PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team hit .444 and slugged .704 with eight extra-base hits in a doubleheader sweep over Montevallo on Friday afternoon, improving to 23-10 on the year. The Argonauts also hold a 17-6 record in Gulf South Conference play, good for second in the league standings, and will go for the series sweep on Saturday at 1 pm.
 
Several Argonauts stood out in one of the best days at the plate for UWF this season, most notably Jacquelynne Poling. The senior catcher had a career-high six RBIs in Game 2, the most for an Argonaut since 2017. Ally Merrill and Teala Howard each had five hits in the doubleheader, and Courtney McLellan and Kara Wilson added three hits apiece with three RBIs each.
 
UWF's 12 RBIs in Game 2 are a season-high, and the team tied season-high marks with 14 hits and 4 doubles. Game 2 also marked the eighth time UWF has hit multiple home runs in a game this season and the fourth time the team has scored 10 or more runs in a game.
 
The series finale is slated for a 1 pm start on Saturday at the UWF Softball Complex.
 
GAME 1: UWF 6, Montevallo 4
The Argonauts got a strong start in the circle from Grace Gilbert, who improved to 6-4 in throwing her fifth complete game of the year. The senior from Chipley, Florida, struck out a season-high seven batters in the win, while walking just two and allowing five hits.
 
UWF's offense got going early with a Courtney McLellan double off the wall in center field that scored Ally Merrill in the second inning, and Kara Wilson hit a two-run home run in the third to stretch the lead to 3-0.
 
Wilson's home run was her ninth of the season, the most for an Argonaut since Kalyn Chapman hit nine in 2016.
 
Gilbert cruised through the first three innings before running into a little trouble in the fourth, when Montevallo plated two runs. Sierra Easterwood and Lauren Higginbotham had RBI singles in the inning, before a heads-up play from Argonaut second baseman Mallory Vining got the UM runner at home before the game-tying run could score.
 
With a one-run lead in the fourth, Mika Garcia lifted a sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Laurynn Boggs, stretching the lead to 4-2.
 
UWF added another two runs in the fifth on an infield single from Courtney McLellan. McLellan was credited with one RBI
on the play when Wilson scored, and Merrill came across when Montevallo made a throw to second to try and catch
McLellan on the move.
 
UWF led 6-2 going into the sixth before Montevallo scored two runs, on an RBI single and an Argonaut error. Gilbert had
no trouble in the seventh with that two-run lead, sitting down the Falcons in order in the seventh to end the game.
 
GAME 2: UWF 12, Montevallo 5
The UWF offense came out hot in Game 2, starting with a two-run double from Poling in the bottom of the first to score Howard and Kayanna Perez to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Those were the first two of Poling's career-high six RBIs in the game. The Chino Hills, California, native had two doubles and a home run in the game, giving her seven round-trippers this year – a career best. Her seven home runs are also the most for a UWF catcher since Nicky VanCamp hit seven in 2007.
 
Montevallo struck for three runs with a pair of home runs in the second, but West Florida bounced back with a six-run third inning to take an 8-3 lead.
 
Those runs in the third came from back-to-back RBI doubles off the wall from Merrill and Poling, a sharp single to right field from McLellan, and a three-run home run from Kayla Mayo – her second of the season.
 
After another Montevallo home run in the fourth to cut the lead to 8-5, Poling homered in the fourth and she and Wilson brought in runs in the sixth to stretch the lead to 12-5.
 
Kelsey Sweatt improved to 10-3 on the year, earning the win in Game 2 after throwing four innings. She was ultimately charged with five runs but cruised through the first and third innings of her outing.
 
Montana Young earned her second save of the season, after throwing three shutout innings of relief. She struck out two and did not walk a batter.
 
In the third inning, UWF catcher Brett Leiva caught Montevallo's Kinley Adams trying to steal second base, giving Leiva five baserunners caught this year. That is the third-highest total in the GSC and she has thrown out 50 percent of baserunners this season, which is tied for the best in the league.