POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
 
DENVER, Colo. – A remarkable season came to an end for the No. 2-ranked University of West Florida softball team, with the Argonauts falling 3-2 to Grand Valley State in the NCAA Championship on Saturday. With the loss, West Florida finishes the season at 54-11, marking the program's highest win total since 2005, when the Argonauts won 60 games.
 
"This team is special," head coach Ashliegh McLean said. "They won the conference championship, won the regular season, and won regionals, so we have a special team altogether, and I just told our younger kids that we'll be back here."
 
Grace Gilbert was nearly perfect through five innings for UWF, allowing only one hit and retiring 12 consecutive batters through her first 5.1 frames. In a classic pitcher's duel, Gilbert and GVSU starter Alison Lipovsky allowed three combined hits through five innings.
 
Gilbert was charged with the loss, finishing the season at 25-5. Her .833 winning percentage ranks seventh in single-season UWF history, and Kelsey Sweatt's .826 is ninth.
 
"Gracie had a great outing today, and she's been great for us all postseason. She showed up. It was a pitcher's duel, and she threw her pitches and hit her spots, and unfortunately, we just came up on the short end."
 
The Argonauts lineup chipped away at Lipovksy, who entered the game with a 0.83 ERA for the season. In the sixth, the bats broke through for four hits and two runs, going ahead 2-0 late.
 
After Teala Howard put down a bunt single and stole second, Rhiannon Sassman doubled to left-center to start the scoring – just two batters before Kathleen Smiley stretched the lead to 2-0 with a single up the middle to score Sassman.
 
"There was a little bit of pressure at that time, so I was trying to take a deep breath, relax, and find a pitch I could hit hard," senior Rhiannon Sassman said of her at-bat in the sixth inning.
 
Gilbert worked out of a jam in the sixth after issuing a walk and back-to-back singles, getting a grounder to go Mallory Vining's way. With one away and the bases loaded, Vining cleanly fielded the ground ball and flipped it to Mika Garcia, who barehanded the toss and made a strong throw to first to finish the inning.
 
GVSU was able to break through in the seventh, however, getting a game-tying, two-run home run from Nikoma Holmen – her 12th of the year. The Lakers took the win an inning later on a sacrifice fly from Lydia Goble to advance to the semifinal round of the championship.
 
This year's team set the program record for fielding percentage (.977) and improved its record by 16.5 games. West Florida set several high-water marks this year, in many respects having the program's best season in over a decade. The team's 54 wins are the most for the program since 2005, their 1.80 ERA is the best since 2006, and their 5.6 runs per game are the most since 2010.
 
Led by the class of 2019 seniors, UWF has reached four consecutive NCAA Tournaments – which had not been done since 1998-2001 – and won 173 games, the most in a four-year stretch since 2002-2005.
 
"A key part of our team are only sophomores and freshmen, so there's a lot of good talent coming back," Sassman said. "They should be excited for next year."
 
 
Record Book Updates/Notes

• Teala Howard's .464 batting average ties the UWF single-season record.
• She also enters the top 10 in UWF single-season history in on-base percentage (.498; third), hits (98; fourth), and steals (53; third).
• Rhiannon Sassman's .485 on-base percentage ranks fifth in single-season UWF history, her 8 triples are the sixth-most in a single season, and her 11 times hit by pitch are the third-most in single season history.
• Kelsey Sweatt's hits allowed per seven innings rank fourth in UWF history (4.1).
• Sassman ranks eighth in UWF career history in batting (.362), ninth in runs scored (166), fifth in slugging (.581), seventh in RBIs (156), fourth in doubles (48), second in triples (24), fifth in total bases (366), ninth in walks (93), sixth in fielding assists and first in times hit by pitch (34).
  • NOTE: Sassman missed the second half of her junior season due to injury
• Kathleen Smiley ranks 11th in UWF career history in RBIs (149), seventh in walks (95) and eighth in home runs (21).
• Rachel Wright is fourth in UWF history in career doubles (48) and 10th in total bases (303).
• Grace Gilbert currently has the sixth-best career winning percentage (.770; 37-11) in UWF history.