CLEVELAND, Tenn. | The No. 21 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team started out conference play with a victory as the Chargers were 3-1 winners over Lee on Saturday evening. UAH improves to 10-3 (1-0 GSC), while Lee goes to 9-4 (0-1 GSC).
 
The two teams were originally slated to play a doubleheader on Saturday, but rain delayed the start and permitted only the one contest to be held. The series will wrap up with a doubleheader on Sunday which is slated for a noon CST start.
 
Game Changer
-With the bases loaded and UAH clinging to its 3-1 lead with none out in the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Harrison would induce a pop-up back to herself before getting the Flames to pop into a double play to end the threat and preserve the lead.
 
Inside the Box Score
-Harrison picked up the win in the circle, going the distance and allowing just the one run off of eight hits. She struck out five in the game and walked two.
-Kaitlyn Bannister had three of the seven hits recorded by the Chargers, while Harrison, Lexi Beach, Brooke Miller, and Haley Thompson had the others.
-Thompson's hit was a big one as she homered in fourth, and the team had two others for extra bases in the form of doubles from both Bannister and Harrison.
 
Key Plays
-The scoring for the Chargers started in the second when Harrison started the frame by reaching on catcher's interference, and she moved to second when Beach singled up the middle, allowing her to score when the ball was misplayed by the Lee right fielder on a single by Miller.
-Beach made it a 2-0 game when she took the easy trip home on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Reagan Malone later in the frame.
-The Flames would manufacture a run in the bottom half of the second to cut the UAH lead to 2-1, and the score would remain that way until Thompson's long fly in the fourth put the Chargers back up by two.
-After wiggling out of the jam in the fifth, Harrison would work a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, but in the seventh, the Flames would have runners at second and third with two outs before Harrison got the final batter to pop out to third to end the game.
 
Noteworthy
-Bannister now has four three-hit games through the first 13 games of the season, and her season batting average is now at a team-best .512.
-Harrison moves to 4-2 on the season, and she matches Emily Glover for the team lead in strikeouts as both have 39.
-The home run for Thompson is her first since Feb. 28 of last season, and it represents the fourth of her career.