MONTGOMERY, Ala. | A big fifth inning propelled the No. 24 University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team to a series-opening victory at No. 16 Auburn Montgomery on Saturday, as the Chargers took the first game between the two teams by a 5-2 score. UAH improves to 16-7 (6-4 Gulf South Conference), while AUM falls to 17-6 (7-3 GSC).
 
The series will conclude on Sunday with a doubleheader that is slated for a 1 p.m. start.
 
Hits in the contest were even at seven for both teams, but UAH pitching would strand seven AUM runners to help limit the hosts to just the two runs.
 
Seven different Chargers had a hit in the contest with Lila Young doubling and scoring, while Laura Harbin had a solo homer. 
 
Kiara Akles drove in a pair of runs with a big base hit in the aforementioned fifth, and both Kaylee Vaught and Mackenzie Nutt also added RBI in the game.
 
Megan Shurtz picked up the win in the circle for UAH to improve to 7-2 on the season after she worked around six hits while allowing the two runs, and Layton Murphy picked up her first save of the season by tossing the final three innings while giving up just one hit and striking out three.
 
An RBI double for the Warhawks was the game's lone run through the first four innings, but the Chargers would tilt the contest in their favor in the fifth.
 
Young's double would come with one out in the frame, and after Gracie Green walked and Sadie Thompson singled, the bags would be loaded for Vaught whose base hit up the middle scored Young and tied the game at 1-1. A bases-loaded walk with two outs from Nutt forced in Green, and Akles would drive in Thompson and Vaught the next at-bat to give the Chargers a 4-1 lead.
 
The hosts would get one of the runs back quickly, but after a scoreless sixth, the Chargers got the run right back when Harbin hit a pinch-hit, two-out home run to left to create what would be the 5-2 final.
 
The home run is Harbin's second of the season which leads the team.