NOTES
STATS | VIDEO
TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – No. 2 West Florida and No. 4 Florida Tech will face off in the NCAA South Super Regional this week, beginning with a single game on Thursday at 4 pm at the UWF Softball Complex. A three-game series, Game 2 of the series will be played at 1 pm on Friday, and the final game will be played at 3:30 pm on Friday, if necessary.
 
The winner of the series will advance to the NCAA Softball Championship in Denver, Colorado, from May 23-27. UWF has made it to the NCAA Championship four times in its history – in 2000, 2003, and 2017, when the Argos hosted their first Super Regional.
 
UWF stands at 51-9 on the year and enters the series as the 1-seed in the South Region, while Florida Tech is the 2-seed.
 
All games this week will have a live broadcast and live stats, which can be found at GoArgos.com/Live or by clicking the link above.
 
TICKETS

Ticket Type	Group	Price
Day Pass	Adult	$8
Day Pass	Senior (65), Youth 12 and under	$5
Day Pass	Student	$5

• Tickets can be purchased at the gate. Children ages 2 and under are free.

 
 
In the NCAA Tournament
West Florida is making its 14th NCAA Tournament appearance, and the Argonauts have been one of the best teams in the Gulf South Conference in NCAA Tournament play. UWF has 33 wins all-time in the NCAA Tournament, third-most among GSC teams, and the Argos hold a .524 winning percentage in the Tournament.
 
UWF's 12 wins in the NCAA Tournament since 2017 are the most in the GSC, and the Argonauts hosted the South Region 1 Tournament in 2017, also as a 1-seed.
 
West Florida has now reached four consecutive NCAA Tournaments, marking the first time the team has done so since 1998-2001.
 
The NCAA Super Regional format is a simple best-of-three series, between UWF and Florida Tech in the South Region. The winner of the series will earn a trip to the NCAA Softball Championship in Denver, at the Regency Athletic Complex from May 23-27. 
 
About Florida Tech
Florida Tech enters the weekend at 42-10 and having won 12 games in a row, dating back to April 7. The Panthers defeated Mississippi College twice and Alabama Huntsville once in their perfect 3-0 weekend in the NCAA South 2 Regional, hosted in Melbourne last week.
 
FIT won the Sunshine State Conference title and are led by senior left-hander Melanie Murphy. The lefty allowed five earned runs over 20 innings against MC and UAH last weekend, earning the victory in the circle in each game. She also picked up the win in Florida Tech's win over UWF early in the season -- a 1-0 loss for the Argonauts at the NFCA Leadoff Classic.
 
This is Florida Tech's first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2015, and the team's No. 4 ranking is the best in program history.
 
Remembering Last Saturday
West Florida kept its season alive on Saturday with a pair of walkoff wins against 5-seed Tampa. The first walkoff hit came from Jacquelynne Poling in the eighth inning, with the bases loaded.
 
Game 2 provided similar drama, and it began with Poling when Tampa committed an error on a high chopper to third, putting Poling on second base. Callan Taylor lifted a sacrifice fly to even the score at 1-1, before Grace Gilbert dropped a bloop single with two outs to score Mallory Vining for the walkoff victory.
 
Gilbert and Kelsey Sweatt combined to throw 15 innings on Saturday, striking out 12, walking 1, holding Tampa to a .122 batting average, and recording a 0.47 ERA.
 
The Defense
This year's UWF defense has been one of the best in program history, ranking 2nd in Division II with a .978 fielding percentage. That percentage is also the highest in UWF history, eight points better than the 2009 team's .970.
 
The Argonauts' fielding percentage is 9th across all NCAA divisions, tied with the likes of Michigan, Tennessee, and Birmingham Southern.
 
Everyone, Come See How Good We've Been
This year's West Florida team has put together one of the best seasons the program has seen in the last decade. The Argonauts' 51 total wins and 25 conference victories are the most for the team since 2005 (60; 25), their 1.78 ERA is the best since 2007 (1.78), and their 5.9 runs per game are the most since 2010 (6.3). Additionally, UWF just won its first conference championship since 2005 and held the regular-season GSC crown for the first time since 2006.
 
