VALDOSTA, Ga. – The University of West Florida softball team fell in a pair of games to Valdosta State on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA South Region Championship. With the losses, UWF finishes its season at 33-16.
 
The Argonauts, the No. 5 seed in the South Region, were the highest remaining seed in the country on Saturday. Despite the losses, a strong week at the regional gave UWF 17 NCAA Tournament wins since 2017 – the most in the country.
 
Five Argonauts earned a spot on the NCAA South Region All-Tournament Team: Kelsey Sweatt, Jacquelynne Poling, Kayanna Perez, Grace Gilbert, and Madilynne Webb.
 
Sweatt picked up wins in the circle against Rollins on Wednesday and Valdosta State on Friday, finishing the week with a .154 opponent batting average. She was dominant in each of those games, with 11 strikeouts and just three hits allowed in 14 innings of work.
 
Poling led UWF in hits (6), batting (.375), RBIs (7), total bases (10), and on-base percentage (.444). The senior catcher hit a critical home run against Valdosta State on Friday, and added RBIs in four of the five games this week.
 
Perez hit .333, picking up five hits and an RBI during the week. She had multiple hits against Auburn Montgomery on Thursday and Valdosta State on Friday.
 
Gilbert put together two very strong starts in the Regional, earning the win over Auburn Montgomery on Thursday and throwing five innings on Saturday against Valdosta State. She had a 0.58 ERA over 12 innings, with a .075 opponent batting average over the week.
 
Webb was the hero against AUM on Thursday. She hit the first two home runs of her career in the game, making her the first Argonaut since 2016 with multiple home runs in a postseason game, and the first Argo freshman with multiple homers in any game since 2017.
 
Overall, the pitching staff threw to a 2.06 ERA over the five games in the Regional, while opponents hit .121 against Sweatt, Gilbert, and Montana Young.
  
GAME 1: UWF 2, Valdosta State 4
Grace Gilbert was as good as ever on Saturday. After giving up the leadoff home run to Morgan Hill to lead off the first, Gilbert retired the next 15 batters she faced, before she was pulled in the sixth. She struck out two and allowed just one hit and one run, with no walks issued, over five innings of work.
 
West Florida got ahead with a run in the top of the first with a play at the plate. Mika Garcia scored first when a grounder from Ally Merrill was misplayed in the Valdosta State infield, and Garcia was awarded a run scored after Valdosta State catcher was called for blocking the plate.
 
The Argonauts wasted little time getting the lead again, with an RBI single from Jacquelynne Poling that scored Teala Howard, after Howard led the inning off with a double and Garcia bunted her over.
 
The 2-1 lead last until the sixth inning. Kelsey Sweatt relieved Gilbert in the circle and was charged with the loss after allowing three runs over an inning. The game's pivotal moment was in the bottom of the sixth, when Sweatt and the nation's home run leader and Gulf South Conference Player of the Year Nicole Pennington battled for 11 pitches with two runners in scoring position with one out.
 
Pennington tripled and came around to score on a Logan Hill sacrifice fly to stretch Valdosta State's lead a batter later to cap off the scoring.
 
GAME 2: UWF 4, Valdosta State 6
The scoring came quickly in Game 2, as Valdosta State put a run on the board in the first and second innings. But Kara Wilson blasted a two-run home run – her 12th of the year – to even the score in the bottom of the second.
 
Wilson's home run was her second of the postseason, with the first of those coming in the GSC Tournament against West Georgia. And her 12 home runs this season are the most for an Argonaut since 2010, when Shannon Miles also hit 12.
 
The Lady Blazers took the lead again in the third with a pair of home runs to go ahead 6-2, but West Florida would bounce back in the bottom half. After Teala Howard and Mika Garcia singled, Jacquelynne Poling singled up the middle to bring in both of them and cut into the VSU lead, 6-4.
 
West Florida mounted a threat in the sixth inning, with runners on first and third and just one out. But a strong throw from VSU right fielder Morgan Hill beat Wilson to the plate to end the inning.