PENSACOLA, Fla. – Freshman pitcher Montana Young turned in the best start in her young career on Sunday afternoon to push the University of West Florida softball team to a sweep over Christian Brothers. UWF, ranked No. 21 in the country, improved to 18-7 overall and 12-3 in the Gulf South Conference with the win, while CBU dropped to 2-15 and 2-13 in the conference.
 
Young struck out seven and allowed just two hits and three walks in seven innings of work, on her way to improving to 7-2 in the circle this year. Sunday marked her first career complete game shutout, and she dropped her season ERA to 2.26 – good for the sixth-best in the GSC.
 
West Florida helped out Young early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Argonauts got four singles in a row to lead off the inning, from Teala Howard, Mika Garcia, Kara Wilson, and Ally Merrill, putting the team up 3-0.
 
A leadoff double from Mallory Vining in the fifth started a quick rally for UWF, too. Kayanna Perez moved her over with a sacrifice bunt, before Howard tripled off the left field wall to stretch the lead to 4-0. Garcia brought in Howard a batter later with a bloop single to left field, putting UWF ahead 5-0.
 
Young found a groove as the game went on, retiring the final 11 batters she faced. She ran into small trouble in the first and second innings, as she struck out Elaina McGill to end the first and got a popup to Mallory Vining at second base to end the second inning.
 
Mika Garcia led UWF with seven hits and a .778 batting average over the weekend, and four more Argonauts hit .500 or better in the series. Kayanna Perez went 4-for-7 (.571), Ally Merrill had four doubles and went 5-for-9 (.556), Teala Howard went 6-for-11 (.545) with six runs scored and two triples, and Jacquelynne Poling hit an even .500 with a team-high 8 RBIs.
 
The pitching staff was sharp overall, with a 2.58 ERA over 19.0 innings. The Argonauts struck out 16 and held CBU to a .181 batting average. Young struck out 10 and allowed just 3 hits across 9.0 total innings.
 
UWF will visit No. 7 Valdosta State next weekend, with a three-game series starting at 1 pm ET on Saturday, March 27.