VALDOSTA, Ga. – After a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon, the second-ranked University of West Florida softball team dropped the series finale at No. 9 Valdosta State on Sunday. With the loss, UWF falls to 27-4 for the year but still leads the Gulf South Conference with an 11-1 league record.
 
West Florida threatened early, putting a pair of runners on in the first before Jacquelynne Poling broke a scoreless tie with her second home run of the weekend to lead off the second inning.
 
Tori Perkins and Valdosta State pitchers Giovanna Watts and Kasie Johnson traded zeroes in the first and third, but West Florida jumped ahead 3-0 with another pair of runs in the inning with back-to-back RBI singles from Perkins and Mika Garcia.
 
The difference in the game came in the fifth, with a pair of Valdosta State home runs. Jordenne Gaten hit a solo shot with one out, and Kiley Robb hit a three-run roundtripper with two away to give Valdosta State the 4-3 advantage.
 
Kathleen Smiley, Poling, and Callan Taylor each scored a run in the game, and Perkins fell to 8-1 on the year in the circle.
 
West Florida will visit Spring Hill in Mobile, Alabama, on Wednesday, before heading to Cleveland, Mississippi, over the weekend for a GSC series against Delta State.