FLORENCE, Ala. – It was a tough day at No. 13 North Alabama for the 17th-ranked University of West Florida softball team, which went 0-2 in the doubleheader. West Florida fell to 9-7 on the year and will play its home-opener on Saturday against Union, while UNA improved to 12-2.
 
Because rain and soggy field conditions pushed the games to a Monday start, the series was just two games.
 
Game 1: UWF 1, UNA 2 (8 innings)
The front end of Monday's doubleheader was a classic pitcher's duel, with the UWF and North Alabama staffs allowing just seven hits across 15.2 combined innings of work in the contest.
 
Starting pitcher Sarah Maloney worked out of some trouble in the first inning, leaving two UNA runners on base when she forced an infield fly from Shelby Woodard and got a flyout from Reagan Tittle to end the inning. Olivia Printiss came on in relief in the sixth and got out of a bases-loaded jam with a pair of groundouts, and she nearly did the same in the eighth when some tough luck found the Argonauts. A ground ball from Veronica Westfall went just out of Printiss' reach and bounced of her glove, allowing the walkoff run to score for the Lions.
 
Tori Perkins brought in UWF's lone run of the game, singling through the right side to score Ally Merrill. The RBI was Perkins' team-best 10th of the season and gave UWF the 1-0 lead in the second inning. Westfall homered for North Alabama in the bottom half of the inning to even things back up at 1-1.
 
Maloney went 5.1 innings and allowed just three hits and a run, and Printiss suffered the tough-luck loss after throwing 2.1 innings. She fell to 3-2 on the year and still leads West Florida with a .224 batting average against, after allowing only two hits to the nine batters she faced.
 
Game 2: UWF 0, UNA 7
West Florida struggled to find an answer for reigning Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week Laken Distefano, who improved to 5-0 on the season with a 0.67 ERA.
 
The Argonauts mustered just two hits, but managed solid contact against Distefano and reliever Brittany Ledbetter throughout the game to few results. A handful of those came late in the game, like when Rachel Wright hit a hard line drive right at UNA shortstop Reagan Tittle to end a quick two-out rally for West Florida in the fifth inning.
 
The two hits came from Meghan Toney and Jibrasha Moore. Toney leads UWF with at least one hit in 10 games this year, and Moore ranks second on the team with a hit in 9 of the Argonauts' contests.
 
UNA tallied 10 hits in the contests, and all were singles. The game marked only the second time this year UNA has been held without an extra-base hit.
 
UWF will face Union in its home-opener on Saturday and Sunday at the UWF Softball Complex, with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 pm and the series finale starting at 1 pm Sunday. The Argos will celebrate Miracle League Day on Saturday and Kids Day on Sunday.