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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The regular season comes to a close this weekend, as the University of West Florida softball team heads to Cleveland, Tennessee, for a series with Lee on Saturday and Sunday.
 
The Argonauts (28-12, 19-7 Gulf South Conference) are third in the conference standings while Lee (26-19, 16-10 GSC) is fifth.
 
Fans can follow along with all three games in the series at the live stats and live video links above, or by visiting GoArgos.com.
 
The series will feature a doubleheader on Saturday, scheduled for a 1 pm ET start, and a single game on Sunday, also expected to start at 1 pm ET.
 
ABOUT LAST WEEK
West Florida's Senior Weekend could not have gone much better. The Argonauts took two out of three games against then-No. 7 Valdosta State, with a walkoff win in Game 1 and a come-from-behind victory in Game 3.
 
Kelsey Sweatt was the star of the weekend, earning GSC Pitcher of the Week status for a second week in a row. Teala Howard led the offense with four hits and a .400 batting average, while Erin Moon and Madelyn Vasquez drove in critical RBIs over the weekend.
 
The Argonauts have now won six of their last seven games, posting a combined 1.96 ERA and an incredible .995 fielding percentage. In that time, UWF has been led by two-time GSC Pitcher of the Week Kelsey Sweatt, who has a 0.95 ERA over 29.1 innings and 28 strikeouts, and Teala Howard, who leads the team with 11 hits and a .423 on-base percentage.
 
ABOUT LEE
Lee brings in one of the top offenses in the conference, ranking second in the league in batting average (.316), first in on-base percentage (.407), third in scoring (6.4 runs per game), and third in doubles (64). The Lady Flames get that done with a handful of players throughout the lineup, led by Taylor De Adder.
 
De Adder is third on the team with a .373 batting average but leads Lee in home runs (8), slugging (.611), walks (37), and on-base percentage (.521). Breanna Patton's 15 doubles and .413 batting average are a team best, and Ana Macha, Javaria Smith, and Sidney Lee are all regular starters hitting well over .350.
 
In the circle, Lee has pitched to a 3.93 ERA that ranks right in the middle of the conference. Nyah Vogel has been the ace for the Lady Flames, with a 14-8 record and a 2.88 ERA over 150.2 innings. Madison Barnett has been the No. 2 pitcher for Lee, throwing 114.2 innings with a 4.58 ERA.
 
UWF leads the all-time series with Lee, 15-8, and the Argonauts have won 8 of the last 10 matchups.
 
SWEATT, THE STELLAR SUPER SENIOR
For the second consecutive week, Kelsey Sweatt has been named the GSC Softball Pitcher of the Week.
 
Sweatt went 2-0 and pitched to a stunning 0.46 ERA over 15.1 innings against No. 7 Valdosta State, which brought in the strongest offense in the GSC.
 
She kicked off the series with an outstanding start, earning the win in a 1-0, extra-inning victory for West Florida, where she struck out five batters and allowed only three hits. The senior followed that up with another complete game on Sunday to earn the series victory with seven strikeouts and just two runs allowed.
 
This season, Sweatt ranks second in the league in strikeouts (125), fourth in innings pitched (.220) and wins (13), fifth in innings (135.0), and ninth in ERA (3.06). Her career numbers in the UWF record books are even more impressive: Sweatt is fourth in program history in strikeouts per seven innings, and she's sixth in hits allowed per seven innings and total strikeouts.
 
THE IMPRESSIVE TEALA HOWARD
Senior third baseman Teala Howard continued to move up the UWF and GSC record books over the weekend. After hitting .400 against Valdosta State, Howard now ranks second in UWF history in hits (281), second in stolen bases (132), second in batting average (.450), and fourth in runs scored (190).
 
Howard is also second in conference history in batting average, fourth in stolen bases, sixth in hits, and 10th in runs scored. And keep in mind – Howard has done this about three years, having lost half of her sophomore season due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
 
And for the third time in her career, Howard was named to the 2022 Schutt Sports/NFCA DII National Player & Pitcher of the Year Top 50 list, announced by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association in April.
 
This season, Howard leads the Gulf South Conference in stolen bases (31), ranks third in hits (63) and batting average (.423), and is fourth in triples (4). In 40 games this year, Howard has 21 multi-hit contests, and she has at least one hit in 36 contests.
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE
With just one weekend of regular-season action remaining, UWF is in good standing in the conference. With a 19-7 league record, the Argonauts are in third place, just two games out of second and a game-and-a-half ahead of fourth-place UAH.

This season, West Florida has a .967 fielding percentage, which is the best in the GSC, and the team's 2.87 ERA and 1.20 WHIP each rank second in the conference.
 
WE'RE RANKED
Following a series win over a ranked opponent last weekend, UWF moved up to No. 18 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll, released on Tuesday morning.

UWF is joined in the poll by fellow GSC teams No. 5 Auburn Montgomery and No. 10 Valdosta State, and South Region foe Tampa checked in at No. 9. Sunshine State Conference opponents Nova Southeastern and Embry-Riddle were each receiving votes.
 
The wins over then-No. 7 Valdosta State have also kept UWF at No. 10 in the latest NCAA South Region Rankings, which came out on Wednesday.
 
AUM, Tampa, and Valdosta State held steady at the top three spots in the regional rankings, while Nova Southeastern, Embry-Riddle, and Rollins ranked fourth through sixth. Alabama Huntsville, Saint Leo, and Lee made up spots seven through nine.