PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Blazer softball team suffered a major setback in Pensacola, Fla., after dropping two (3-2, 5-0) to West Florida in a Gulf South Conference doubleheader at the UWF Softball Complex on Saturday afternoon.

The Blazers fell to 14-5-1 overall and 4-4 in GSC play following the pair of losses, while West Florida improved to 16-4 overall and 6-2 against league opponents.

Valdosta State struck first on the day with a fifth inning run, scored by Danielle Patterson after a single through the right side. The Blazers took an early 1-0 lead with that run, but the Argonauts returned fire in the bottom half with an RBI single of their own from Meghan Toney.

The 1-1 lead held for the next five innings, which led to the enactment of the international tiebreaker rule in the 10th inning. Jaime Phillips started the top of the inning at second base as a result of the rule, and Kiley Rusen promptly moved Phillips to third with a sacrifice bunt to third. Hartenbach delivered again in the ensuing at bat with a sacrifice fly ball to left field, which plated Phillips and gave VSU a 2-1 advantage.

The Argonauts answered again in the tenth, when Kathleen Smiley used a single to drive in Rachel Wright, who was placed at second base to start the inning and moved up to third on a Toney sacrifice bunt.

UWF pitcher Becca Taylor escaped the top half of the 11th and left Tara McIntyre stranded at third base. The opportunity proved to be enough for the Argonauts in the bottom of the inning, as UWF used a pair of singles from Chelsy Krantz and Caitlin Steel to bring Emily Pettigrew across as the game-winning run.

Taylor improved to 8-2 with the win after holding the Blazers to six hits and recording nine strikeouts, while Caitlyn Calhoun suffered the loss and fell to 9-2, despite none of the Argonauts' runs being of the earned variety.

UWF controlled game two from the outset, and three of their five runs were scored in the bottom of the opening frame. The early runs proved to be more than enough for Kalyn Chapman, who improved to 5-1 by holding the Blazers to just one hit over seven innings, while striking out ten hitters.

Huntyre Elling suffered the loss to fall to 4-3 on the year.

The Blazers aim to bounce back on Sunday afternoon at the UWF Softball Complex for the final game of the weekend series against the Argonauts. The contest is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.