SAINT LEO, Fla. | The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team dramatically fended off elimination on Friday at the 2018 South Super Regional, with Kiara Akles hitting a grand slam as part of a five-run seventh inning in game two to force a final decisive game three at Saint Leo later on Friday evening.
 
The Chargers had earlier dropped game one by a 4-3 score in nine innings.
 
Game three will take place at 6 p.m. CDT.
 
With their backs against the wall and trailing 5-2 with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Reagan Malone started the thrilling rally with a single up the middle, and that was followed by three straight walks by Shelby Booker, Amber Hammonds, and Brooke Miller to force in the team's third run of the game.
 
Akles then belted her 14th home run of the season, sparking a raucous celebration down the third base line.
 
The hit was the second of the game for Akles who now has 53 RBI on the season, and the two-hit performance was matched by Shannon Long who hit a solo homer in the fourth to put the Chargers up 2-1 at the time.
 
The Chargers are now 39-17 on the season, while Saint Leo is 36-16.
 
The scoring for the Chargers started in the team's first at-bat as the team capitalized on a throwing error by Saint Leo that allowed Booker to make it all the way to third, and she scored when Miller singled into right to give the fourth-seeded UAH a 1-0 lead.
 
The Lions answered in the third with a run to knot the contest at 1-1, and Long then pushed the Chargers back in front with her two-out home run in the bottom of the fourth.
 
After a scoreless fifth, Saint Leo then scored four times on three hits and one UAH error to go up 5-2 before the dramatic comeback in the seventh.
 
Layton Murphy earned the win in the circle, picking up her 20th victory of the year as she worked the final two innings in relief of Akles who tossed the first five innings, striking out a pair while scattering eight hits.
 
For the game, Saint Leo outhit UAH by a 10-7 margin.
 
Friday started with the two teams playing the conclusion of the first game which had been halted due to rain on Thursday, and after Jada Hayes was able to strand runners at second and third in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a nice running catch by Miller in shallow right for the third out of the inning, the Lions won the game in the bottom of the ninth as a base hit by Alexis Minet with two outs scored Shyanne DuBois who had doubled earlier in the inning.
 
The contest on Thursday started quite positively for the Chargers as Malone walked and Booker singled to start the top of the first, and they scored when Hayes homered to left to put the Chargers up 3-0.
 
Malone would finish the contest going 3-for-4 to help UAH total eight hits in the game, while Hayes went 2-for-2 with the three RBI and two intentional walks.
 
Akles and Wascavage had the other two hits for the Chargers.
 
The hosts would quickly answer back after UAH's big top half of the first as the Lions took advantage of a Charger error to score a pair of unearned runs, but UAH's 3-2 lead then would stand until the fifth when Saint Leo manufactured a run to tie the contest at 3-3.
 
UAH had a big opportunity to reclaim the advantage in the seventh, loading the bases before ultimately being unable to push across a run, and Hayes would leave runners in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth before SLU won it in the ninth.