VIERA, Fla. – No. 4 West Florida improved to 6-2 on the year with another pair of wins at the Florida Tech Invitational on Saturday afternoon, sweeping No. 25 Saint and No. 9 Florida Tech. Teala Howard had multiple hits in each game, and Grace Gilbert led UWF with three RBIs across the two contests.
 
Howard is now hitting .533 on the year with 12 runs scored, and Gilbert has 14 RBIs in 8 games. Additionally, the UWF pitching staff has a collective 2.25 ERA.
 
The wins gave UWF three victories over ranked opponents this season.
 
West Florida wraps up the weekend on Sunday against Florida Southern, with first pitch set for 10 am ET at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera.
 
GAME 1: UWF 4, Saint Leo 3 (8 innings)
UWF took the first lead of the game in the third inning, when Grace Gilbert singled in Kayla Mayo to go ahead 1-0. The Argonauts stretched the lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Callan Taylor stole home on a throw down to second from SLU, in an effort to catch Mika Garcia stealing.  
 
Saint Leo picked up a run in the bottom half of the inning when Amanda James scored on a wild pitch, but West Florida would stretch the lead back to two runs in the seventh on a grounder from Gilbert that brought in Mayo again. The Lions struck for two runs and tied the game in the bottom half, scoring on a ground ball error and a single to center field, each with two outs.
 
But like they did on Friday night against Palm Beach Atlantic, the Argonauts took advantage of the international tiebreaker, which came into effect in the eighth inning. Freshman Laurynn Boggs started the inning on second base, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch to give UWF a 4-3 lead.
 
Gilbert got through the eighth with no problem and gave UWF the win, forcing two groundouts before a flyout to Howard in left-center field finished the game.
 
Mika Garcia went 2-for-4 at the plate to pick up her first multi-hit game of the season, and Gilbert allowed just four hits and one earned run in her second win of the year.
 
GAME 2: UWF 5, Florida Tech 3
West Florida never trailed in Game 2 against Florida Tech, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning after a Mika Garcia grounder led to an error from shortstop Rachel Kraak that allowed Gilbert and Howard to each score.
 
UWF cruised along until the fifth, when Gilbert and Jacquelynne Poling had RBI singles and Garcia lifted a sacrifice fly to give the Argonauts a 5-1 lead. That marked Poling's second multi-hit game of the year, and hers would end up being the game-winning RBI.
 
FT picked up a pair of runs off freshman Megan Warhurst, getting one in the fifth and another in the seventh, but the rookie got two groundouts with the bases loaded in the final frame to end the threat.
 
Kelsey Sweatt faced little trouble in earning her second win of the season. The junior allowed only one hit over four innings and lowered her season ERA to 2.86. She has struck out 20 batters in 22 innings and opponents have hit just .220 against her.
 
Warhurst entered in the fifth and earned her second save this year.