HUNTSVILLE | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team earned its 12th appearance in the Gulf South Conference Softball Championships title game with an extra-inning 4-3 win over Valdosta State on Sunday, but the Chargers then fell 18-5 in the championship contest to Mississippi College. UAH goes to 41-15 on the season and will now await to hear its postseason fate Monday morning.
 
The NCAA selection show for the Division II softball tournament will be aired on ncaa.com at 9 a.m.
 
For their efforts during the tournament, Kaitlyn Bannister and Tyler Harrison were named to the all-tournament team.
 
UAH 4, Valdosta State 3 (8 inn.)
 
Game Changer
-With the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning, Bannister singled through the left side to plate Ashley Cornell and put the Chargers ahead 4-3, and after VSU's Chelsea Canara led off the bottom of the inning with a double, Harrison retired the next three in order to send UAH to the championship game.
 
Inside the Box Score
-Bannister went 2-for-4 in the contest to have a third of UAH's hits, while Erin Jewell, Emily Glover, and Brooke Miller all had a hit and an RBI in the game.
-Recording the team's other hit in the contest was Reagan Malone.
-Four of the team's knocks were for extra bases with Bannister, Jewell, Glover, and Miller all logging a double.
-Harrison earned the complete game victory as she worked around nine hits while striking out 10 and allowing the three runs, and she did not walk a batter.
 
Key Plays
-VSU got on the board first with a pair of runs in the third, and the score remained that way until the fifth inning when Jewell and Miller both doubled in runs to tie the contest at 2-2.
-With the score still 2-2 and the first two outs recorded in the top of the seventh, Jewell would draw a walk and then raced home from first on Glover's double to put UAH ahead 3-2, but a wild pitch in the bottom half of the inning allowed VSU to tie the contest back up at 3-3.
-Not fazed by the immediate answer, the Chargers loaded the bases in the top half of the inning for Bannister who singled through the left side, scoring Cornell to give UAH the 4-3 lead.
-Though Canara would double to left center to start the bottom half of the eighth, Harrison then induced a ground out and a pair of fly outs to end the contest.
 
Noteworthy
-UAH has now eliminated Valdosta State from two of the past three GSC tournaments.
-Harrison moves to 20-7 on the year, and she now owns 20 complete games while recording double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time.
 
Mississippi College 18, UAH 5 (6 inn.)
 
Game Changer
-The Choctaws put up crooked numbers in three of the six innings including jumping out to a five-run lead to take control of the title game.
 
Inside the Box Score
-MC held a 21-8 advantage in hits in the contest.
-Bannister, Harrison, and Lexi Beach each had two of UAH's hits in the contest, with both of Bannister's being homers as she drove in all five of UAH's runs.
 
Key Plays
-The third-seeded Choctaws sent all nine to the plate in jumping out to the 5-0 lead in the top of the first, but UAH would have an answer in the bottom half as Bannister hit a two-run home run with Malone on board to make it a 5-2 game.
-After a scoreless second, Mississippi College scored four times in the third to go up 9-2, and that margin would stand until the fifth when Bannister's second bomb pulled the Chargers back within four as the three-run homer made it 9-5.
-MC then put the game out of reach with a nine-spot in the sixth to create the 18-5 final.
 
Noteworthy
-Bannister now has 21 home runs and 70 RBI on the season, and this marks the first multi-home run game for the senior this year.