The Pleasant Home Lady Eagles are prepped and ready to chase down a blue map in Thursday’s AHSAA Class 1A State softball tournament in Montgomery.

“It’s just a privilege for us to be here,” Pleasant Home head coach Jessica Gibson said. “These girls have really played well together all season.”

Pleasant Home will take on Skyline in the opening round of the Class 1A state tournament.

“They won their region. So, we expect them to be very competitive,” Gibson said. “We just have to go out there and do our job. The key is going to be playing with our hearts. These girls are sold out for their team and that’s a big component to bringing home a blue map.”

Gibson said that the Lady Eagles are eager to compete at the state tournament.

“This week of practice has been excellent,” Gibson said. “The girls are extremely motivated and are looking forward to competing at state. We are just 1-of-8 teams left in the state so that’s a pretty big deal.”

The Lady Eagles earned a spot in the Elite Eight state tournament after battling through the loser’s bracket on Saturday in the Class 1A South Regional tournament.

“The girls just rallied and stayed together,” Gibson said. “You played a tough Millry team first thing and came up short. After that, the Red Level win really seemed to carry us the rest of the day.”

After eliminating Red Level, the Lady Eagles knew they were in for a tough match with Sweet Water.

“Sweet Water was a competitive team and we knew that going in,” Gibson said. “They played Brantley to a 1-0 game, and any team that can hold Brantley to one run is a good team. We also knew that this was a double elimination tournament and if we lost we were going home.”

The Lady Eagles knocked out Sweet Water before matching back up with Millry to decide the final team to make it to the state tournament.

“We just had some really good hits and big plays all the way around,” Gibson said. “I thought our pitchers did an outstanding job throughout the whole tournament. This was a total team effort. There are only nine people on the field, but this takes all 14 players and that’s what these girls did.”

Pleasant Home and Skyline will play at noon Thursday at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.