Valdosta, Ga. -- The "if necessary" game will be necessary as the Lady Hawks rallied in their final at bat against North Alabama to take the lead and earn the win. Shorter opened the day with a 3-1 win over No. 11 Alabama Huntsville to advance to the championship game, where they turned in a thriller to top No. 16 North Alabama, 5-2.

In the first game of the day, the Lady Hawks took the lead early as Maggie Meacham scored on an RBI double from Ericka Bynum – who has been hot all weekend going 6-12 at the plate with a homerun and 5 RBI – in the first inning to make it a 1-0 game. In the sixth, Shorter added to itwith two runs as Kendall Johnson delivered an RBI double to plate Niki Cook, and then came in to score on a fly out from Bynum.

The Chargers' lone run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Abby Roberts.

Maddie Bray earned the win for the Lady Hawks, allowing one run on four hits with four strikeouts through six innings of work. Kalei Kimbrell earned her third save of the tournament and seventh of the year allowing no runs on one hit with three strikeouts.

The Lions took the lead in the first inning of the day's second game taking advantage of a Shorter error to make it a 1-0 game and adding to it in the fourth on an RBI single from Madison Lee.

Trailing 2-0 in the sixth the Lady Hawks began chipping away as Kendall Johnson came in on an error by North Alabama's left fielder, cutting the lead in half.

But, it was the seventh where the real magic happened. Hannah Draper, pinch hitting for Janell Echols, singled to right field to lead off the inning. Echols then re-entered the game and advanced to second as Cook reached on an error by the third baseman; Meacham delivered a sacrifice bunt to put the runners in scoring position. Johnson then brought both in on a single up the middle to give Shorter the lead, 3-2. Bynum then walked, and Kameron Carter followed with a 2 RBI double to left center to make it a 5-2 game.

In the bottom of the inning, the Lion's leadoff hitter, Harlie Barkley, reached on a walk, but was stranded as the next three batters were retired in order to preserve the win.

Kimbrell earned the win against North Alabama, allowing no runs on two hits with three strikeouts in three innings of relief. Amanda Blanchard made the start, pitching four innings of two run, six hit ball with one strikeout.

Johnson finished with three hits on the day; while Bynum, Carter and Cook tallied two each.

The Lady Hawks will play tomorrow morning at 10:00am for the championship and an automatic qualification into next week's South Region Tournament.