HUNTSVILLE | The No. 20 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team started off the season in fine fashion on Friday at the Huntsville Sportsplex in the 2021 Charger Chillout, scoring a total of 36 runs as the Chargers blanked Kentucky Wesleyan 20-0 in five innings before scoring 12 times in the bottom of the fifth to earn a 16-8 run-rule victory over No. 10 Trevecca Nazarene in the day's nightcap. UAH starts the season at 2-0.
 
Next Time Out
-The Chargers will wrap up play at the Chillout on Saturday, facing Union at 10 a.m. in a nonconference contest before battling Miles immediately thereafter.
 
UAH 20, Kentucky Wesleyan 0
Game Changer
-The Chargers sent 10 to the plate in the bottom half of the first inning and scored six times to set the tone for the rest of the affair.
 
Inside the Box Score
-The Chargers outhit KWC by an 18-2 margin.
-Both Alaina Hampton and Heather Thompson had three hits in the contest, while Mackenzie Nutt had a pair of triples and Kiara Akles registered a double as part of her two hits in the contest.
-In total, 12 different Chargers recorded a hit in the game.
-Kaylee Vaught had a team-high five RBI including four on one swing of the bat as she belted a grand slam, and Eve Mallard would also record a home run against the Panthers.
-Nutt finished the game with four RBI, while Hampton, Mallard, and Lila Young all recorded a pair of RBI.
-Layton Murphy was nearly flawless in the circle for the Chargers, striking out an impressive 13 while allowing just two hits and no walks.
 
Key Plays
-Half of the six runs the Chargers would score in the big opening frame came via the free pass and would prove to be three of the eight walks UAH would earn in the game.
-Putting the game well out of reach early, Vaught's grand slam came in the bottom of the second.
-If the first inning was all about patience, then the scoring in the third was all about power as Akles and Young would double in runs, Nutt tripled in another, and Mallard had a pinch-hit homer.
-The other triple from Nutt came in the fourth and also drove in a run. 
 
Noteworthy
-The two triples for Nutt match a single-game program record as she is now the eighth Charger to do and the first since Amber Hammonds had a pair against Union on May 2, 2019.
-The 13 strikeouts for Murphy are tied for the fifth-most in program history. 
-Sixteen different Chargers saw action in the season opener.
 
UAH 16, Trevecca Nazarene 8
Game Changer
-Despite going into the home half of the fifth trailing 8-4, the Chargers would cross the plate an otherworldly 12 times in the inning to turn the significant deficit into a run-rule walk-off.
 
Inside the Box Score
-UAH racked up 14 hits – including nine in the fifth inning – while TNU had eight in the game.
-Vaught capped off her strong day with a 2-for-3 outing while driving in five runs, and each of Reagan Malone, Hampton, Heather Thompson, and Gracie Green all also had a pair of hits. 
-Each of Malone, Hampton, Shelby Booker, Nutt, and Young drove in a pair of runs. 
-Vaught homered, Malone had a triple, and Hampton bagged a double in the contest.
-Grace O'Berry pitched the final 1.2 innings for UAH to earn the win in the circle.
 
Key Plays
-After an error helped allow TNU to go up early with a pair of runs in the first, the Chargers would immediately tie the game as Booker singled in a run and Vaught had a sac fly in the bottom of the first to knot things at 2-2.
-The Trojans then scored five straight before the Hampton double plated Nutt and Booker in the third, making it a 7-4 game.
-After TNU went up 8-4 in the top of the fourth, O'Berry would work around a two-out walk in the fifth to keep UAH's deficit at four.
-In total, 16 batters would go to the plate in the bottom half of the fifth, and it was Vaught's two-run homer that started the scoring in the frame before a Young single and a bases-loaded walk from Booker made it 8-8.
-The go-ahead run would score when Akles walked after Booker, and the Chargers would two-run singles from each of Nutt, Vaught, and Malone in addition to another bases-loaded walk from Young to help total the 12 runs in the inning.
 
Noteworthy
-The five RBI for Vaught mark a career-best, surpassing the four she had against KWC earlier on Friday and against TNU on Feb. 1 of last year.
-O'Berry's first collegiate appearance results in her first collegiate victory.