HUNTSVILLE | The No. 18 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team gave the nation's fifth-ranked team all it could handle once again on Sunday, but North Alabama escaped Charger Park with an 8-7 win. The Chargers end the regular season at 34-14 (22-10 Gulf South Conference), while UNA moves to 42-5 (29-3 GSC).
 
Next Time Out
-UAH will now turns its attention to the 2018 Gulf South Conference Softball Championship as the Chargers will be the No. 3 seed in the event hosted by UNA in Florence, and the team will open up postseason play on Thursday at 10 a.m. against sixth-seeded West Florida.
 
Game Changer
-North Alabama scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the fifth, padding its lead at 8-4, and those runs would ultimately prove to be the difference in the contest.
 
Inside the Box Score
-UNA outhit the Chargers by a 12-6 margin in the contest, and each of UAH's came six different players.
-Amber Hammonds and Alaina Hampton had the two biggest hits for the Chargers, with Hammonds hitting a two-run home run and Hampton recording a three-run blast.
-Hammonds and Kiara Akles scored a team-high two times in the game.
-The Chargers drew six walks in the game with Akles earning three free passes and Brooke Miller drawing a pair.
-UAH also had four stolen bases in the contest with Ashley Cornell swiping a pair of bags.
-Layton Murphy took the setback in the circle for the Chargers.
 
Key Plays
-UNA used a two-out rally to score three times in the top of the first, but Hammonds would hit the two-run homer in the home half before another run scored on an error to immediately tie the game at 3-3 with one inning complete.
-The Lions then scored a run in the second and two more in the third to go in front 6-3, and the guests held the Chargers scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Reagan Malone drove in Cornell who had singled and then stole both second and third to score on Malone's single to left.
-UNA scored the two unearned runs in the top of the fifth, but Hampton would hit her three-run homer with two outs to pull the Chargers within one at 8-7.
-The Chargers would get baserunners in both the sixth and seventh innings, but UNA prevented the hosts from crossing the plate again the rest of the way.
 
Noteworthy
-The home run for Hammonds is her ninth of the season, and she now has 40 RBI on the year.
-The home run for Hampton is her team-best 14th of the season, is her fourth in five games, and gives her a team-high 51 RBI.