PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team got a pair of excellent pitching performances on Saturday, propelling the Argonauts to a sweep over Gulf South Conference foe Mississippi College. UWF is now 12-5 on the year with a 7-2 GSC record, while MC is 3-11 and 2-7 in the league.
 
Kelsey Sweatt and Montana Young turned in two of their best outings of the season in the doubleheader on Saturday, each throwing a complete game and earning the win in the circle. Combined with Grace Gilbert's shutout on Friday evening, the Argonauts rotation spun an ERA of 1.00, with 17 strikeouts and 4 walks over 21 innings, allowing Mississippi College to hit just .155 for the weekend.
 
UWF impressed offensively as well, especially in the doubleheader. The Argos hit .319 on Saturday with nine extra-base hits, including home runs from Ally Merrill, Angela Agurkis, and Courtney McLellan. The team slugged .638 with 13 walks against 5 strikeouts, with 14 runs scored.
 
Merrill led the team with four hits, a 1.167 slugging percentage, and a .714 on-base percentage on Saturday, while she, Agurkis, and McLellan each added 3 RBIs.
 
UWF will be on the road at Spring Hill on Tuesday for a doubleheader starting at 2 pm. Fans will not be allowed to attend, due to protocols at SHC, but live stats will be available to follow the action.
 
GAME 1: UWF 6, MC 2
Sweatt struck out six and allowed just three hits on Saturday afternoon, holding the Lady Choctaws to a .130 average. She retired the side in order and ran into trouble only in the fourth, when MC shortstop Jordan LaFosse hit a two-run home run.
 
From there on, the senior retired eight batters in a row and did not allow a baserunner until the seventh inning, when UWF held a 6-2 lead.
 
Sweatt got plenty of help from the offense, and it came quickly. Teala Howard singled and stole second in the first inning, and she moved to third on a productive groundout from Mika Garcia. Kara Wilson followed with a hard one-hopper past third base to give UWF a 1-0 lead and pick up her fourth double of the year.
 
Wilson helped the offense again in the third, battling with two outs to draw a walk. Then Merrill struck for her fourth home run of the season, and Agurkis homered two batters later, after a single from catcher Brett Leiva, to stretch the lead to 5-0. The roundtripper was the first of the year for Agurkis.
 
UWF added one more run in the sixth, when Grace Gilbert drew a throw down to second on a steal attempt and Mallory Vining dashed home to put the score at 6-2.
 
The game ended with some fireworks, as MC loaded the bases with no outs. Sweatt struck out Mallory Little for the first out, and she got Paige Hulin to pop out in foul territory to Howard behind third base. Howard made the over-the-shoulder catch and fired home to Leiva to get the runner and end the game.
 
GAME 2: UWF 8, MC 1
Freshman Montana Young dominated Game 2, striking out five batters without issuing a walk, and allowing just five hits over seven innings. She blew through the Choctaws lineup early on, retiring 9 of the first 10 batters she faced, including a 3-pitch second inning when she got three popouts.
 
Like in Game 1, the Argonaut offense got moving quickly. Howard started the inning with a double down the left field line and stole home when Ally Merrill drew the throw to second. McLellan got the first two of her three RBIs in the game with a double in the bottom of the first, scoring Merrill and Agurkis.
 
UWF added a run in each inning for the rest of the game, with a bases-loaded single up the middle from Merrill in the second, a solo home run from McLellan in the third, and an RBI single from Agurkis in the fourth.
 
MC picked up its only run of the game in the top of the fifth when the Lady Choctaws used a play out of UWF's book, and Grace Trahan stole home when center fielder Rayne Minor drew a throw to second. That would be the only offense MC would muster against Young, who sat down seven of the final eight batters she faced and improved to 5-1 on the year.
 
Gilbert stretched the lead to 7-1 in the fifth with a double to right-center field, and Jacquelynne Poling lifted a sacrifice fly to cap off the scoring in the sixth, making it 8-1 UWF.