TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – With a 2-0 win and a 4-2 loss, the 15th-ranked University of West Florida softball team split a neutral-site doubleheader with Florida Southern in Tallahassee on Tuesday afternoon. UWF is now 27-17 and FSC is 25-20 on the year.
 
The UWF pitching staff allowed just one earned run across 14 innings of work and struck out 15 batters, while holding Florida Southern to a .170 team batting average for the day.
 
Jibrasha Moore led all players with four hits in the doubleheader, recording her second three-hit game of the season in Game 2. Meghan Toney reached base five times with three hits and a pair of walks, stretching her on-base streak to nine games. Moore and Toney each have five-game hitting streaks after the doubleheader, and the duo combined to steal five bases on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Game 1: UWF 2, FSC 0
Grace Gilbert was at her best on Tuesday, allowing just three hits and striking out five in the first complete game shutout of her career. Gilbert did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and got six groundouts and three strikeouts in her first 3.1 innings of work.
 
Florida Southern's biggest threat of the game came in the fourth inning, when Zierra Flodman had a one-out single and Kensie Green drew a walk to put two Mocs runners on. Gilbert got out of the jam by striking out Makayla Deuberry to end the inning.
 
UWF tacked on its first run with a hard single down the left field line from Callan Taylor in the bottom of the third, scoring Jibrasha Moore after she and Meghan Toney singled to lead off the inning. Following the front end of the doubleheader, Taylor had four hits and four RBIs in her last three games, while also adding a pair of walks in that time.
 
Gilbert would not need any more from her offense, but she added an RBI single in the fifth on a line drive into right to bring in Toney, who led off the inning with a single and stole second. The freshman is batting .412 with three doubles and four RBIs this year when she pitches, and Gilbert's single extended her hitting streak to five games.
 
Game 2: UWF 2, FSC 4
Poor timing spoiled a solid offensive performance from UWF in Game 2, as the Argonauts could scratch across only two runs.
 
UWF trailed 3-0 after the first inning, when Florida Southern took advantage of a walk, a hit by pitch, an error and a single. All three FSC runs in the inning were unearned.
 
West Florida threatened early on, with Toney and Moore starting the first with singles and the Argonauts loading the bases in the second. FSC, behind starting pitcher Kelli Gault, was able to hold off the UWF threats and keep the Argos scoreless until the fifth.
 
Rachel Wright led off the fifth with a single to left field, and Moore tallied her third hit of the day to move Wright over to third. With the bases loaded, Callan Taylor hit a grounder to shortstop Makayla Deuberry, who delivered an off-target throw to home and allowed Wright to score, cutting the score to 4-1 before FSC extinguished the UWF threat.
 
The Argos struck again in the seventh with a Kathleen Smiley single up the middle that brought in Toney and cut the deficit to 4-2, but UWF would be stopped shortly after.
 
Outside of some bad luck in the first inning, UWF got a very strong start from Sarah Maloney in the circle. The senior threw five innings and allowed only one earned run, while striking out eight batters. She allowed only four hits over her final four innings of work in the tough-luck loss, and handed the reins over to Tori Perkins, who struck out two and allowed only two hits in two scoreless innings of relief.
 
UWF will host Valdosta State for Senior Weekend on Saturday and Sunday to wrap up the regular season.