PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team clinched the regular-season Gulf South Conference title and locked up hosting duties for next week's GSC Tournament with a 3-0 win over West Alabama on Friday night. With the win, UWF improved to 41-8 on the year and 23-4 in conference play.
 
This marks the first time since 2006 that UWF has clinched at least a share of the GSC regular-season title since 2006.
 
The Argonauts got a dominant performance from Kelsey Sweatt for the second day in a row, along with a home run from Courtney McLellan to lead off the second inning and set the tone early.
 
Sweatt earned her 16th win of the season, improving to 16-2 and tying teammate Grace Gilbert and Hannah Creel from Mississippi College for the league lead in victories. The sophomore needed just 77 pitches to take care of the Tigers on Friday, striking out five and not issuing a walk in her third shutout and 13th complete game of the year.
 
Courtney McLellan's third home run of the season would be all the offense UWF needed, as she led off the second inning with a laser over the wall in right-center field.
 
After Grace Gilbert reached on an error a batter later, Rachel Wright singled to left-center field and stretched the UWF lead to 2-0. West Florida added a final run in the fifth with a Kathleen Smiley line drive to right field that brought in Teala Howard.
 
UWA had opportunities offensively in the second, third, and fifth innings, but all were stopped with strong defensive efforts from UWF. Catcher Ashley McNally was 2-for-2 in catching potential base-stealers on Friday, nabbing Jenna Goldsmith at third for the second out of the inning and catching Chrissy Tubbs at second after a leadoff single in the fifth.
 
With two runners on and just one out in the third, Kierra Hague flew out to center and Rachel Wright ended the inning with a perfect throw to McNally at the plate to catch Kendall Johnson. The outfield assist was Wright's first of the year and UWF's fourth as a team.
 
Teala Howard went 2-for-3, picking up her team-best 24th multi-hit game of the year. Sweatt still leads the GSC in opponent batting average (.172), and she lowered her ERA to 1.62 for the year.
 
West Florida's 23 conference wins are tied for the second-most in program history, tying the teams from 2016 and 2017 and trailing only the 2005 team's 25 GSC victories.
 
UWF will wrap up the regular season and celebrate Senior Day on Saturday with a doubleheader against West Alabama, beginning at 2 pm.