MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 23rd-ranked University of West Florida softball team split a doubleheader with Auburn Montgomery on Saturday to win the conference series on the road. With the split, UWF is 9-3 in Gulf South Conference play and 15-7 overall, while AUM is 7-2 in the league and 15-2 overall.
 
With the victory in Game 1 of the doubleheader, UWF became the first GSC team to win 15 games this season.
 
Teala Howard led UWF with three hits in the doubleheader, and Courtney McLellan's two RBIs, seven total bases, and 1.400 slugging percentage were all team highs.
 
UWF held its lead in the conference-wide home run race with five over the weekend, including two on Saturday. West Florida has 26, ahead of AUM with 22.
 
The Argonauts also held off the Warhawks on the basepaths over the weekend – AUM entered the series leading Division II in total steals (60) and steals per game (4.3). Over the three-game series, AUM went just 2-for-4 in stolen base tries, with Angela Agurkis and Brett Leiva each throwing out one runner.
 
UWF will be back home at the UWF Softball Complex next week, with a Wednesday doubleheader against Columbus State and a weekend series against Christian Brothers on Saturday, March 20, and Sunday, March 21.
 
GAME 1: No. 23 UWF 4, AUM 0
UWF starter Kelsey Sweatt and AUM's Bailie Barnes battled in a classic pitcher's duel in Game 1. Sweatt stood out,
striking out five and allowing just three hits in her seven innings of work. Sweatt improved to 6-2 on the year, giving her
the second-most wins in the Gulf South Conference this season.
 
Both pitchers held their opponents hitless until Sweatt allowed a pair of singles in the bottom of the fifth. She got out of
that jam with no trouble, getting a popup to Teala Howard and a grounder to Mallory Vining to end the inning.
 
The Argonauts picked up their first hits and first runs of the game in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of two AUM errors. Grace Gilbert and Howard reached on back-to-back groundball errors from the Warhawks, before Mika Garcia cashed in with a hard single up the middle.
 
Garcia's single hit off of Barnes's leg, and the pitcher then made a wild throw to first that allowed Gilbert and Howard to score. Kara Wilson then added her own RBI single up the middle, scoring Garcia from third to put UWF up 3-0.
 
In the top of the seventh, Courtney McLellan hit her third home run of the year – an opposite field solo shot to left-center that stretched the UWF lead to 4-0.
 
Sweatt worked around a two-out double in the bottom of the sixth, striking out Kathryn Fallen for the final out of that inning, and she got out of a jam in the seventh to wrap up the game. With runners on first and second with just one out, Sweatt got a popup to short from pinch-hitter Margaret Morgan that Garcia caught at short, and Garcia tagged out Morgan Duschell at second before she could get back to the base.
 
GAME 2: No. 23 UWF 4, AUM 6
West Florida and AUM traded solo home runs in the first two innings, with Argonaut senior Jacquelynne Poling hitting her third of the year and the 10th of her career in the top of the second. That tied the game after AUM's Molly Cobb hit the first of her three home runs on the day – also a solo shot, in the first inning.
 
Unfortunately for UWF, those home runs from Cobb would be the story.
 
Teala Howard doubled and scored on an error when Mika Garcia dropped down a sacrifice bunt in the third, to give UWF a 2-1 lead. But Cobb followed in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer and hit a two-run shot in the fifth, which put AUM ahead 6-2.
 
West Florida added two runs in the seventh, with a Courtney McLellan triple that scored Chelsea Dumas and an AUM throwing error that scored McLellan later in the inning.
 
Freshman pitcher Montana Young was charged with the loss after allowing four runs over four innings. She struck out four and walked just one, giving her 49 strikeouts on the year – the second-most in the GSC. Young is now 5-2.
 
Kelsey Sweatt entered the game in the fifth and threw two innings of relief, allowing two earned runs and striking out one batter.
 
Howard had three hits in Game 2, marking her third three-hit game this year.