PENSACOLA, Fla. – Behind another excellent performance in the circle from Sarah Maloney, the University of West Florida softball team picked up a 6-2 win in the 2018 regular-season finale against Valdosta State on Sunday afternoon. With the win, UWF locked up the 6-seed in next week's Gulf South Conference Tournament and improved to 29-18 on the year.
 
Fittingly, Maloney earned the win on Senior Day, and her classmates Tiona Hill and Meghan Toney brought in the go-ahead run and an insurance run to seal the win for UWF. Maloney improved to 9-4 after allowing only four hits and two runs across seven innings, with both of those runs coming on a Brandy Morgan home run in the second inning.
 
Maloney was in absolute control in the final four innings of action, retiring the final 10 batters she faced and allowing just one baserunner after the third frame. She lowered her season ERA to 2.08, good for third in the GSC, while moving up to fourth in opponent batting average (.208) and strikeouts (99) in the conference.
 
The UWF offense impressed on Sunday, scattering eight hits on the way to scoring six runs for a second consecutive game. West Florida averaged nearly six runs per contest and hit .291 over the weekend.
 
Jibrasha Moore and Grace Gilbert had multi-hit days, their 13th and 9th of the season. Moore also stretched her hitting streak to eight games, and Toney extended her on-base streak to 12 games.
 
Moore and Toney started the game with a single and a walk, and Kathleen Smiley lifted a single down the right field line to score both of them, giving UWF an early 2-0 lead.
 
After Morgan homered for VSU in the third, Hill ripped a double into left center to score Gilbert and give UWF the 3-2 lead. That would be all Maloney needed in the circle, as she dominated the rest of the way, but UWF added two more in the fourth and another in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-2 and take the win.
 
UWF has earned the 6-seed in the Gulf South Conference Tournament and will face 3-seed Alabama Huntsville on Thursday, May 3 at 10 a.m.