PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team's bats could not be slowed down on Saturday afternoon, as the Argonauts won both ends of a doubleheader against Christian Brothers at the UWF Softball Complex.
 
West Florida hit .472 and slugged .811 as a team, with three home runs, a triple, and seven doubles in the doubleheader, on the way to improving to 17-7 overall and 11-3 in the Gulf South Conference. Christian Brothers fell to 2-14 and 2-12 in the GSC.
 
Several Argonauts had big days at the plate. Jacquelynne Poling drove in eight runs with two doubles and a home run, Mika Garcia went 5-for-6 with a home run, and Ally Merrill had four doubles on the day. Kayanna Perez went 3-for-5, and Teala Howard went 4-for-8 with four runs scored and a triple.
 
With the wins, UWF is now 13-2 at home this year.
 
The series wraps on Sunday with a single game at 1 pm.
 
GAME 1: No. 21 UWF 8, CBU 6
The series-opener was a thriller. UWF jumped into the lead in the first inning with RBI singles from Kara Wilson and Jacquelynne Poling, scoring Mika Garcia and Ally Merill. But CBU struck back with five total runs in the second and third innings.
 
Trailing 5-2, Wilson blasted her sixth home run of the year to dead center field, scoring Teala Howard and cutting the CBU lead to 5-4. The homer tied Wilson for fifth in the conference home run standings this year.
 
The Lady Bucs added another run in the top of the fifth, but UWF rebounded in the bottom of the sixth with a four-run inning to take the 8-4 lead.
 
Kayla Mayo led off the sixth with a walk and advanced to second on a Kayanna Perez sac bunt. Howard then lifted an RBI triple to left field to score Perez, and Howard herself scored on Garcia's single up the middle. Poling belted a two-run, game-winning double to left-center, scoring Garcia and Merrill and putting UWF ahead 8-6.
 
Grace Gilbert got the start in the circle and threw five innings, striking out four, allowing five hits and six runs. Montana Young threw two scoreless innings of relief to end the game and improve to 6-2 on the year. She struck out three, walked one, and allowed just one hit.
 
The first five batters in the lineup – Howard, Garcia, Wilson, Merrill, and Poling – went a combined 11-for-17 with all eight RBIs and seven runs scored in the game.
 
GAME 2: No. 21 UWF 11, CBU 3 (5 innings)
The nightcap was all Argos.
 
UWF took a 6-2 lead after the second inning, scoring three runs in each of the first two frames. Garcia singled to second base and Howard scored on a dropped throw to score the first run of the game, and Poling doubled to right-center to score Garcia and Merrill in the first inning.
 
In the second, Howard singled up the middle to stretch the lead to 4-2, and Merrill doubled down the left field line to score Perez and Howard, putting the score at 6-2 in favor of UWF.
 
The runs kept coming in the fourth inning, with UWF putting up a five-spot to effectively wrap up the game. Mika Garcia hit her third home run of the season to lead off the inning, just minutes after colliding with Perez and the left field fence while chasing down a foul fly ball in the top of the fourth.
 
After Garcia's homer made it 7-3, Poling hit a three-run moonshot to left-center, giving UWF the 10-3 lead.
 
A few batters later, Perez singled up the middle to score Courtney McLellan, who had a hit in each game and extended her on-base streak to 10 games.
 
Starting pitcher Kelsey Sweatt was solid in her outing, allowing just five hits in five innings and striking out two batters. She improved to 7-2 in the circle this year.
 
Poling finished Game 2 with five RBIs, making her the first Argonaut with that many in a game since Rhiannon Sassman on February 27, 2019, against Miles.
 
As a team, UWF hit 13-for-26, marking the second time this season the Argos have batted .500 or better in a single game. The other was against Spring Hill on February 24.