CLINTON, Miss. – The 21st-ranked University of West Florida softball team split a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at Mississippi College on Saturday. The Argonauts took Game 1 with a 4-2 score before falling 10-4 in the back end of the twinbill. UWF stands at 17-9 on the year and holds an 8-5 Gulf South Conference record after the split.
 
Meghan Toney drew an impressive five walks between the two games, and her five times on base were the most for any Argo player.
 
With impending rain in the forecast, West Florida will go for the series win at 11 a.m. in Clinton on Sunday.
 
Game 1: UWF 4, MC 2
West Florida used a three-run seventh inning to extend its winning streak to eight games in the front half of Saturday's doubleheader. Trailing 2-1, Rachel Wright continued her hot streak with a one-out single up the middle, and Jacquelynne Poling drove her in with a double into left-center field to even the score.
 
After a productive groundout from Mika Garcia moved pinch-runner Sara Spears to third, Grace Gilbert delivered a two-out single to left to score Spears and Rhiannon Sassman singled up the middle to bring in Gilbert for West Florida's final run of the game.
 
The Argonauts got to Mississippi College starter Cori Cooper early, drawing a pair of walks and scoring a run on Callan Taylor's RBI double in the top of the first. UWF would threaten in the fifth and sixth innings, but did not score.
 
Starter Sarah Maloney cruised through the first four innings with little trouble, holding Mississippi College hitless while striking out two. She now ranks third in the Gulf South Conference in ERA (1.56), fourth in strikeouts (51), and sixth in opponent batting average (.215) and wins (6).
 
Rachel Wright tallied her fifth multi-hit contest in her last seven games, and Meghan Toney reached base three times – more than any other player in the game.
 
Game 2: UWF 4, MC 10
UWF got to MC starter Penny Nichols early on, with solo home runs from Tiona Hill and Kathleen Smiley in the second inning, followed by back-to-back singles from Rachel Wright and Tori Perkins. After the Choctaws made a pitching change and brought in Adrianna Morgan, Wright and Perkins stole second and third, and Wright then scored on a Mika Garcia groundout to put UWF ahead 3-0.
 
But Mississippi College was quick to strike back, scoring four in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead, though Garcia would bring in pinch-runner Harley Tagert with another ground ball in the fourth to even the score at 4-4.
 
Unfortunately for UWF, Mississippi College opened the floodgates in the fifth inning and scored six runs to go ahead 10-4, with a two-run single from Kristen Qualls and a grand slam from Mackenzie Nieto.
 
Grace Gilbert took the loss in Game 2, falling to 4-2 on the year.