VIERA, Fla. – The fourth-ranked University of West Florida softball team cruised to an early win against New Haven and finished a late comeback win over Palm Beach Atlantic to get a 2-0 start at the Florida Tech Invitational on Friday. Teala Howard led the Argonauts with four hits and four RBIs across the two games.
 
Pitching stood out for UWF, as Grace Gilbert threw a two-hitter against New Haven to start the day, before Kelsey Sweatt and Megan Warhurst held PBA to just five hits and two runs.
 
UWF continues play at the FT Invitational on Saturday, facing No. 25 Saint Leo at 2:30 pm ET and No. 9 Florida Tech at 5 pm ET at the USSSA Space Coast Complex. West Florida defeated Florida Tech 11-2 in last weekend's season-opener and fell to Saint Leo 5-2 last Sunday.
 
GAME 1: UWF 8, New Haven 0 (6 innings)
West Florida dominated from the start against New Haven. Howard reached on a throwing error and scored on the same play in the first inning, giving UWF an early 1-0 lead.
 
That lone run would be all Grace Gilbert needed in the game – she went the distance, allowing just two hits over six shutout innings. The junior improved to 1-1 on the year after an outing that was highlighted by three perfect innings to start the game.
 
Courtney McLellan, Ally Merrill, and Gilbert each had RBI base hits over the next three innings, and Howard had a bases-loaded triple in the second, giving Gilbert a seven-run cushion. Howard added another run in the sixth with an RBI triple – her second triple of the game, extending the lead to 8-0.
 
Freshman Kayla Mayo had her second multi-hit game in the last week, with a 2-for-2 performance in which she scored three runs and drew a walk.
 
GAME 2: UWF 3, Palm Beach Atlantic 2 (8 innings)
Palm Beach Atlantic got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning, scoring on a solo home run and an RBI double on UWF starter Kelsey Sweatt. The junior settled down shortly after, retiring the side in order in the third inning before working around a leadoff single in the fourth.
 
Sweatt's day was done after four innings, having allowed five hits and striking out three. Freshman Megan Warhurst entered in the fifth and spun an absolutely dominant four innings.
 
The rookie did not allow a hit and struck out two batters in her four innings of work, getting nine groundouts.
 
UWF trailed until the sixth, when Grace Gilbert hit a two-run, inside-the-park home run after a Teala Howard single and stolen base. Warhurst got out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth after PBA put down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on second and third with just one out. Warhurst responded with a strikeout and a grounder to first base to end the inning.
 
After a scoreless seventh inning for both sides, the international tiebreaker went into effect, placing a runner on second with no outs to start the eighth inning for each team.
 
Jibrasha Moore was on second for UWF, and she advanced to third on a Mallory Vining sacrifice bunt. Moore then scored on a wild pitch, coming across for the game-winning run.
 
PBA went with the same strategy in the bottom half, dropping a bunt to put a runner on third with one away. Warhurst got a strikeout and a groundout to Vining at second base to end the inning and give UWF the win.