VALDOSTA, Ga. | The third-seeded University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team opened up play at the 2021 NCAA Division II South Regional in fine fashion on Wednesday, cruising past No. 6 seed Mississippi College by a 10-4 score on the campus of Valdosta State. The Chargers advance to the winner's bracket with an overall record of 32-12, while MC falls to 21-21.
 
UAH will now play No. 2 seed VSU on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 CT.
 
The Chargers pounded out 10 hits in the contest including a big swing of the bat from both Kaylee Vaught and Laura Harbin.
 
With the Blue and White leading 3-0 in the bottom of the third, Vaught hit a three-run homer to center to give the Chargers a 6-0 lead, and after MC cut the deficit to 6-4 in the top of the fifth, Harbin stepped up as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the frame and promptly gave her team the six-run advantage again with a grand slam that produced the eventual 10-4 final.
 
Layton Murphy went the distance in the circle for the Chargers and did not allow a hit through the first 3.2 innings, and only two of the four runs she allowed were earned as she finished the contest scattering seven hits while striking out three.
 
The scoring started for the Chargers in the bottom of the first when Shelby Booker – who would go 3-for-4 and score twice – scampered home after an error on a ball put in play by Mackenzie Nutt, and Lila Young would make it an early 2-0 lead when she singled into center later in the frame to drive in Kiara Akles.
 
In the third, Booker would double and score after Nutt singled to third before Vaught hit the big three-run homer to create the 6-0 lead for the Chargers.
 
The 2-3-4 spots in the lineup for UAH finished the day going 6-for-10 with a pair of walks and five runs as Akles had a pair of hits in addition to Nutt's single and Booker's three.
 
The Wednesday win sets up a battle between two rivals who have met 16 previous times in the NCAA tournament with the Chargers winning 10 of those games. When the two teams met in the regular season in Huntsville this year, UAH swept Valdosta State in a three-game series.