NCAA SOFTBALL HOMEPAGE
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HOMEPAGE
FAN TRAVEL INFORMATION
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 2-ranked University of West Florida softball team scored seven runs over the last two innings in yet another comeback win over No. 4 Florida Tech in the NCAA South Super Regional on Friday, advancing to the NCAA Championship for the fourth time in program history.
 
The Argonauts will start play on Thursday, May 23, in Denver, and will find out their seeding over the weekend. Tickets to the NCAA Championship can be found in the coming days at the NCAA Championship Homepage linked above.
 
West Florida took the 7-1 win after scoring all seven runs in the final two innings, marking the fifth consecutive game in which UWF has been tied or trailed in the sixth inning.
 
"I think this team believed the whole game," head coach Ashliegh McLean said. "They weren't panicked, they weren't uptight, they were having fun and take different approaches. Grace (Gilbert), she threw a heck of a game. She knew her team would score for her – it was just a matter of time." 
 
The Argos got another brilliant performance from Grace Gilbert, who improved to 24-4 with her 16th complete game of the year. The sophomore allowed just four hits – only two of which came after the first inning – and she also drove in the game-winning run with a three-run triple in the sixth inning.
 
Florida Tech struck in the bottom of the first on Friday, scoring a run when a grounder bounced off the glove of a diving Rhiannon Sassman and went into the shallow outfield. Just a batter later, FIT's Vanessa Rubio hit into a 6-3-2 triple play, when she hit a ground ball to Mika Garcia that was thrown to Ally Merrill at first, and Merrill caught an aggressive Xiarysse Emerenciana trying to score, when Jacquelynne Poling applied the tag.
 
That triple play turned out to be a major momentum-shifter. While UWF struggled to get things going offensively against Melanie Murphy, Gilbert retired the next 11 batters she faced and did not walk a batter.
 
To little surprise, the action started in the sixth inning again for West Florida while the Argonauts trailed 1-0. A single from Sassman got things going, and she reached third when Poling's grounder to short was mishandled.
 
A batter later, 5-hitter Kathleen Smiley dropped down a suicide squeeze that scored Sassman, and Poling and Smiley moved into scoring position on Murphy's flip toward home that got away from catcher Jaden Kline. After Ally Merrill was hit by a pitch, Gilbert ripped a triple down the left field line that cleared the bases and gave UWF a 4-1 lead.
 
"We never got down at all," Sassman said. "We knew we were going to adjust at some point. It took a little longer than we wanted, but we knew it would happen."
 
UWF tacked on another three runs in the top of the seventh when Poling singled down the left field line, scoring Teala Howard and Sassman. A batter later, Merrill doubled to score pinch-runner Sara Spears, extending the UWF lead to 7-1.
 
Gilbert finished off the game by inducing a 1-6-3 double play and getting a groundout back to the circle in the seventh. She finished the weekend with a 0.00 ERA over 10 innings, allowing FIT to hit just .152.
 
Howard and Sassman each had multiple hits in the game, and Poling had two RBIs. Howard now has 7 multi-hit contests in UWF's 11 postseason games, batting .526 with 10 runs and 20 hits, and she has extended her hitting streak to 16 games – the sixth-longest hitting streak UWF history.
 
West Florida will begin play on Thursday, May 23, at the Regency Athletic Complex at MSU Denver. UWF will find out its seeding for the Championship over the weekend.