PENSACOLA, Fla. – Timely hitting and a pair of dominant pitching performances helped the 17th-ranked University of West Florida softball team to a pair of wins in a doubleheader sweep over Auburn Montgomery on Sunday afternoon. With the victories, West Florida improved to 24-13 and moved into fourth place in the Gulf South Conference with a 15-9 record in league play, while AUM dropped to 22-14 and 13-13 in the GSC.
 
Grace Gilbert earned her team-best ninth win of the season in Game 1, going the full five innings in a 9-1 victory, and Tiona Hill hit a game-winning solo home run in the sixth inning of Game 2, leading West Florida to a 4-3 win.
 
Gilbert also went 3-6 with two RBIs at the plate, while Hill and Kathleen Smiley each reached four times in the doubleheader, drove in four runs, and hit a home run. Sarah Maloney threw 4.1 innings of scoreless relief in Game 2, striking out eight batters and allowing just two hits.
 
Game 1: UWF 9, AUM 1 (5 innings)
Although AUM's Kalee Sparks hit a solo home run to give the Warhawks a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Smiley struck back immediately with a two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning and West Florida never trailed afterward.
 
Jibrasha Moore led off the three-run third with a bunt single and UWF used a two-out rally to stretch the lead to 5-1. Smiley and Moore scored on Hill's two-run double into left center, and Hill came around on a double from Gilbert a batter later.
 
That proved to be plenty of offense for Gilbert, who went five innings, struck out three and allowed just five hits in her fifth complete game of the season. Her nine wins rank eighth in the GSC and are the third-most among freshmen in the league.
 
UWF added another run in the fourth when Smiley drew a bases-loaded walk, and the Argonauts scored three more in the fifth on just two hits. Gilbert singled up the middle and Tori Perkins reached on an error before Rachel Wright loaded the bases with a walk.
 
Courtney McLellan brought in a run on a fielder's choice, Meghan Toney singled off pitcher Natalie Johnsey's glove, and Smiley drew another bases-loaded walk to give UWF the walk-off 9-1 victory.
 
Smiley finished the game with four RBIs, her season-high.
 
Game 2: UWF 4, AUM 3
Tiona Hill's game-winning home run in the sixth was her team-high sixth of the season and it was her second opposite field roundtripper in the last five games. The homer gave UWF a 4-3 lead heading into the seventh inning, and Sarah Maloney got two flyouts and a strikeout to finish off the game.
 
UWF quickly got to AUM starter Michaelyn Foster, putting a 3-spot on the board in the first inning. Jibrasha Moore was the first to come across, drawing a walk to lead off the inning and stealing second before the throw down from AUM catcher Morgan Duschell bounced off Moore's foot and ricocheted into the outfield, giving Moore enough time to score.
 
From there, Hill and Gilbert had back-to-back hits again, scoring Meghan Toney and Callan Taylor to give UWF its 3-0 lead.
 
Misfortune struck UWF in the third, with a pair of singles from Auburn Montgomery that led to an RBI hit from Kalee Sparks to cut into the lead. AUM evened it up a few batters later with a comebacker at starter Olivia Printiss that resulted in a wide throw to first, allowing two Warhawks to score.  
 
Maloney then entered the circle and was as dominant as she has been all season, going 4.1 innings and striking out eight while allowing just two hits. It was Maloney's second relief appearance of the year, and she has thrown 9.0 innings out of the bullpen with 13 strikeouts, a .094 opponent batting average, and just three hits allowed.
 
The senior earned the win in the circle and improved to 7-2 on the year.
 
Hill led off the sixth inning with her game-winning home run, placing her just outside the top 10 in the GSC for the year.
 
The series wraps up on Monday with a noon first pitch at the UWF Softball Complex.