PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team swept Montevallo in a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon in Pensacola, improving to 25-3 on the year. UWF outscored the Falcons 15-2 and hit .440 on the day.
 
With a triple in Game 1, Rhiannon Sassman became the Gulf South Conference all-time leader with 22 career three-baggers. Sassman ranks third in UWF history in career triples, as the two student-athletes ahead of her on the list recorded their stats before West Florida joined the NCAA and the GSC.
 
The West Florida pitching staff shined again, posting a 0.00 ERA with one shutout while allowing only six hits in the doubleheader – all of which were singles. Montevallo hit just .133 as a team and struck out 16 times in 12 innings.
 
UWF was outstanding again offensively, tallying five extra-base hits and slugging .600 as a team. Teala Howard led the Argonauts with four hits and three runs scored, doing all her damage in the first game.
 
Game 1: UWF 11, Montevallo 0 (5 innings)
West Florida got off to a quick start offensively and got great outings in the circle from Grace Gilbert and Tori Perkins, who combined for UWF's GSC-best 10th shutout of the season.
 
Gilbert threw three innings in the run-rule victory on the way to earning her ninth win of the season. She struck out four and allowed only two baserunners, before Perkins entered in the fourth and shut down the Falcons for two innings. Perkins struck out five batters and walked only one, while allowing no hits.
 
Teala Howard went 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored, recording her 15th multi-hit game and her second with four hits this year. She helped UWF get the scoring started in the first inning by dropping down a bunt and forcing a Montevallo error that brought in Rachel Wright and put Howard on third.
 
That was just the first of three first-inning runs that UWF would score, with the other two coming on RBI doubles from Sassman and Kathleen Smiley. The senior Smiley cashed in another in the second with a grounder to second that scored Wright, and Callan Taylor and Jacquelynne Poling each singled to bring in a run in the second.
 
UWF scored three in each of the first two innings before a five-run third inning blew the doors open.
 
Tori Perkins – pinch-hitting for Gilbert – hit an inside-the-park home run to lead off the third and Sassman hit her GSC-record-setting triple with the bases loaded later in the frame, scoring Howard, Jibrasha Moore, and Courtney McLellan. Smiley added her final RBI with a sacrifice fly to score Sassman just a play later.
 
Game 2: UWF 4, Montevallo 2
The back half of the doubleheader provided a little more drama, as Montevallo jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. UWF did not take long to bounce back, with a Rachel Wright grounder scoring Gilbert in the second to even the score.
 
UWF added three more runs in the third to take a 4-1 lead, with RBIs from an Ashley McNally fielder's choice and a two-run single from Rachel Wright. Wright had a total of three RBIs in the game, marking her seventh multi-RBI game of the year, which is tied with Sassman for a team high.
 
Those four runs were more than enough for Kelsey Sweatt and Tori Perkins, who combined to strikeout seven Montevallo batters and allow just five hits over seven innings.
 
Sweatt got the start and went three innings, striking out five, walking none, and allowing only one hit and an unearned run. Perkins, who earned the win, finished the game with four innings of four-hit ball and improved to 8-0 for the season.
 
UWF will hit the road this weekend for a Gulf South Conference series against No. 9 Valdosta State in Valdosta, Georgia.