OXFORD, Ala. | Winning its 17th straight game and earning a trip to the championship game, The University of Alabama in Huntsville softball team picked up an 8-0 victory over sixth-seeded Lee on Saturday afternoon at Choccolocco Park. The Chargers improve to 38-14, while the Flames end their tournament run at 29-23.
 
UAH will now play the winner of top-seeded Auburn Montgomery and seventh-seeded West Alabama in a winner-take-all championship game that is set for Sunday at 10 a.m.
 
Layton Murphy was once again terrific in the circle, as she has now not allowed a run in 21 innings at the tournament after pitching her third straight shutout. In Saturday's victory, she allowed just four hits and struck out three.
 
Murphy's ERA was as high as 5.28 back on March 30, but she has gone 13-0 since then while lowering her ERA to 2.93 following Saturday's game.
 
The Chargers racked up 14 hits in the victory over Lee, with Lawren Hayes going 3-for-3 with a double and two runs, while the top three of the order all had a pair of hits including a double for both Kaylee Vaught and Kiara Akles while Shelby Booker scored twice. 
 
UAH started the scoring in the top of the third when Vaught doubled in a run, Akles drove her in, and Mackenzie Nutt had a productive ground out that plated Booker to give the Chargers a 3-0 lead.
 
That three-run advantage would be preserved by the terrific pitching from Murphy who also received some help from her defense behind her, as Gracie Green would snag a liner to third and double off a runner of first to end the fourth before Hayes turned a 4-3 double play with runners at first and second to thwart a threat and end the sixth.
 
The Chargers then emphatically put the game entirely out of reach in the seventh with Akles doubling in a pair and Nutt singling in another before Laura Harbin hit a very loud no-doubter to left-center for a two-run blast to produce the eventual 8-0 final.
 
The home run for Harbin is her third of the season, and two of them have been as a pinch-hitter.
 
The Chargers are making their first championship game appearance since 2017, and it will be the program's 13th appearance overall. UAH will be seeking to add to its eight previous GSC tournament titles.