Straughn scored four runs in the fourth inning, and the Lady Tigers came away with a 6-3 area win over rival Andalusia Thursday night at SHS.

The sixth-ranked Lady Tigers improve to 22-6 overall, and 4-1 in Class 4A, Area 3. Straughn and Andalusia will travel to play in the Pleasant Home fast pitch softball tournament on Saturday. The Lady Tigers will begin the tournament at 11 a.m., and will face the winner of the 9:30 a.m. game between Andalusia and Opp.

SHS head softball coach Ray Wilson said his team got a bit “sloppy” during the sixth inning where Andalusia scored two runs off a home run by Kenna Edmondson.

“We got sloppy that one inning,” Wilson said. “We were fortunate to get out of it without them scoring a lot of runs. It’s a win, and that’s always good.”

Straughn scored its four runs in the fourth on two hits, and error and a sac fly.

Andalusia (1-4 in Class 4A, Area 3) tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning, and scored its last two runs in the top of the sixth on Edmondson’s two-run blast.

“I was proud she got that (home run),” AHS head softball coach Marcus Taylor said. “That’s exciting to see these girls do that — to see how excited they get.”

Overall, Taylor said the girls played well behind pitcher Olivia Dixon.

“I thought we played well defensively except for that one inning (fourth),” he said. “We couldn’t stop the bleeding soon enough.”

Earlier in the contest, Straughn scored one run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Lady Tigers added one run in the third inning, which gave them a 2-1 advantage.

Straughn’s Katy Messick had two hits and two RBIs; and Paige Caraway had two hits and two RBIs.

Edmondson scored two runs, and Jessica Park had one hit for Andalusia.

Messick struck out five and allowed four hits and three runs in 5.2 innings to earn the win.

Kaitlynn Wiggins got the save with two strikeouts in 1.1 innings.