MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The 15th-ranked University of West Florida softball team got a complete game victory from Grace Gilbert in Game 1 before falling victim to Montevallo in Game 2 of Saturday's Gulf South Conference doubleheader on the road. UWF is now 26-15 overall and 16-11 in the GSC, standing in fifth place in the league and a half-game ahead of Montevallo heading into Sunday's series finale.
 
Gilbert threw seven innings and allowed just one run in Game 1, and Rachel Wright and Kathleen Smiley each had a team-high three hits in the doubleheader. Callan Taylor, with a two-run home run, and Kara Wilson, with a sacrifice fly and an RBI single in Game 2, each had two runs driven in for UWF on the day. With a hit in each of the day's two games, Gilbert, Smiley and Tori Perkins stretched their hitting streaks to three games each.
 
With rain in the forecast for Sunday, UWF and Montevallo have announced a time change for the series finale, with first pitch set for 9 a.m.
 
Game 1: UWF 3, Montevallo 1
Gilbert spun her sixth complete game of the season in the front half of the doubleheader, picking up her 10th win after scattering six hits over seven innings and striking out five while issuing just two walks. Her 2.16 ERA now ranks third in the GSC, and her 10 pitching wins rank seventh.
 
Tori Perkins led off the third inning with a single up the middle and scored two batters later on an RBI double from Wright, putting UWF ahead 1-0. Montevallo evened the score in the fourth, but the tie would not last for long. Meghan Toney dropped down a bunt single and stole second before Smiley drove her in with a single to center field.
 
Gilbert helped her own cause in the seventh with a leadoff single to right field. After she stole second and advanced to third on a ball put in play by Perkins, Gilbert scored on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from Courtney McLellan to stretch the West Florida lead to 3-1.
 
Gilbert got three groundouts from the top of Montevallo's order in the bottom of the seventh to end the game and give UWF the 3-1 victory.
 
Game 2: UWF 5, Montevallo 9
The Falcons put together big innings in the fourth and fifth to pull away from West Florida in Game 2. Montevallo mustered just two hits against UWF starter Sarah Maloney through the first three innings, but then the Falcons got to the senior with a five-spot in the fourth.
 
Perkins finished off the game with 1.2 hitless innings of relief, and she has allowed just one hit and one run over her last 6.2 innings in the circle.
 
Meghan Toney started the scoring for UWF in the fourth inning with a double to left field that scored Wright, and Kara Wilson lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Tiona Hill, to cut the Montevallo lead to 5-2. The Falcons benefited from a four-run fifth inning, however, and stretched it back to 9-2 before the sixth.
 
Callan Taylor hit her fourth home run of the year in the sixth – a two-run shot – and Wilson singled to right in the seventh to finish off the scoring. The two-RBI game for Wilson was her second in the last three games.
 
UWF will wrap up the series with a 9 a.m. first pitch on Sunday.