PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team's home-opener against Spring Hill was a success, with UWF taking wins on both ends of a doubleheader against Spring Hill on Wednesday at the UWF Softball Complex. West Florida won 8-0 in a run-rule shortened game in the front half of the doubleheader, and used a six-run sixth inning to take the 8-3 victory in Game 2.
 
The Argonauts got a 3-for-3 day from Jacquelynne Poling in Game 1 and a three-hit, three-RBI game from Rachel Wright in Game 2, along with a pair of strong pitching performances in each game. Poling and Wright each had four total hits in the doubleheader, and Wright and Mika Garcia had three RBIs apiece. With a hit in both games, Poling stretched her hitting streak to a team-best nine games.
 
Grace Gilbert picked up the win with a shutout in Game 1, allowing just five hits over five innings and throwing her first shutout of the season, while Kelsey Sweatt matched a career-high 10 strikeouts in West Florida's come-from-behind win.
 
Game 1: UWF 8, SHC 0 (5 innings)
The front end of the doubleheader was never in doubt for UWF, with Callan Taylor's RBI double in the second inning giving the Argonauts a lead they would not give up for the entire game. Poling and Gilbert added a pair of runs in the fourth, stretching the lead to 3-0.
 
Gilbert got some help from the defense early on, forcing Delaney Thomas into a 6-4-3 double play to end the first inning. She also retired 11 of the first 12 batters she saw, before surrendering two singles in the fourth. She got out of that jam with little problem, forcing Carlisle Jamison to ground out to Rhiannon Sassman to end the inning.
 
After Poling and Gilbert brought in two runs in the fourth, Gilbert allowed just one hit – a single to center field – in the fifth, which would ultimately be the end for Spring Hill.
 
The bottom of the fifth was all offense from West Florida, starting with Teala Howard getting hit by a pitch and Rhiannon Sassman singling to right field. Before Kathleen Smiley drew a walk, Howard would score on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 UWF, and Poling brought in two more runs with a chop single down the first base line. Between some miscommunication from SHC and aggressive Argonaut baserunning, both Sassman and pinch-runner Kara Wilson scored to stretch the UWF lead to 6-0.
 
Taylor brought in Poling with a single one batter later, and Mika Garcia drove a single to left that scored Taylor to make the score 8-0 and end the game.
 
Game 2: UWF 8, SHC 3
The nightcap looked like a pitcher's duel for the majority of the game. After Kelsey Sweatt walked Carmen Byrd to lead off the game, she struck out seven of the next nine batters she saw, on the way to improving her record to 3-0 and tying her career high with 10 strikeouts.
 
Sweatt's lone mishap of the day was a three-run home run hit by Hannah Fillmore that gave SHC a 3-0 lead. She sat down 10 of the next 11 batters she faced after that, before Tori Perkins wrapped the game up with a scoreless seventh inning.
 
The UWF offense struggled to get much going until the fifth inning, when Rachel Wright hit a two-run home run to cut into the SHC lead. From there, everything went West Florida's way. The top defensive effort of the day came on a low liner from Spring Hill's Ali Fowler, a ball that bounced out of a diving Garcia's glove at short and landed at the feet of Mallory Vining, who fired a bullet over to Ally Merrill at first for the out in the sixth.  
 
The Argonauts used a six-run sixth inning to take the win, starting with a Smiley walk. In the sixth, UWF picked up five extra base hits – all of which came with two outs – including back-to-back pinch-hit doubles from Taylor and Poling. Garcia, Courtney McLellan, and Rachel Wright each added RBIs in the inning.
 
West Florida starts conference play against Christian Brothers on Saturday and Sunday with 1 pm start times at the UWF Softball Complex.