[9/28/04]Porters Chapel didn’t meet its goals for the regular season. The Lady Eagles made up for it by surpassing them in the postseason.

PCA, in just its fourth year of fast-pitch softball, concluded its best season yet Saturday by finishing third in the MPSA Class A state tournament in Winona. With no seniors on this year’s team, the Lady Eagles are hoping it’s a prelude to a state championship run in 2005.

“I think it’s going to be tremendous,” PCA coach Mike Grzanich said of next season. “We’re still hoping to get some more players out here, but if the team doesn’t change at all we’re going to be a better team next year.”

PCA lost six seniors from the 2003 team, which finished eighth in the state. Pitcher Lauren Johnson, the Vicksburg Post’s player of the year last season, was returning, but the Lady Eagles figured to be in for a rebuilding year.

It turned out to be anything but.

The Lady Eagles fell short of their goal of 20 wins in the regular season they won 19 but battled out of the loser’s bracket at the North State tournament to earn a No. 4 seed.

PCA knocked off South State champion Huntington in its first-round game at the state tournament, then dropped into the loser’s bracket again with a loss to eventual state champion Franklin. PCA fought through the adversity a second time, however, and beat Huntington on Saturday to survive the loser’s bracket.

The Lady Eagles (26-10) lost their next game to Deer Creek, 3-1, to finish third.

“Coming in third was above and beyond our dreams,” Grzanich said. “After we won our games Wednesday, we said let’s get third.”

Now, it’s time to set their sights higher.

Johnson, who was 25-9 in the circle and hit over .600, returns for her senior season. Amy and Annie Beaugh, both reliable hitters, are also back, and Vicksburg High transfer Kelli Ouzts will add another solid bat to the lineup.

Eighth-grade outfielder Kory Miller and third baseman Laura Hall missed the state tournament because of injuries sustained in a car accident the night before it began. Miller broke her ankle and Hall had a bruised knee and concussion, but neither was seriously injured.

Their replacements, Erica Bland and Jessica May, both had several big hits in the state tournament. The experience should fortify PCA’s bench next season. That’s when Grzanich was building toward a championship run anyway. This season’s surge was just a bonus.

“We didn’t talk about it a whole lot after the tournament, but it was talked about during the year,” Grzanich said of a state title. “They talked a lot about next year, and all of a sudden found themselves in the mix this year and it was like, wow.'”