FULL TEAM
GSC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP HOMEPAGE
 
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It has already been a banner year for the University of West Florida softball team, and the Argonauts can now add several Gulf South Conference yearly awards to the accolades. Rhiannon Sassman has been named the GSC Player of the Year, Teala Howard was named Freshman of the Year, and first-year coach Ashliegh McLean has been named the GSC Coach of the Year.
 
In addition to those, five Argonauts earned First Team All-GSC status on Wednesday afternoon. Sassman is the third baseman on the first team, Courtney McLellan earned a spot as an outfielder, Howard is a utility player on the team, and pitchers Kelsey Sweatt and Grace Gilbert made the first team, with Gilbert earning an at-large spot.
 
McLean has led UWF to top-10 rankings in every in-season national poll this year, which includes four weeks at the No. 1 spot in the NFCA Coaches Poll. Under the leadership of the UWF graduate, West Florida has recorded the eighth-best winning percentage in Division II this season, ranks third nationally in fielding percentage (.977), 15th in shutouts (14), 18th in ERA (1.93), and 20th in batting average (.332). Winona State and Grand Valley State are the only other schools in the country to rank in the top 20 in each of those categories. This marks the fifth Coach of the Year award for UWF and it is McLean's first.
 
Sassman earned her third All-GSC honor and her first conference player of the year honor on Wednesday. Sassman, an Orlando, Florida, native has saved her best season for last – she leads Division II with 8 triples and is the GSC career leader in triples with 24. On top of that, she is among conference leaders in batting (.403), slugging (.664), OBP (.495), runs (39), hits (60), RBIs (46), and doubles (14). The senior will wrap up an extraordinary career at UWF at the end of the season, as she ranks in the top 10 in program history in batting (.365), slugging (.596), doubles (46), triples (24), runs (157), RBIs (150), total bases (352), and walks (85).
 
She is UWF's fourth GSC Player of the Year in conference history, and the first for the Argonauts since 1999.
 
Teala Howard has been nothing short of exceptional in her first season at UWF, picking up the program's first GSC Freshman of the Year award since 2003. The rookie has put together one of the best offensive seasons in recent UWF history, ranking second in single-season batting average (.457), fifth in on-base percentage (.489), and fourth in stolen bases (42). A native of Lake Butler, Florida, Howard is ninth in Division II in hits (75) this year and 11th in stolen bases.
 
Courtney McLellan has shined since jumping into a starting role in right field in March, hitting .348 with 11 doubles and 3 home runs when starting. The sophomore from Bradenton, Florida, has walked twice as much as she has struck out this season, and she has destroyed GSC pitching, with a .391 batting average and a .667 slugging percentage against the conference.
 
Kelsey Sweatt has been tougher to hit than anyone else in the GSC this year, leading the league in hits allowed per seven innings (4.3) and opponent batting average (.174). The sophomore transfer from USC-Upstate ranks second in the league with 16 wins and has posted the second-best ERA in the conference, at 1.62. Her winning percentage of .889 (16-2) would be the second-best in UWF single-season history and her hits allowed per seven innings would rank fourth.
 
The GSC leader in victories, Grace Gilbert earned All-GSC honors for the first time in her career, posting a 17-4 record in the regular season. She has a .218 opponent batting average (5th) and a 2.04 ERA (6th) that rank among the league leaders, and she holds the eighth-highest single-season winning percentage in UWF history, at .810.
 
UWF now has 51 all-time First Team All-GSC honorees.
 
West Florida will host Delta State in the First Round of the GSC Softball Championship on Thursday at 5:30 pm at the UWF Softball Complex.