Before Porters Chapel Academy ran out of gas Monday, it had enough left in the tank to coast into the MAIS State Softball Tournament.

The Lady Eagles beat Clinton Christian 4-1 in a losers’ bracket game at the Class AA South State tournament in Liberty to reach the final four and advance to the state tournament.

It’s the first time in a decade that PCA has reached the state tournament, which begins Saturday in Brandon.

“I started 10 years ago after some previous coaches and great players had left, and we’ve been rebuilding since then. We still only have one senior and one junior,” PCA coach Amanda Yocum said. “To come down here and win on Saturday, and then to come back Monday and win again was big.”

PCA beat Newton Academy and Prairie View on Saturday, but lost its first game Monday 4-1 to Amite School Center. With that loss, its focus shifted from winning South State — a task that would have required winning six consecutive games Monday with little rest in between — to simply advancing.

The Lady Eagles did that by beating Clinton Christian to secure at least fourth place at South State. The top four teams moved on to the state tournament.

PCA was eliminated from South State by losing 13-3 to Sylva-Bay in its third game of the day, all played over a span of about six hours.

“The first two games, we played a full seven innings, so Hannah (Embry) had to pitch 14 innings. We ran out of pitching and we ran out of gas,” Yocum said.

Embry pitched well in the first two games, and was also a force at the plate. She went 6-for-11 with a double and two runs scored in Monday’s action. Raylee Barwick doubled against Amite and drove in a run in the win over Clinton Christian.