PENSACOLA, Fla. – The second-ranked University of West Florida softball team improved to 43-8 and 25-4 in the Gulf South Conference with another pair of wins on Saturday, finishing off a sweep over West Alabama with wins of 6-5 and 1-0. The Argonauts finish the regular season at the top of the GSC and will host next week's conference tournament, which begins on Thursday.
 
Teala Howard led UWF with three hits in the doubleheader, and Tori Perkins had a pair of doubles while earning the win in the first game of the day. Rachel Wright and Kathleen Smiley each also added two hits on Senior Day, and Rhiannon Sassman had three RBIs.
 
GAME 1: UWF 6, UWA 5
West Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead after just an inning and stretched the lead to 6-0 after a four-run third inning on Senior Day. Senior Rachel Wright led off the with a single and advanced to third after a sacrifice bunt from Teala Howard and a wild pitch, and Rhiannon Sassman brought her in with a ground ball to second base.
 
Just a batter later, Kathleen Smiley belted the 20th home run of her Argonaut career – a towering fly ball into left-center field – to put the UWF lead at 2-0. Her home run puts her in a tie for the eighth-most round-trippers in UWF history.
 
In the third, Sassman doubled to right-center and scored Sara Spears and Howard, before Courtney McLellan's hit a dribbler back up the middle that couldn't be handled by UWA, bringing in Sassman. Tori Perkins wrapped up the scoring with a double of her own, bringing in Smiley with a shot to right-center field and putting West Florida ahead 6-0.
 
Tori Perkins earned the win in Game 1, improving to 10-2 on the year. The senior started out extremely well, allowing just one hit over the first three innings.
 
UWA scratched across a pair of runs in the third, before adding three more in the seventh. The game came to an end in one of the most exciting ways UWF has seen this year, with a single to left field from West Alabama's Hailey Best.
 
Teala Howard added her first outfield assist of the year to end the game, firing a throw from the left field fence to catch UWA's Jenna Goldsmith at the plate for the final out.
 
GAME 2: UWF 1, UWA 0
Grace Gilbert earned her GSC-leading 17th win of the year with what might have been her most dominant performance this season. The sophomore allowed just four hits in her fourth shutout of the season, going the distance for the 12th time this year.
 
Wright singled to right-center in the third inning, giving UWF the 1-0 lead and providing Gilbert with all the offense she needed in the circle.
 
Gilbert retired the first eight batters she faced and allowed just two hits over the last 3.1 innings. She needed only 83 pitches to get through the game – the fewest she has thrown in a seven-inning complete game this year.
 
UWF will host the Gulf South Conference Tournament next week, running from Thursday, May 2 through Sunday, May 5 at the UWF Softball Complex. The Argonauts will play at 5:30 pm in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, with their opponent to be decided on Sunday.