Home Sweet Home
There has been no place quite like the UWF Softball Complex for the Argonauts this year, as the team has gone 28-2 at the friendly confines.
 
UWF is hitting .342 and is getting great production from all over the lineup. Teala Howard leads UWF with a .478 average, 29 runs, and 44 hits at home, and she's a perfect 21-for-21 in steal attempts in Pensacola. Jacquelynne Poling leads the team with 8 doubles at home, and Rhiannon Sassman's .678 slugging percentage is a team-best.
 
In the circle, Kelsey Sweatt and Grace Gilbert are 23-1 with a 1.36 combined ERA at home, and opponents are hitting just .187 against the duo.
 
Gilbert Dominating the Circle
The GSC leader in victories (21), Grace Gilbert earned First Team All-GSC honors for the first time in her career this season. She has a .215 opponent batting average (5th) and a 1.95 ERA (6th) that rank among the GSC leaders, and she holds the seventh-highest single-season winning percentage in UWF history, at .846.
 
Gilbert added to an already impressive postseason on Saturday, throwing a combined 10 shutout innings against Tampa and delivering the walkoff single in Game 2 of the doubleheader to put West Florida in the NCAA South Super Regional.
 
The Impressive Rhiannon Sassman
Senior Rhiannon Sassman earned her third All-GSC honor and her first conference player of the year honor last week, and she became UWF's first-ever D2CCA South Region Player of the Year last 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 (.376), slugging (.601), OBP (.477), runs (44), hits (65), RBIs (49), and doubles (14), and she leads the nation with 8 triples. 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 (.359), slugging (.580), doubles (46), triples (24), runs (164), RBIs (155), total bases (358), and walks (89).
 
No Sweatt
Kelsey Sweatt was declared the D2CCA South Region Pitcher of the Year last Wednesday, after putting up outstanding numbers in her first season at West Florida, with a 1.44 ERA, a 19-3 record, and a .167 opponent batting average. The reigning GSC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Sweatt leads the GSC in ERA and hits allowed per seven innings (4.11), and she shut out West Alabama and Valdosta State in the GSC Tournament last weekend.
 
The sophomore transfer from USC-Upstate ranks second in the GSC with 19 wins and has posted the best ERA in the conference, at 1.44. Her winning percentage of .864 (19-3) would be the fifth-best in UWF single-season history and her hits allowed per seven innings would rank fourth.
 
That's Freshman of the Year Teala Howard
Teala Howard has been named one of eight finalists for the 2019 Schutt Sports / NFCA Freshman of the Year, the organization announced Wednesday. The rookie from Lake Butler, Florida, has already been named a first-team All-South Region selection by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and the D2CCA this season, and she earned GSC Freshman of the Year honors earlier this month. She currently ranks ninth in Division II in batting, fourth in total hits, and sixth in total stolen bases.
 
Howard's current batting average (.467) would be the best in UWF single-season history, her on-base percentage (.498) would be third, and her stolen base total (46) would be fourth. Howard has multiple hits in 30 of UWF's 60 games this year.
 
Howard is also riding a 14-game hitting streak that dates back to April 25 against Florida Southern, and she is hitting .489 over that time. Howard leads UWF in batting, runs (11), hits (23), RBIs (6), total bases (26), slugging (.553), on-base percentage (.510), and stolen bases (9) in that time.
 
Playing Ahead
UWF has been tough to stop when the team gets ahead, posting a 32-0 record when leading after 5 innings and a 39-1 mark when leading after 4 innings.
 
So Clutch
UWF ranks 27th in Division II with a .324 batting average, and the Argos have been just even better in clutch situations. West Florida is hitting an outstanding .329 with runners on and .329 with runners in scoring position.