The Andalusia Lady Bulldogs claimed a 17-4 road win over area opponent Hillcrest-Evergreen Monday night.

“Everybody got to play,” Andalusia coach Marcus Taylor said.

Two highlights for the Lady Bulldogs came when A.C. Riley and Paige Caraway hit inside-the-park home runs during the game to help with the win.

Caraway earned the win on the mound striking out six batters.

The Lady Bulldogs scored two runs in the first inning on Riley’s inside-the-park home run and added seven runs in the third inning through errors and one hit.

Caraway, Abbie Young, Emily Terry, Megan Pugh, Ellie Pollock, Jessica Park and Kenna Edmondson all scored twice in the third.

In addition, Sam Greene also scored a run in the third inning.

Hillcrest scored all of its runs in the third inning on one hit and four errors.

The Lady Bulldogs played Monday night’s game after coming off a third place finish at Elba’s softball tournament at the end of spring break.

Taylor said the tournament came at the right time because of his team’s important area game this Thursday against Clarke County. at 3:30 p.m.

“That tournament made us better,” he said. “We looked really rusty the first couple games at that tournament. That first one against Kinston we just had error after error, and we looked like we hadn’t played in a week. Then, in one day we pulled it back together.

“I think we’re playing better and that was the purpose to have that tournament in the break to get our swing back and to get ready to go and ultimately play well against Clarke County on Thursday.”

With their win against Hillcrest-Evergreen Monday night, the Lady Bulldogs improve to 20-11 overall, and 4-1 in Class 4A, Area 3.

If Andalusia beats Clarke County Thursday night, it will win the area championship. If Andalusia loses, then it will be in a three-way tie with Thomasville and Clarke County.

From there, the area champion will be determined based on the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s procedure on tie-breakers.

In its first area game against Clarke County, Andalusia won 7-2.

When asked whether he thinks his team can beat Clarke County, Taylor didn’t hesitate to give his answer.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I think that there’s no doubt in my mind that we can beat Clarke County.”

Taylor said hitting, pitching and playing good defense are the keys to success Thursday night.

“We need to stay back and hit some off-speed pitches,” Taylor said. “If Paige hits her spots, we’re tough to beat no matter who we play. If we do those two things, and play good defense, which we did against Kinston (at the Elba tournament), then we should win the game Thursday.”

Editors note: In Tuesday’s online edition of the Andalusia Star-News, an incorrect score was reported for Andalusia’s second game against Kinston in the Elba tournament. Kinston won that game, 2-1, not 4-1. We apologize for the error and were happy to correct the mistake.­