FLORENCE, Ala. - The Valdosta State softball team suffered an 8-0 loss to North Alabama before bouncing back later in the day to survive a 5-4 victory over the rival West Florida Argonauts at the Gulf South Conference Tournament in Florence, Ala.

With the split, Valdosta State moved to 40-11-2 on the season and earned the right for a rematch against the Lions (48-5) in a championship matchup on Sunday. The Blazers will need to defeat UNA twice to claim the title.

In game one, the contest was all UNA from the start. The Lions slugged five first inning hits, including three doubles, to take an early 3-0 lead in the bottom half of the first.

The early offensive display by UNA represented the first of 12 hits by the Lions on the day, which led to eight runs and an early finish after the Blazers fell behind 8-0 in the bottom of the sixth.

UNA's Raven Cole scored her 24^th victory of the season after holding the Blazers to just three hits in the contest. Meanwhile, Caitlyn Calhoun suffered the loss to fall to 27-5 on the season.

The game one loss at the UNA Softball Complex sent the Blazers on a trek across Florence to the Florence Sports Complex, where Head Coach Thomas Macera's squad squared off against the Argonauts (40-15) for the second time in the tournament.

Jaime Phillips set the tone on the defensive side of the ball with a stellar catch at shortstop to rob Emily Pettigrew of a hit through the left side of the infield. The line drive snag represented one of three for Phillips in the half inning, and she took the momentum to the dish in the bottom of the frame with a leadoff solo shot to give VSU an early 1-0 lead.

West Florida strung together a pair of singles before Chelsy Krantz drove a run in from third on a ground ball to short. The Argonauts were denied a chance to take the lead in the inning, thanks to a ground ball to third that Chelsea Canara converted into a slick double play to end the threat.

The score remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the top of the sixth inning when Meghan Toney drew a leadoff walk and forced Huntyre Elling to give way to Calhoun in the circle. Rhiannon Sassman came to the plate and popped up on a sacrifice bunt attempt, before Kathleen Smiley broke the tie and put UWF up 3-1 with a two-run blast over the left center field wall.

Facing a two-run deficit, the Blazers flipped the script in the bottom half of the same inning with three runs on four hits, two of which were back-to-back homers by Phillips and Kiley Rusen. The advantage returned to the Blazers later in the frame when Brandy Morgan ripped a base hit up the middle, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a clutch single by Canara, who joined Phillips with two hits to account for four of VSU's seven hits in the game.

The back-and-forth affair continued in the seventh, when Krantz delivered a leadoff single for the Argos before Caitlin Steel followed with a walk. Macera called on Elling to return to the circle, and the senior recorded two quick outs before hitting Sassman with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. UWF tied the game up during the next at bat after Elling tossed her first wild pitch of the season, but Elling quickly regained her composure to strike out Kalyn Chapman with the bases loaded.

Needing just one run to win, the Blazers drew four walks from UWF reliever Sarah Maloney to claim the victory. The final base on balls came to Heather Robinson, who took a pitch low and inside with a 3-1 count to plate Danielle Patterson for the game-winner.

Elling picked up the win after returning to the game to improve to 12-5 on the season, while Maloney took the loss to fall to 5-2.

Action continues on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. EST in a contest featuring the Blazers and the Lions.