WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team will play for a berth in the 2018 NCAA South Super Regional on Saturday as the Chargers knocked off top-seed Palm Beach Atlantic 5-3 to advance to the championship game of the South 1 Regional on Friday afternoon. UAH improves to 36-16 on the season, while PBA slips to 34-7.
 
This marks the second time in three seasons that the Chargers have won the first two games of the regional to advance to the final.
 
To earn that Saturday spot, the Chargers received a strong pitching performance from Layton Murphy while also seeing the top three in the lineup record half of the team's five hits to set the table for the middle of the order.
 
Murphy tossed her 17th complete game of the season, striking out eight and scattering six hits while permitting just one earned run in earning her 18th victory of the season.
 
Kiara Akles recorded a team-best three hits in the contest, driving in a team-high pair of runs from the No. 5 spot in the lineup, while both Reagan Malone and Amber Hammonds had a pair of hits and scored once in the contest.
 
The Chargers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as both Akles and Alaina Hampton had clutch RBI singles with two outs in the inning, and the score would remain 2-0 until the Sailfish half of the third in which they would plate a pair on an error to level the game at 2-2.
 
UAH then went back in front for good in the bottom of the fourth as Ashley Cornell reached on an error and then scored after Malone, Shelby Booker, and Hammonds all singled on consecutive at-bats to score the go-ahead run, and a bases-loaded walk from Jada Hayes forced in another run to make it 4-2.
 
Akles rounded out the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to left to put the Chargers ahead by three at 5-2 as the GSC Co-Freshman of the Year knocked in her 49th run of the season.
 
Murphy then dialed up her strongest inning of the game as she struck out the first two batters she faced before inducing an inning-ending grounder to third.
 
UAH would be retired in order in the fifth and sixth innings, and though PBA would score a run with two outs in the top of the seventh, the top-seeded Sailfish could do no more damage as Murphy sealed the victory.
 
The Chargers will face whichever of the three teams remaining that advances Friday night in the final on Saturday at 12 p.m. CDT. UAH needs just one win, while the other team would have to knock off the Chargers twice.
 
UAH is aiming to make its first Super Regional appearance since 2014.