PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team stands atop the Gulf South Conference standings with a 3-0 record, after a pair of thrilling wins over West Alabama on Saturday afternoon. The wins also put UWF at 6-3 on the year, following the weekend sweep.
 
The Argonauts hit .412 with five home runs on Saturday, slugging .804 along the way. The team was led offensively by Courtney McLellan and Mika Garcia, who each had a team-high four hits, and Garcia added six RBIs and 11 total bases with her two home runs. The long ball has come much more frequently for UWF lately – the Argonauts have 10 home runs in their last four games and have averaged more than 8 runs per game.
 
The Argonauts also got four shutout innings of relief from Kelsey Sweatt, who earned two saves on Saturday. She struck out three and allowed just two hits in those four innings, and she is one of only two pitchers in the GSC with multiple saves.
 
McLellan hit a team-high .556 over the weekend with a pair of double. Garcia hit .545 with two home runs, seven RBIs, and a 1.182 slugging percentage during the series, and Teala Howard went 5-for-10 with five runs scored. Kara Wilson drove in six runs, with three of her four hits going for extra bases.
 
West Florida will host Spring Hill in a doubleheader at home on Wendesday, February 24, starting at 2 pm.
 
GAME 1: UWF 8, West Alabama 7
West Alabama got ahead quickly on UWF starter Grace Gilbert, who earned her first win of the season in Game 1. The Tigers got a RBI double from Presley Witt before Nicole Buccieri brought in two with a single to right. Gilbert soon settled down, retiring eight of the next nine batters she faced.
 
Garcia homered in the first inning – her first roundtripper of the year – to cut into the UWA lead and put the score at 3-1.
 
UWA added three more in the fourth, but an outfield assist on a strong throw from left fielder Morgan Zettle ended the inning with West Alabama leading 6-1. That five-run Tiger lead would not last for long.
 
UWF put up a seven-spot in the bottom of the fourth, starting with a leadoff home run from Ally Merrill, her second of the year. Jacquelynne Poling singled to left field to score Laurynn Boggs, who pinch-ran for Courtney McLellan after a one-out double. With the bases loaded just a few batters later, Garcia singled into left field to score Zettle and pinch-runner Chelsea Dumas, and Kara Wilson followed with a three-run home run to give UWF the 8-6 lead.
 
Sweatt entered the circle in the fifth with one runner on but got out of the jam before too much damage was done. UWA scored one run on a single from Buccieri, but Sweatt induced a weak groundout to second and got a popup to shortstop to end the inning.
 
Sweatt worked around a pair of walks in the sixth and threw a perfect seventh to end the game and give UWF the win. In a start that was better than her numbers suggest, Gilbert was charged with five earned runs and seven runs in all, while striking out three and issuing just one walk.
 
GAME 2: UWF 7, West Alabama 5
It was a bit more of the same in Game 2 for the Argonauts, as UWA jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a Cassie Matlock home run. Freshman pitcher Montana Young quickly got in a groove and sat down the next 12 of the next 13 batters she faced.
 
Young improved to 2-0 on the year in her first career start. She finished the day with five strikeouts and only one walk over six innings, while allowing three earned runs.
 
Courtney McLellan delivered an RBI single to right – her first of three hits on the day – to score pinch-runner Kayanna Perez, tying up the game at 1-1 after two innings.
 
From there Young and UWA starter Kaeleigh Crutchfield traded zeroes until the fifth, when UWF jumped ahead. The Argos started the fifth with a double in the left-center gap from Gilbert, and Garcia and Wilson delivered back-to-back RBI doubles to take the 3-1 lead.
 
West Alabama put up four runs on three hits in the top of the sixth, but in typical UWF fashion, the Argonauts bounced back and took the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Kayla Mayo crushed her first home run of the year with McLellan on second to tie the game up at 5-5. After Teala Howard singled and stole second, Garcia hit the left field foul pole for her second home run of the afternoon to give UWF the final 7-5 lead.
 
Sweatt entered the game for the final frame and worked out of a jam with a ground ball to Howard at third to end the game.  
 
For the latest information on the UWF Softball team, fans can visit GoArgos.com/Softball or follow the team @UWFSoftball on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.