PENSACOLA, Fla. – The season got off to a less-than-ideal start on Thursday afternoon as the University of West Florida softball team fell in a game against Barry, 5-1, at the UWF Softball Complex. The Argonauts are 0-1 heading into the Gulf Shores Invitational.
 
Barry scored a run in each of the first three innings, before Teala Howard tripled to score Jessica Ford and cut into the Bucs lead and made it 3-1. That would be the only run scored by the Argonauts, who faced Barry's Maci Barnhart. Barnhart threw a complete game, striking out two and allowing just four hits.
 
While the offense was limited UWF provided reasons for optimism going forward.
 
Teala Howard had a pair of hits, Kayla Mayo and Kayanna Perez each added a single, and UWF put together solid at-bats throughout the lineup.
 
Kelsey Sweatt got the start in the circle and threw four innings. She was ultimately charged with five earned runs but struck out five batters along the way.
 
Freshman transfer Jeya Prasad finished the game for UWF with three hitless innings of relief, striking out a pair of Barry batters.
 
Barry added another two runs in the fourth on a sacrifice bunt from Maggie Wheless, stretching the score to the final 5-1.
 
UWF will face reigning national champion No. 4 West Texas A&M on Friday at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex in Gulf Shores, Alabama, at 3 pm.
 
For all information on the team, follow @UWFSoftball on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.