DAHLONEGA, Ga. – The second-ranked University of West Florida softball team split the opening day of the Captain D's Surf 'N Turf Classic in Dahlonega on Sunday, falling 2-0 to No. 4 North Georgia before shutting out No. 21 Wingate 3-0 in the second game. With the split, UWF is now 22-2 for the season.
 
Pitching shined yet again for the Argonauts on Sunday afternoon, with Grace Gilbert, Kelsey Sweatt, and Tori Perkins combining for a 0.50 ERA over 14 innings while allowing only 9 total hits. Sweatt earned her eighth win of the season – good for the best in the Gulf South Conference – and Tori Perkins lowered her season ERA to 0.98, which ranks second in the league.
 
Courtney McLellan hit a pair of doubles to lead UWF in slugging (1.000) and on-base percentage (.600) for the doubleheader, Ally Merrill added two hits, and Teala Howard scored twice and stole two bases.
 
GAME 1: UWF 0, North Georgia 2
The first game of the afternoon was a classic pitcher's duel between Gilbert and Abbie Crawford. The pair combined to allow just six hits over 12.2 innings, before Crawford was relieved by Kylee Smith in the circle.
 
Gilbert was the tough-luck loser after a tremendous start, striking out a career-high eight batters, walking none, and ultimately falling to 7-2 on the year. The sophomore has been on the wrong side of both of UWF's losses this year despite throwing gems in both games. In the 2-0 loss on Sunday and a 1-0 loss to Florida Tech on February 8, Gilbert has a combined 1.08 ERA with 12 strikeouts and just 1 walk over 13 innings, with just 6 hits allowed.
 
Both Gilbert and Crawford were masterful in their starts, with neither allowing a baserunner until Gilbert walked to lead off the bottom of the third. The Chipley, Florida, native retired the first 12 batters she faced and ran into trouble in the fifth inning when Lexi Duncan doubled to score Shelby Hammontree to score the game-winning run.
 
UWF mounted a threat in the sixth, starting with a one-out Jibrasha Moore infield single, but the Argonauts would fall short and finish the game down 2-0.
 
GAME 2: UWF 3, Wingate 0
Sweatt and Perkins found little trouble against Wingate, with the pair finishing the day with only five hits allowed. The Argonaut bats got moving quickly in Game 2, as UWF took an early 1-0 lead after a Kathleen Smiley double scored Teala Howard, who had two hits in the game.
 
West Florida hung on to that 1-0 lead until the fifth, with Howard scored on a grounder from Rhiannon Sassman, and Ashley McNally added another insurance run in the seventh with a double to right-center to score Gilbert.
 
Sweatt cruised through the first inning and worked out of a jam in the second after Wingate singled and doubled to start the frame. After Wingate's Alexa Sells doubled in the second, Sweatt retired nine of the final 10 batters she saw in the game.
 
Perkins earned her first save of the season after throwing three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and striking out a pair of Bulldog batters. She got around a possible Wingate rally in her first inning of work in the fifth, when Courtney McLellan got her first outfield assist of the season on a play at the plate to keep WU from scoring.
 
UWF will wrap up its time in Dahlonega on Monday, facing Wingate at 11 am ET and going for the revenge victory over North Georgia at 3 pm ET.