CLEVELAND, Miss. – The offense was alive and well all day, and the University of West Florida softball team swept a doubleheader at Delta State on Friday afternoon and evening. With wins, UWF improves to 26-11 overall and 17-6 in the Gulf South Conference, clinching a berth in the 2022 GSC Championship.
 
On a day where everything seemed to be clicking for West Florida, the Argonauts hit .422 with four home runs and pitchers Kelsey Sweatt and Montana Young struck out 12 batters in 14 innings, posting a combined 2.50 ERA.
 
Offensively, Jessica Ford led UWF with an .833 batting average and three doubles, while she and Kayla Mayo each tallied five hits. Ford, Mayo, Madilynne Webb, and Madelyn Vasquez all hit a home run, and Ford also drew two walks, reaching base in seven of her eight plate appearances.
 
The series wraps on Saturday, with first pitch at noon at University Field in Cleveland.
 
GAME 1: UWF 8, Delta State 3
The scoring started early on Friday, with Kayla Mayo and Madelyn Vasquez each picking up RBI singles in the top of the first inning. The Vasquez single scored Mayo, and Mayo's scored Teala Howard, who singled and stole second base to kick off the game.
 
Kayanna Perez did the same in the second with a single and a steal, and Mayo delivered another RBI single to stretch UWF's lead to 3-0.
 
Jessica Ford homered in the top of the third to extend the lead to 5-0, before a three-run top of the seventh gave UWF some insurance after the Lady Statesmen cut the score to 5-3 after six innings. In that seventh inning, Erin Moon lifted a sac fly to score Howard and Vasquez hit a home run – her 10th of the year – to cap off the scoring. That roundtripper ties Vasquez for the third-most homers in the GSC this season.
 
And it was another strong day in the circle for Kelsey Sweatt, who no-hit Spring Hill on Wednesday. The senior struck out eight batters and walked just one, scattering three DSU hits across those seven innings of work.
 
With the complete game win, Sweatt now ranks third in the GSC with 11 victories on the season and has struck out 16 batters in 14 innings of work this week.
 
GAME 2: UWF 9, Delta State 2
More of the same continued in Game 2 for West Florida, with a two-run Madilynne Webb home run starting the top of the second. That was Webb's third of the season, scoring Ford and giving UWF an early 2-0 lead.
 
A Raegan Stafford RBI triple cut into the lead for the Lady Statesmen in the bottom of the inning, but an RBI groundout from Moon and an RBI single from Brett Leiva – who had three hits and two RBIs on the day – stretched the Argonaut advantage to 4-1. Mayo scored from second on the Moon grounder, just avoiding a tag, and Vasquez scored on Leiva's hit.
 
DSU's Olivia Burns homered in the third, but starting pitcher Montana Young was absolutely dominant after that. Following the home run, Young did not allow a hit and walked just one batter the rest of the way, retiring 13 of the final 14 batters she saw.
 
Young struck out four batters on Friday, improving to 10-1 and making UWF the one of just two GSC teams with a pair of 10-game winners this season.
 
Mayo hit her own home run in the fifth, giving her four on the year. She is now hitting .400 this week.
 
Vasquez lifted a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth to score pinch-runner Laurynn Boggs, and freshman Ayana Powell drove in two Argonauts with a pinch-hit single, putting the lead at 8-2. Leiva added one more run for good measure in the top of the seventh, putting UWF ahead 9-2.