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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 10 University of West Florida softball team will return to Gulf South Conference play on Friday and Saturday with a series against Mississippi College. The single game on Friday will begin at 6 pm, and the Saturday doubleheader is scheduled for a 2 pm first pitch.
 
Fans can follow along with live stats and a live broadcast of all three games by clicking the link above or by visiting GoArgos.com/Live. Fans can also keep up with the action by following the team on Twitter and Instagram, @GoArgos.
 
A Look at Mississippi College
Mississippi College has been one of UWF's toughest matchups since joining the conference in 2015, with West Florida holding a 7-5 advantage against the Choctaws in the last four years. MC has won nine straight games and 13 of 14.
 
As usual, MC has been a well-balanced team offensively, with five batters hitting over .325. Carly Crawford leads the team with three home runs and a .375 batting average, while Alexia Harmon ranks 3rd in Division II with 8 doubles.
 
Cori Cooper (3-2, 1.04 ERA) leads the team in ERA and has allowed just 14 hits and four earned runs over 27.0 innings. Hannah Creel (6-0, 1.86 ERA) has a team-high 48 strikeouts in 49.0 innings pitched.
 
How About Rhiannon Sassman
Senior Rhiannon Sassman has started the season on a tear for West Florida, leading the Gulf South Conference in batting (.519), slugging (.923), and triples (5), while also ranking second in the league in on-base percentage (.591), RBIs (23), and total bases (48). Her 48 total bases also rank 5th in Division II, and she is 7th in the country in both hits (27) and RBIs (23).
 
Sassman currently ranks sixth in UWF history with a .370 career batting average, fourth with a .609 career slugging percentage, ninth with 37 career doubles, third with 21 career triples, and is tied for first with 26 times hit by pitch. Her 21 triples also lead all active Division II softball players, rank second among active players at any NCAA level, and are tied for the most in Gulf South Conference history.
 
Over five games last week, Sassman tallied 12 hits, scored eight runs, and slugged 1.471, while stealing four bases and not striking out. She hit .900 (9-10) with three doubles, two triples, and two home runs in the weekend series against Christian Brothers, leading the team in each of those categories.
 
The Streak
West Florida is currently riding a 14-game winning streak that dates back to February 8, with the team's lone loss of the season coming earlier that day against now-No. 9 Florida Tech. It's easy to find things to be happy with in an 18-1 season, and UWF has been even better in the last 14 games. The team is hitting .410, averaging 8.8 runs per game, has 50 extra-base hits, and has a 1.19 team ERA during the streak. This is UWF's longest winning streak since the team won 23 in a row in 2017.
 
You Can't Be Wrong If You're...
Rachel Wright has come out on fire in her senior campaign, batting .448 with 5 doubles, 5 triples, and 23 runs scored at the top of the UWF order. She entered the season ranked eighth in the UWF record books with 38 career doubles, and she has moved up to fifth on that same list with 43.
 
Wright ranks in the top 10 in Division II in hits (26; 9th), total bases (44; 9th), and triples (5; 2nd). She also has a team-best 12-game hitting streak, hitting .471 with 9 extra-base hits and 18 runs scored over those 12 games.
 
Goodness, Our Pitchers
UWF's dominant performances in the circle last weekend should have come as no surprise. The team is second in the GSC and seventh in Division II with a 1.11 ERA and the team has put together 7 shutouts, good for 3rd in DII.
 
Kelsey Sweatt (.126) and Tori Perkins (.139) have each been close to unhittable, ranking first and third in the conference in opponent batting average, and Grace Gilbert's .248 opponent batting average is good for 20th in the conference.
 
Oh Yeah, We're Ranked
After sweeping Auburn Montgomery on the road last weekend, the University of West Florida softball maintained its No. 10 ranking in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, which was released on Wednesday.
 UWF is one of three Gulf South Conference teams in the top 25, joining No. 4 Valdosta State and No. 16 Alabama Huntsville. Mississippi College was the second team receiving votes in this week's poll.
 
The Argonauts have impressed in every aspect of the game, ranking sixth in Division II in shutouts (6), eighth in ERA (1.21), 10th in fielding percentage (.978), 10th in batting average (.375), and 12th in scoring (8.00 runs per game).
 
Entering Wednesday, West Florida led the GSC in batting, on-base percentage (.454), scoring, slugging percentage (.549), and winning percentage (.941), while also holding the longest winning streak in the conference at 14 games.
 
About Last Week
UWF took care of Auburn Montgomery to improve to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the Gulf South Conference with a series sweep over last weekend. The Argonauts pitching staff did not allow a run all weekend on the way to outscoring the Warhawks 14-0 over three games.
 
Rachel Wright and Teala Howard were the stars at the top of the lineup, each batting .500 in the series. Wright had a pair of triples in the series finale on Saturday and led UWF with 10 total bases for the weekend, while Howard matched Wright's team-high 5 hits and stole three bases. Mika Garcia came in clutch on Saturday and tallied four RBIs while going 3-for-6 in the doubleheader.
 
All three of West Florida's pitchers -- Grace Gilbert, Kelsey Sweatt, and Tori Perkins -- threw complete game shutouts in the series. The trio held AUM to a .116 batting average and shutout the Warhawks for the first time. AUM entered the weekend hitting .373 and averaging 8.3 runs per game.