs in the seventh coming on four hits from the top of the order.
 
"It started out a little hectic," Sassman said. "I think we were a little nervous in the beginning, but once we got through that… we settled down and battled back and played like we could. I'm feeling confident going into tomorrow."
 
Castro, Toney and Sassman picked up consecutive one-out singles in the inning to start the threat and put two runners on. Sassman's seven-pitch at-bat resulted in a single to left center field that scored Castro and cut the deficit to 4-3. Pinch hitter Kara Wilson then came up with Toney on second and Sassman on first and battled through her own seven-pitch groundout to put the pair in scoring position for Hill with two away.
 
With two strikes, two outs, and two runners on, Hill lifted a single into center field and wrapped up UWF's biggest comeback of the season as Toney and Sassman came in to score.
 
UWF faces Mississippi College in the GSC Semifinal on Sunday at 12:30 pm at Charger Park in Huntsville. A win in that game will put the Argonauts in the GSC Championship Game at 3 pm.