Eighth-ranked Pleasant Home softball coach Jimmy Reeves said he hopes his girls will focus on the task at hand at the Class 1A, Area 3 tournament today in Kinston.

“We’re just hoping to get our act together when it counts because it’s one of those no tomorrow things,” Reeves said. “If you lose, you’re done and if you win you move on. In the past, we’ve gotten better this time of year, but we’ve just been reeling.”

The Lady Eagles (17-13) will play the Lady Wildcats of Florala today at 3:30 p.m.

The last time both met was April 19, when Florala claimed a 1-0 end-of-the-regular-season area win.

“We just haven’t been playing well at all since spring break,” Reeves said. “Something breaks down every day. It’s either offense, defense or something else.

“We just can’t seem to put it all together,” he said. “We’re working real hard, and I’m very optimistic that these girls will come together in the end and have a good run there in the end.”

Reeves said “defense” is going to be essential at the tournament in the next two days.

“Defense is what we always try to play first,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been very inconsistent with this year. Our pitching has been adequate most of the time. We just have not been able to conisistently play defense and that’s very unusual for our teams.”

At practice this week, Pleasant Home has been focused on fighting for wins at the area tournament, Reeves said.

“We’re just trying to focus on winning two innings at a time,” he said. “Our girls are so young, I just hope they focus a little bit better and try to play a whole seven-inning game.”