OXFORD, Ala. – The Argos' second game of the Gulf South Conference Tournament did not go their way, as UWF Softball (36-15, 22-8) lost a close-fought contest to the 2-seed Auburn-Montgomery Warhawks (38-11, 34-11) 4-6 Thursday afternoon.
 
UWF earned an early lead in the first inning, capitalizing off of multiple fielding errors by AUM. Bella Holliday also came up big in crucial at-bats, going 2-4 with two RBI singles in the third and seventh inning. 
 
AUM added runs in three straight innings while the Argo bats fell silent. The Argos were able to load the bases down two runs in the seventh inning, but a fly out ended the game and knocked UWF to the elimination bracket. 
 
The Argos shake off tonight's loss and turn their attention to an elimination game against Valdosta State tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CT. UWF split a doubleheader in Valdosta in February, getting run-ruled in game one 5-13 but taking game two 6-4.
 
UWF has had their season ended by the Blazers in each of the last three seasons. The last two seasons Valdosta State defeated the Argos in Oxford to knock them out of the GSC Tournament and the Blazers did the same in the 2021 Valdosta Regional. 
 
UWF 4, AUM 6
 
The first inning for UWF went as well as hoped for, with a fielding error scoring Emma Brice, moving Erin Moon into scoring position at third, and Madelyn Vasquez to second. Another fielding error allowed Hannah Harper to reach and scored Moon. 
 
UWF was up 2-0 heading into the second, when AUM hit their first of two solo home runs on the day. In the third, Holliday hit the first of her two RBI singles to the middle of the field, Bringing in Harper. 
 
Both teams went down quickly in the fourth, but the Warhawks ruled the fifth with a four hit, three run frame. They started things off with an RBI single and followed it with an RBI groundout. Another RBI single was fielded by Vasquez at third base but the runner beat out the throw. UWF finally got out of the inning, but the lead was given up to the Warhawks. 
 
In the sixth, UWF allowed another couple bases runners on for AUM, and the Warhawks got one run out of it on another RBI single. In the seventh, their second solo homer was sent to center field. The life was seemingly taken out of the Argos, until Holliday hit her second RBI single scoring Vasquez and getting the Argos within two runs. 
 
 With Bella and pinch runner Cameron Wolfenden on base, the Warhawks opted to intentionally walk UWF home run leader Jessie Baughan to load the bases with two outs and put Jessica Ford in the tough spot. Ford battled through a seven-pitch at bat, but popped up to second base to end the game 4-6 AUM. 
 
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UWF takes on 5-seed Valdosta State tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. CT to decide who will move forward in the tournament and who will be eliminated. Live stats available on the GSC Tournament Central and a link to the FloSports broadcast is available on the UWF Softball schedule page on GoArgos.com.
 
Keep up on West Florida Softball by following @UWFSoftball on X, Instagram, and Facebook.