FLORENCE, Ala. | The No. 17 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team blew past West Florida in the opening game of the 2018 Gulf South Conference Softball Championship on Thursday, winning 14-6 in five innings at the UNA Softball Complex. The third-seeded Chargers improve to 35-14 on the season, while the No. 6 seed UWF slips to 29-19.
 
The 14 runs mark the most that UAH has scored in a GSC tournament game, besting the old high of 13 set in 1999 against Mississippi University for Women and in 2014 against North Alabama.
 
UAH will now play the winner of No. 2 seed Valdosta State and No. 7 seed Delta State at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
 
Jada Hayes had a huge day for the Chargers, going 3-for-3 with a three-run shot en route to six RBI, and she helped UAH outhit the Argos by a 12-11 clip.
 
Also going 3-for-3 was Alaina Hampton who drove in four runs and had a double, while Amber Hammonds also was 3-for-3, hitting a two-run homer and scoring three times.
 
Kiara Akles got on base four times including walking twice and having a hit on her way to scoring a team-best four times which matches UAH's single-game high for the season, and Brooke Miller had two hits including a double and scored three times.
 
Akles also earned the win in the circle, improving to 11-3 as she worked around eight hits in four innings, and Hayes pitched the final frame of the contest.
 
West Florida claimed an early advantage, jumping out to a 2-0 advantage, but the Chargers – as they have done so many times this season – had an immediate response with Miller doubling in a pair of runs, Hayes driving in two on a base hit, and Hampton knocking in another to make it a 5-2 lead as UAH sent 10 to the plate in the frame.
 
The double for Miller is her team-best 12th of the season.
 
UAH then busted the game wide open in the second as Hayes belted her seventh homer of the season with a three-run shot to left, and after a scoreless third, the Chargers would expand their lead to 10-2 with an RBI single from Hayes to drive in her sixth run of the game before Hampton knocked in a run on her 12th double of the season.
 
West Florida extended the game by scoring four times in the top of the fifth, but Hammonds would hit her two-run homer, allowing Hampton to end the game with a single to right center that plated a pair to create the 14-6 final.
 
With the four RBI, Hampton pushes her team-leading RBI total to 55, while Hammonds becomes the third Charger this year to record at least 10 home runs.
 
UAH is now 68-29 all-time in the GSC tournament and is 15-6 in tournament-opening games, and the Chargers now do not have a losing record against the 11 teams that they have faced multiple times in the event.