SAINT LEO, Fla. – The AUM softball team scored four runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead and defeat West Florida, 5-1, in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division II Softball South Region Championship at Mary Canon Cabot Field on Thursday.
 
No. 3 seed AUM (38-11) will face regional-host No. 2 seed Saint Leo (39-12) in a winner's bracket game on Friday at 11 a.m. Central time.
 
Chloe Baynes went 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs, playing a part in all five AUM scores.
 
AUM sent eight batters to the plate in the fifth and got a 3-run single from Baynes that broke a 1-1 tie. Baynes slapped one to left that went through the legs of left fielder Navaeh Hayes, allowing Faith Wheat, Meredith Kellum and Jasmine Sneed to score. Baynes, who advanced to third when the ball went to the wall, scored a batter later with a head-first slide on a groundout to first, slipping her left hand under the tag.
 
That was all the Warhawks needed as Reese Cauley continued her strong play. She improved to 21-4 with six strikeouts as she allowed one run on three hits and a walk. She faced the minimum over the final 3.1 innings of the game.
 
UWF grabbed the first lead of the game in the second inning when Hayes scored on a Jessie Baughan sacrifice fly to right. The Warhawks tied it up with an unearned run in the fourth when Baynes scored from third on a fielding error by second baseman Angelia Discenza.
 
AUM is making its fifth-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance and improved to 17-11 record and 11-6 in regional play.

Friday's game will mark the fourth-consecutive season and third-consecutive postseason regional that AUM and Saint Leo will meet. A year ago in Montgomery, the Warhawks claimed a 3-2 elimination game win over the Lions. In the 2023 regional at Saint Leo, AUM, won an opening round game and an elimination game on SLU's home field.