With four Babe Ruth regional softball tournaments set for Andalusia this summer, young women who play softball in the city league have a good chance of playing on an All-Star team in one of those regional tournaments.

Andalusia director of leisure services Dwight Mikel said Friday that Andalusia’s Babe Ruth charter includes all of the west end of Covington County. The county’s recreation program is chartered with Dixie league.

“Andalusia has transitioned its girls softball program over the past three years from Dixie into the Babe Ruth softball organization,” Mikel said. “We are chartered as the South Alabama Babe Ruth Softball League, using the same format as we did for the 2007 World Series for boys.”

This summer, Andalusia will host four regional Babe Ruth softball tournaments for girls 6 and under; 14 and under; 16 and under; and 18 and under. The regional tournament will feature the best teams from seven Southern states, he said. And the host league automatically gets a team in each tournament, Mikel said.

Rules for how those all-stars will be selected are posted on the city’s Web site, Mikel said.

The regional tournament will be slightly different from tournaments Andalusia has hosted in the past.

“The format has changed from the last time we hosted regional boys tournaments,” Mikel said, adding that this year, housing for tournament players won’t be provided by host families. Instead, the teams will stay in hotels.

Because the local league’s geographic boundaries include all of western Covington County, young women who attend school in Andalusia, Straughn, Red Level, Pleasant Home or Florala are eligible to play.

Registration is under way and will end on March 2, the day on which try-outs are scheduled.

Babe Ruth is softball is open to girls ages 5 to 18, with Jan. 1, 2009 set as the age cut-off date. Registration is $35, and discounts are available for multiple players in the same household.

Registration forms are available online at www.cityofandalusia.com. For information, call Barbara Tyler at 428.2106.