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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The University of West Florida softball team gets back into Gulf South Conference play this weekend, when the Argonauts host No. 17 Auburn Montgomery at the UWF Softball Complex on Saturday and Sunday.
 
UWF, ranked No. 11 nationally, stands at 18-4 and has a 12-0 GSC record, while AUM is 21-6 and is in third place in the conference at 9-3.
 
On Saturday, fans can get free food at a pregame tailgate beginning at 11:30 a.m., sponsored by Pensacola EggFest. Additionally, the first 100 UWF students who come to the game can win a free UWF t-shirt.
 
There will also be a canned food drive, presented by the UWF College of Business and benefiting Argo Pantry. Fans can receive one free ticket by bringing five canned goods.
 
Saturday will feature a doubleheader that starts at 1 pm, and Sunday's series finale is also set for 1 pm.
 
Fans who cannot attend the games can follow along with a live video broadcast and live stats for each game. Links for each are above and at GoArgos.com.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK
West Florida got the weekend off but took a trip to Mississippi College last Thursday. The Argonauts and Lady Choctaws split the nonconference doubleheader in a pair of pitching duels.
 
Kelsey Sweatt was handed the tough-luck loss, despite not allowing an earned run in her six innings of action. Montana Young struck out six and gave up just five hits and one run in seven innings, improving to 5-0 on the year.
 
While the offense was at a premium, the Argonauts came through with some timely at-bats. Teala Howard led UWF with four hits on the day, stretching her hitting streak to 11 games, and Madelyn Vasquez stretched her reached-base streak to 21 games.
 
ABOUT AUM
The Warhawks from Auburn Montgomery have won seven of their last eight games, hosting Mississippi College, No. 24 Alabama Huntsville and No. 12 North Georgia. With a 21-6 overall record and a 9-3 Gulf South Conference mark, AUM stands in third place in the conference heading into the weekend.
 
Auburn Montgomery is a well-rounded team. The Warhawks rank in the top four in the GSC in hits, ERA, fielding percentage, home runs, and WHIP.
 
AUM, as usual, has some star power. Sophomore Gia Martin leads the league in RBIs (36), Kat Fallen's seven home runs are the third-most in the GSC, and Chloe Derrick has been one of the top freshmen in the conference this year. Their pitching staff has also been sharp, combining for a 3.03 ERA. All four of AUM's primary pitchers rank in the top 11 in the conference in ERA.
 
UWF leads the all-time series 8-4, and the Argonauts have thrown five shutouts against AUM in the last seven matchups between the teams.
 
AN OUTSTANDING STAFF
UWF's pitching trio -- Jeya Prasad, Kelsey Sweatt, and Montana Young -- has been arguably the best in the conference this season. Prasad leads the GSC in opponent batting average (.144) and is second in ERA (1.49), Young is seventh in opponent batting average (.226) and eighth in ERA (2.55). And Kelsey Sweatt has continued an outstanding career, ranking fourth in the conference in opponent batting average (.209), second in strikeouts (70), third in wins (8), and 14th in ERA (3.18).
 
Those numbers have helped put Sweatt in the UWF record book. The senior ranks third in UWF history in hits allowed per seven innings and strikeouts per seven innings, and she is seventh in career strikeouts.
 
UWF is the only team in the league to have three pitchers with at least five wins, and the only team to have three of the top seven pitchers in opponent batting average.
 
ARGOS AT HOME
Put simply, UWF likes playing at home. The Argonauts are 98-18 (.845 winning percentage) at the UWF Softball Complex since 2017.
 
It was a stellar couple of weeks at home for UWF to start the season. Angela Agurkis is hitting .467 with a 1.067 slugging percentage in the friendly confines, Teala Howard is hitting .542 in Pensacola, and newcomers Jessica Ford, Madelyn Vasquez, and Erin Moon have quickly made the UWF Softball Complex look like home. Ford has hit .526 and slugged .895 with five doubles, Vasquez is slugging .941 at home with a team-best 11 RBIs, and Moon is hitting an even .500 and slugging .786.
 
And it's been just as good in the circle -- Jeya Prasad has not given up a run in 12.2 innings at home, Kelsey Sweatt has struck out 21 in 16.0 innings, and Montana Young has posted a 1.70 ERA at the friendly confines, with 14 strikeouts over 12.1 innings and a perfect game against Shorter.
 
SLUGGING AS USUAL
It took the UWF offense a couple of weeks to heat up, but the lineup has been about as good as ever since the start of conference play. West Florida is slugging .688 in GSC action and is second in the league in slugging overall this season, at .514.
 
UWF's .514 slugging percentage would best the program record of .494 set last year. That is no surprise for an Ashliegh McLean-run team – in the four years that McLean has been UWF's head coach, the team has posted four of the top six slugging percentage marks in program history, including this season. Last year's team set the UWF record by slugging .494 and hit a program-best 51 home runs. The teams in 2019 and 2020 slugged .449 and .454, respectively, which currently rank as the fifth- and sixth-best slugging percentages in team history.