PENSACOLA, Fla. – It was a split Saturday afternoon at the UWF Softball Complex, as the University of West Florida softball team split a doubleheader with No. 7 Valdosta State. With the split, West Florida is now 27-12 overall and 18-7 in the Gulf South Conference, while VSU is 29-8 and 21-4 in the GSC.
 
Sunday's series finale will begin at 1 pm, and the Argonauts will also honor seniors Angela Agurkis, Teala Howard, Kelsey Sweatt, and Morgan Zettle before the game.  
 
Saturday's action was a bit of a mixed bag. Kelsey Sweatt turned in one of her best starts of the season in a 1-0 victory in Game 1, but the UWF offense could not keep up with the Blazers in Game 2.
 
Teala Howard led UWF with three hits, a .429 batting average on the day, and three stolen bases. Freshman Erin Moon, who delivered the walkoff hit in Game 1, and Kayla Mayo, who scored that game-winning run, each had two hits on the day. Howard picked up a pair of hits in Game 2, giving her 21 multi-hit games this year.
 
GAME 1: UWF 1, Valdosta State 0 (8 innings)
Kelsey Sweatt threw an absolute gem to give UWF the win in Game 1, striking out five and scattering three walks over eight innings of action. The senior earned her 12th win of the year in a shutout effort over the top offense in the Gulf South Conference.
 
Sweatt allowed just one baserunner over her final four innings, sitting down 12 of the final 13 batters she faced. Over her last three starts, Sweatt has a 0.95 over her last three starts, with 21 strikeouts over 22.0 innings of work. Opponents are hitting .139 against her in that time.
 
West Florida's lone run of the day came in the eighth, as the Argonauts took advantage of a misplayed single in the outfield. Kayla Mayo put a line drive into left field with one out, and she advanced to third on an error from the VSU left fielder.
 
Just a batter later, Erin Moon hit a sharp ground ball up the middle that got past the Blazer infield and scored Mayo for the walkoff win. That was Moon's second hit of the day, marking her 12th multi-hit game of the year.
 
Mayo also had a pair of hits, giving her seven multi-hit games.
 
Sweatt had to work out of one jam in the game, in the fourth inning. But after a single and a hit by pitch to load the bases, Sweatt forced a groundout to Madilynne Webb, who made a play at home, and struck out left fielder Baylee Everson to end the inning.
 
GAME 2: UWF 4, Valdosta State 8
Valdosta State quickly got ahead with a three-run home run from Nikki Pennington in the top of the first, but UWF bounced back with two runs in the bottom of the inning, as Teala Howard and Kayla Mayo scored on back-to-back wild pitches.
 
With the score at 3-2, West Florida jumped ahead 4-3 in the second inning. After a Kayanna Perez leadoff single followed by a double from Howard, Perez scored on a bunt from Mayo when the bunt was bobbled by the VSU first baseman. Howard scored on a grounder from Madelyn Vasquez just a batter later to give the Argonauts their first lead of the game.
 
Starting pitcher Montana Young cruised from the second through the fifth innings, allowing just the home run from Pennington and totaling seven strikeouts in her start.
 
Highlights in Young's outing included retiring the top of the VSU lineup in order in the fifth, with a pair of strikeouts, and Brett Leiva picking off Hunter Meadows at third base to end the fourth.
 
The Blazers took a lead on two more home runs in the sixth – a solo shot from Pennington and a two-run home run from Taylor Macera, giving VSU a 6-4 lead.
 
VSU scored twice more in the seventh to finish the scoring at 8-4.
 
In all, Young was charged with six runs over 6.0 innings of work. Jeya Prasad allowed two runs in 0.2 innings of relief, and Sweatt finished the top of the seventh by forcing a groundout to the only batter she faced.