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TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 2-ranked University of West Florida softball team will play 11 of its next 12 games on the road, starting with a four-game weekend at the Captain D's Surf 'N Turf Classic in Dahlonega, Georgia, this weekend. UWF will face No. 4 North Georgia and No. 21 Wingate over the weekend at Haines & Carolyn Hill Stadium.
 
UWF will play UNG at 2 pm ET on Sunday and will follow that with a game against Wingate at 4 pm ET. The Argonauts will then play Wingate at 11 am ET on Sunday and will wrap the weekend with a 3 pm ET tilt against North Georgia.
 
All four games will feature live stats, which can be found by clicking the link above.
 
Who Are We Playing?
West Florida has a tough slate ahead at the Captain D's Surf 'N Turf Classic this weekend, facing a pair of ranked opponents in No. 4 North Georgia and No. 21 Wingate in Dahlonega, Georgia.
 
North Georgia, led by Kylee Smith, has been one of the top pitching squads in the country. Smith is second in Division II in strikeouts (109) and wins (10), while ranking third in shutouts (5) and 10th in ERA (0.41).
 
UNG enters the weekend with an 18-6 record, with one of those losses coming to Auburn Montgomery in the first weekend of the year and another two coming to Palm Beach Atlantic, which UWF defeated 11-5 at the Leadoff Classic.
 
Like UWF, Wingate has been one of the hottest teams in the country, as the Bulldogs are riding a 16-game winning streak after dropping their first two games of the season to Erskine. West Florida and UNG are the first two ranked teams Wingate will play this season.
 
Wingate has been strong all over the field, ranking 13th in Division II in batting average (.363), 15th in slugging (.554), and 15th in shutouts (5). Aubrey Reep and Rachel Weidner have been a two-headed monster in the circle, taking the top two spots in the South Atlantic Conference in strikeouts, with 72 and 71, respectively. The duo also has a 1.05 and 1.85 ERA for the year, both of which rank in the top 10 in the conference.
 
About Last Week
West Florida swept Mississippi College and Miles last week to improve to 21-1 for the year and 9-0 in the Gulf South Conference. Teala Howard led UWF with 7 runs, 9 hits, 6 stolen bases and 11 total bases over the weekend, and Courtney McLellan hit a team-best .625 over 5 games.
 
Grace Gilbert was the ace over the week, throwing 10 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts, a .125 opponent batting average and no walks. Her week included a shutout against Mississippi College on Friday, when she struck out five and allowed only three hits in her GSC-best third shutout of the season.
 
Teala Howard Is Only A Freshman
For the third time this season, University of West Florida freshman Teala Howard has been named the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Week.
 
The Lake Butler, Florida, native hit .600 (9-15) with 11 total bases across five games, against Miles and Mississippi College last weekend. She was a perfect 6-6 in steal attempts during the week and also led UWF in runs scored (7).
 
For the season, Howard leads the GSC in runs scored (29) and steals (20), while ranking in the top three in the league in batting (.522; 2nd), on-base percentage (.560; 3rd), and hits (35; 3rd).
 
That week, Howard hit .556 (10-for-18) with 8 runs, 7 RBIs, 4 steals, and a home run at the Leadoff Classic, and she has continued dominating in the following weeks.
 
The rookie leads UWF with 10 multi-hit games, and she has reached in 18 of 19 contests this year. She ranks fourth in Division II with 29 hits on the year, leads the GSC in runs (29) and stolen bases (17), and is second in the GSC in batting (.509).
 
Wow Gracie Gilbert
Sophomore Grace Gilbert has allowed just two runs over her last five appearances, in which time she is 5-0 with a 0.56 ERA over 25 innings. That stretch includes three complete game shutouts -- a total that ranks eighth in Division II this year.
 
Gilbert struck out a season-high five batters in her most recent performance, a shutout over Mississippi College. Prior to that, Gilbert struck out four batters over three innings against Miles and she threw another shutout against Auburn Montgomery on February 22. Aside from a start against then-No. 18 Palm Beach Atlantic on February 9 when she gave up 5 runs, Gilbert has posted a 0.71 ERA over nine appearances with only four earned runs allowed over 39.1 innings.
 
Oh Yeah, We're Ranked
With a 21-1 record through the first week of March, the University of West Florida softball team has jumped up to No. 2 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, which was released Wednesday. This matches the highest ranking in program history, when UWF was ranked No. 2 in 2005.
 
West Florida moved from the 10-spot in the poll after a sweep over Mississippi College, which has received votes in the poll in each of the last two weeks. The Argonauts outscored MC 13-8 and hit .316, while shutting out the Choctaws in the series opener on Friday.
 
UWF is the highest-ranked Gulf South Conference team in the poll, and the Argonauts are joined by No. 5 Valdosta State and No. 16 Alabama Huntsville. Southern Arkansas is a unanimous first-place selection by the voting committee, earning all 16 first-place votes. Following West Florida at No. 2 are Concordia Irvine, North Georgia, and Valdosta State.
 
UWF ranks in the top 10 in Division II in shutouts (8; 4th), batting (.376; 10th), ERA (1.34; 10th), and fielding percentage (.978; 10th).