MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Sarah Maloney and Tori Perkins combined to allow just six hits and one run in West Florida's 3-1 victory over Delta State to wrap up the Gulf South Conference Opening Weekend Festival on Sunday afternoon. Combined with strong pitching from Maloney and Perkins and some timely hitting, West Florida improved to 9-5 on the year and 2-1 in GSC play.
 
It was a classic pitcher's duel between Maloney and DSU starter Mari Alex Sandridge for the first three-and-a-half innings, before UWF rattled off four consecutive two-out hits to bring three runs across in the fourth. It started with a triple from Tiona Hill, and Jibrasha Moore scored her with a single into left field. A triple into the left-center gap from Rachel Wright made it 2-0, and Wright came around on a Meghan Toney blooper over the shortstop's head, giving UWF the 3-0 advantage.
 
Maloney threw five innings and struck out four in a strong bounceback start from Saturday. She improved to 3-1 on the year and now ranks second in the GSC in strikeouts (29). Perkins earned her first save of the season after throwing two scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and lowering her season ERA to 2.24.
 
The timely offense comes as no surprise for West Florida. The Argonauts have hit .294 with two outs this year and .321 with runners in scoring position. They were even better in those same situations this weekend, hitting .368 with two outs and .340 with runners on base.
 
Delta State chipped away and scored a run in the top of the fifth with a single from Kaitlyn Eaves, but it would be too little, too late. The Lady Statesmen mustered only two hits against Maloney and Perkins the rest of the way and grounded out three times.
 
Maloney and Perkins each worked their ways out of a jam during the game. Maloney got into trouble after hitting the leadoff batter in the second inning and seeing Kailyn Lofton single down the right field line to put a pair of runners on with one out. She then induced a weak ground ball to third and got Marissa Myers to fly out to Wright in center field to end the inning.
 
Perkins allowed a hit to the first batter she faced, Carlie Vice, and Olivia Dick singled with two outs to put two runners on. Perkins then had no trouble getting a groundout from Myers, ending the threat and the inning before throwing a perfect seventh against DSU. 
 
Moore led UWF over the weekend in hitting (.556), hits (5), and on-base percentage (.556), and UWF had a team 2.01 ERA over the three games.
 
West Florida will visit North Alabama in Florence next Saturday and Sunday. To keep up with all information on the team, follow @UWFSoftball on Twitter and visit GoArgos.com/Softball.