Box Score

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Alabama Huntsville held off a late-inning West Alabama rally to defeat the Tigers, 3-2, Friday in the opening round of the NCAA South 2 Softball Regional at Charger Park.
 
West Alabama dropped to 30-19 and will face North Alabama (39-19) in an elimination game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. UAH improved to 40-15, 20-1 at home, and will meet Barry in the winner's bracket game at noon.
 
Trailing 3-1, Anna Shartzer's single through left side chased Kelsey Cooper across to score with one out in the seventh, but the Tigers left two on in the inning to end the game. The Tigers put the ball in play, but the final two outs of the game came at third base.
 
“I am proud of our kids, even after we had a call go against us, we dug in and kept playing,” UWA head coach Will Atkinson said. “It would have been easy to get to feeling sorry for ourselves, but we kept on battling.”
  
A base runners interference call in the top of the fourth inning saw what would have been a 2-0 West Alabama lead evaporate into a Chargers' double play after the runs came off the scoreboard.
 
After five scoreless innings, the Tigers struck first when Michal Robertson's sacrifice fly to right field scored Tamara Vickers, who had doubled to open the top of the sixth inning and moved to third on a ground out.
 
The Chargers scored all three of their runs in the bottom of the sixth. Mary Kelley's single to center field was misplayed, allowing Brianna Sullivan to score from first base and advancing Kelley to third. Courtney McNett's sacrifice fly to center then scored Kelley to put UAH ahead by a run. Hannah Woodruff ripped an RBI single to right field cap off UAH scoring.
 
“It was a matter of them getting a couple of hits and a ball getting under our glove,” Atkinson said. “I thought we played well enough to win. We just have to keep going and get ready to play UNA tomorrow.”
 
West Alabama and North Alabama have met four times this season, with the Lions winning two in Florence and the Tigers winning two in Livingston.