Pleasant Home trailed early against Brantley Tuesday night, but mounted an offensive attack to beat the Lady Bulldogs 14-4 on senior night at PHS.

The Lady Eagles improved to 17-13 overall, and 3-1 in Class 1A, Area 3 after the win.

“We played pretty well,” PHS head softball coach Bradley Stephens said. “We were a little bit more selective in our hitting. We made the pitcher pitch to us.

“It worked out to our advantage, whereas the last time we faced them, they kept us off balance,” he said.

Trailing 2-0 in the top of the first inning, the Lady Eagles scored three runs to take their first lead, and never looked back.

Pleasant Home added four runs in the second inning, two runs in the third inning and sealed the victory with four runs in the fifth to force the mercy rule.

“The girls just came back,” Stephens said about the team’s scoring early in the game. “We were kind of struggling there, and were a little bit shaky.

“(Starting and winning pitcher) Emily (Byrd) had to find her groove a little bit,” he said. “She then found her groove, and started pitching really well.”

Byrd struck out four and allowed four runs in three innings. Brentin Fuller got the save for the Lady Eagles. Fuller struck out four in two innings.

Ashley Copeland was 2-for-4; Megan Cook was 2-for-3; and Jordan McGhee was 1-for-1 for Pleasant Home.

With their 3-1 area record, the Lady Eagles claimed the regular season area title, and will play host to the area tournament, beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday at PHS.

As the No. 1 seed going into the tournament, the Lady Eagles will play the winner of game 1 between Brantley and McKenzie at around 2:30 p.m. The tournament format is double elimination.

The winner and runner-up from the area tournament advance to the South Regional Tournament in Gulf Shores from May 13-14.