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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The 16th-ranked University of West Florida softball team gets to come back to the UWF Softball Complex this weekend after playing seven consecutive road games. The Argos are 17-9 this year and are fourth in the Gulf South Conference with an 8-5 record.
 
All three games in the series can be followed with live stats and a live video broadcast, and the links for those can be found above or by going to GoArgos.com/Live. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 1 pm start, and the series finale on Sunday is also slated for a 1 pm first pitch.
 
UWF will celebrate Scouts Day and an alumni event on Saturday. All boy and girl scouts in attendance can receive a scout badge for attending the games, and all kids can run the bases after the doubleheader is over. Additionally, the UWF softball team will be signing autographs at the completion of the doubleheader.
 
Alumni will be granted free admission to the game, and there will be a drawing for a free Wyndham Resort stay for all alumni in attendance.
 
Sunday will be Staff and Faculty Appreciation Day. All faculty and staff and their families will receive free entrance to the games, and there will be a giveaway specifically for faculty and staff members.
 
A Look at the Chargers
* The Chargers are winners of eight in a row and they hold a 21-6 record entering the weekend, with an 11-4 conference record that puts them second in the GSC.
* The team has been especially strong in its last 10 games, batting .434 as a team. Individually, three players are hitting .500 or better during that span, led by freshman Shelby Booker who is hitting .567. Reagan Malone owns a .533 average during the period and Jada Hayes is hitting .500.
* Layton Murphy has been UAH's ace, with a 1.86 ERA and a 13-4 record. She leads the GSC in wins (13), complete games (12) and innings pitched (90.1).
* UAH leads the all-time series with a 61-48 record.
 
Last Week
* West Florida split a series at Mississippi College on Saturday, with the scheduled series finale on Sunday getting rained out. The Argonauts took Game 1 with a 4-2 score before falling 10-4 in the back end of the twinbill.
* Meghan Toney drew an impressive five walks between the two games, and her five times on base were the most for any Argo player.
* In Game 1, Rachel Wright picked up her fifth multi-hit game since March 4 and Sarah Maloney picked up the complete game win after striking out five and allowing just five hits and two runs. It was a comeback effort for the Argonauts, who trailed 2-1 entering the seventh inning. Wright started the rally with a one-out single before Jacquelynne Poling drove her in with a double to left-center to even the score at 2-2. Grace Gilbert and Rhiannon Sassman each had RBI singles to give UWF the lead and wrap things up.
* Tiona Hill and Kathleen Smiley each homered in the second inning of Game 2, but it would not be enough as MC took a 10-4 win.
 
Home Sweet Home
* UWF gets to return home for Alabama Huntsville this weekend, marking only the second home series of the year for the Argos.
* West Florida went 2-1 against Union in its first home series of the season, hitting .405 and averaging almost 8 runs per game in the series.
* The Argonauts dominated at home last year and posted a 23-5 record in the friendly confines of the UWF Softball Complex. Tiona Hill had a team-high .387 batting average and also led UWF in doubles (8), RBIs (19), and slugging (.560) at home.
* Sarah Maloney was in prime form at home in 2017 with a 1.79 ERA in 66.1 innings and an 8-2 record. She also struck out 68 batters and held opponents to a team-best .207 batting average.
* UWF has a .796 (39-10) winning percentage at home since 2016.
 
Argos in the GSC
* West Florida has played even better than its 8-5 Gulf South Conference record might indicate. The Argonauts have hit .308 and slugged .483 -- 165 points better than opponents -- in conference play, while holding a 2.99 ERA in 13 games.
* Callan Taylor has hit a team-best .400 in GSC action, while Tiona Hill and Rhiannon Sassman lead the team with 24 total bases in the conference. Hill also leads the team with an .828 slugging percentage, Sassman leads in OBP (.500), runs (11) and RBIs (11), and Rachel Wright has 13 hits.
* Sarah Maloney has been one of the best pitchers in the GSC this year, with a 2.12 ERA, a 3-0 record and 23 strikeouts in 29.2 innings pitched. She also leads UWF with a .176 batting average against, and she has allowed fewer hits than any other pitcher on staff (18) despite throwing the most innings.
 
You Can't Be Wrong If You're...
* Rachel Wright has been on fire over the last nine games, leading West Florida in hitting (.538), hits (14), doubles (8), and slugging (.846), while ranking second in runs (10) and total bases (22).
* She has hit .692 (9-13) with the bases empty and .429 (3-7) with two outs in her last nine games, and she has reached five of the six times she has led off an inning since then.
* The doubleheader at Spring Hill on March 7 proved to be a huge day for Wright, when she went 3-6 with three doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs in the doubleheader. She followed that by going 3-5 with two doubles and two runs against Christian Brothers in a Monday doubleheader.
 
Our Streak
* UWF took a seven-game winning streak to Mississippi College last weekend and stretched it to eight with a win in the series-opener. The Argonauts hits .392 and slugged .612 over the stretch, while also going a perfect 18-for-18 on the bases and averaging nearly 8 runs per game.
* Rachel Wright led the team in batting (.565), hits (13), doubles (8), and slugging (.913) over the stretch, and 14 Argos hit .300 or better. Meghan Toney led UWF with a .591 on-base percentage, and Rhiannon Sassman led the team in runs scored (12) and RBIs (10).
* The pitching was outstanding during the streak, as well, with a 1.88 ERA across 52.0 innings pitched. Tori Perkins had a team-best 0.93 ERA and a 3-0 record with 13 strikeouts in 15 innings, while Sarah Maloney held opponents to a .160 batting average and posted a 1.75 ERA with 21 strikeouts over 24 innings.