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STATS | VIDEO
 
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team gets back into conference play at West Georgia this weekend, with a 26-11 overall record after last week's nonconference matchups. The Argonauts are 18-6 in the Gulf South Conference, good for third in the league standings, while West Georgia is fifth at 16-8.
 
The series will begin with a doubleheader starting at 1 pm ET on Friday in Carrollton, Georgia, and Saturday's series finale is scheduled for a 1 pm ET start as well.
 
Fans can follow along with the action with a live video broadcast and live stats – links for each are above and can be found at GoArgos.com.
 
SCOUTING WEST GEORGIA
West Georgia compares favorably to UWF, with similar numbers both offensively and in the circle. The Wolves enter the weekend at 22-11 and 16-8 in the Gulf South Conference, having just swept Georgia Southwestern in a midweek doubleheader.
 
The Wolves pitching staff is without question one of the best in the league. The trio of Morgan Goree (2.61), Kya Draper (2.40), and Lexi Close (2.63) each rank in the top 8 in the GSC in ERA. The team also leads the conference in strikeouts -- Goree has 94 in 75.0 innings, and Draper has 80 in 73.0 innings.
 
Kristyn Nix has led a strong UWG offense, leading the GSC with 15 doubles, and ranking second in hits (45), fifth in batting average (.433), and eighth in on-base percentage (.504). Lexi Close and Alley Taylor have each hit for a good deal of power too, with eight and seven home runs, respectively.
 
Fans may remember an exciting GSC Championship game from 2019 between the two teams. The 4-1 championship win for West Florida was highlighted by Jacquelynne Poling's 3-run double in the third inning.
 
Of course, UWF and West Georgia have played a good deal of common opponents this year. In those games, UWF is 15-5 and UWG is 11-7. West Florida is 37-14 against West Georgia since 2006.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK
West Florida had the weekend off from Gulf South Conference play, but the Argonauts stayed busy. After a series against Montevallo on April 9-10, UWF hosted Columbus State for a single nonconference game on Tuesday before heading to Flagler for a Thursday doubleheader.
 
UWF went 2-1 during the week, outscoring CSU and Flagler 14-3 with outstanding pitching performances from Kelsey Sweatt and Grace Gilbert, who struck out 22 batters and allowed just six hits over 18 innings of work.
 
Sweatt struck out 13 batters against Flagler on Thursday and threw a one-hitter against the Saints. That marked the third time this season that she has recorded 10 or more strikeouts in a game and it tied her single-game high as an Argonaut.
 
The offense also impressed by scoring seven runs in two of the three games during the week. Jacquelynne Poling kept her hot streak going with a team-high six hits and three doubles, slugging .900 over the week. Ally Merrill and Kara Wilson each had three RBIs, and Teala Howard scored three runs and hit .364, while stretching her hitting streak to eight games.
 
WE ARE RANKED
UWF is ranked No. 22 in the country and is under consideration for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, as announced on Wednesday afternoon.
 
This is the first set of NCAA Regional Rankings, which determine the field for the NCAA Tournament. The term "Under Consideration" will be used alongside these regional rankings until the final rankings of the season when teams will receive the typical number rank to determine who gets a position in the regional tournament.
 
The complete list of teams under consideration includes Alabama Huntsville, Auburn Montgomery, Mississippi College, Rollins, Saint Leo, Valdosta State, UWF, and West Georgia. Six teams will make it to the NCAA Tournament from the South Region this year.
 
UWF is ranked No. 22 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, released on Wednesday. The Argonauts are one of four Gulf South Conference teams and one of five in the South Region to be ranked – Valdosta State comes in at No. 2, Rollins at No. 8, Alabama Huntsville at No. 13, and Auburn Montgomery at No. 19.
 
WE ARE STILL SLUGGING
Four Argonauts are slugging .600 or better this season – Jacquelynne Poling, Kara Wilson, Ally Merrill, and Courtney McLellan.
 
The Argonauts rank 18th in the country in home runs (37) and 8th in doubles (64), and the team's .503 slugging percentage is the highest in program history by 27 points.
The program record for slugging is .476, done by the historic 2005 UWF team that won 60 games and won the GSC Championship. UWF's 36 home runs are the seventh-most for an Argonaut squad since 1995.
 
CHASING #100
UWF head coach Ashliegh McLean is in her third season at the helm of the program, and she is already chasing her 100th career win. With a career 97-31 record, she has a better winning percentage through her first three seasons (.758) than any other current Gulf South Conference coach did in their first three seasons, with the exception of Eric Newell at Auburn Montgomery (.780), who started his tenure in the NAIA.
 
McLean's first two years were noteworthy, to say the least -- she led the team to the NCAA Championship and 54 wins in 2019, before going 17-9 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
 
IN THE GULF SOUTH CONFERENCE
With a 50-15 conference record since 2019, West Florida holds the best winning percentage (.769) in league play among all Gulf South Conference teams. The team's 50 conference wins -- as well as their 97 total wins -- over the past three seasons are the most in the GSC.
 
UWF is fourth in the league with an 18-6 conference record so far this year, and they've gotten production from every part of the lineup. Teala Howard leads the team with a .441 batting average in conference play, and she, Mika Garcia, Kayla Mayo, Courtney McLellan, Ally Merrill, Jacquelynne Poling, Kara Wilson have each hit multiple home runs against the GSC.
 
JACQUELYNNE POLING, SO CLUTCH
Catcher Jacquelynne Poling has kicked into another gear offensively over the last month. In UWF's 20 games since March 9, Poling has hit all 7 of her home runs and leads UWF in round-trippers, RBIs (24), total bases (50), slugging (.909), and walks (8).
 
She tallied a career-high six RBIs in Game 2 of the Montevallo series, and she kept up the hot pace last week. She hit .600 with 3 doubles and slugged .900 against Columbus State and Flagler. Her seven home runs are a career-high for Poling and the most for a UWF catcher since Nicky VanCamp hit seven in 2007.