PENSACOLA, Fla. – The day started with a ceremony for the University of West Florida softball team's seniors and ended with an on-field celebration, as UWF pulled off a come-from-behind victory to win the weekend series over No. 7 Valdosta State. With the win, UWF is 28-12 and stands third in the Gulf South Conference with a 19-7 league record.
 
Starting pitcher Kelsey Sweatt worked around jams throughout the game and the West Florida offense capitalized on timely mistakes from the VSU defense. UWF is now 11-2 against Valdosta State at home since 2016. 
 
Sweatt struck out seven batters and allowed just two runs, leaving 12 Valdosta State runners on base. While the Blazers got ahead with two runs in the first, Sweatt powered through and battled around baserunners in each of the next five innings.
 
The biggest outs of the game for Sweatt came in the fourth, when she retired the top two hitters in VSU's lineup, and in the sixth, when she forced a popup from the Blazers cleanup hitter with the bases loaded and two outs.
 
West Florida struggled to get things going early in the game but continued to put together solid at-bats against starter Samantha Richards.
 
Madilynne Webb picked up UWF's first hit of the day in the fifth, and the Argonauts capitalized on three errors from VSU in the inning to score three runs and take the lead.
 
Laurynn Boggs pinch-ran for Webb and stole second base, before pinch-hitter Halie Wetherington reached on a throwing error from the VSU shortstop. That put runners on first and third for Kayanna Perez, who put down a sacrifice squeeze bunt to score Boggs, and Perez reached on a misplay from Richards in the circle.
 
Teala Howard followed with a bunt single to load the bases, and Erin Moon then reached on a grounder to second, when Valdosta State made its third error of the inning. The throw went wide-right of first base, allowing Wetherington and Perez to score and give West Florida the lead.
 
Sweatt worked around a leadoff single in the top of the seventh, getting outs from the next three batters, and ending the game on a grounder right back to Sweatt in the circle.
 
Sweatt threw 15.1 combined innings in the series, going 2-0 with a 0.46 ERA and 12 strikeouts against the top offense in the GSC. The senior is tied for fourth in the conference with 13 wins, ranks second in strikeouts (125), is fourth in opponent batting average (.220), and is ninth in ERA (3.06).
 
Teala Howard led UWF with a .400 batting average and four hits in the series, while Erin Moon's .545 on-base percentage was a team-high.
 
UWF will wrap up the regular season with a series at Lee in Cleveland, Tennessee, next Saturday and Sunday.