[9/30/03]Kevin Griffin spent Saturday afternoon hunkered down in his living room, watching college football. It was one of the last things he wanted to be doing.

Griffin’s Porters Chapel Academy fast-pitch softball team was eliminated from the Academy-A state tournament on Wednesday, three wins short of a state title. The tournament finals were Saturday.

Although they came up just short of their dream, the Lady Eagles surpassed all of their goals and expectations for this season. They finished with a 25-9 record eight wins better than in 2002 and went a step further in the postseason.

Griffin had set a goal of 22 wins before the season, but admitted it was a lofty one. He said he’d have laughed at anyone who predicted the Lady Eagles would win 25 games.

“We lost a lot of people from some key positions, and not only did we replace them, we played a lot better fundamentally than we did last year at any point,” Griffin said.

Now, as they look ahead to 2004, the Lady Eagles are hoping to have the last laugh.

PCA loses five senior starters for next season, including pitcher Betsy Bryan and catcher Amy Rutledge, but Griffin feels there is enough talent coming back to keep the Lady Eagles from slipping.

“We’ve got a situation where some younger girls are going to step up and are capable of playing at a high level,” Griffin said. “We’re going to be OK. I don’t want to keep the program where it is. I want it to get better every year.”

A lot of that will depend on PCA’s returning starters.

Infielders Annie and Amy Beaugh both hit over .400 this season and provided solid defense. Lauren Johnson transferred from Vicksburg High and made the biggest splash, hitting .535 with 40 RBIs, while posting an 18-8 record in the circle. All three players will be juniors next season.

Johnson said how well the returning players mesh with the newcomers will determine how far the Lady Eagles go next year.

“I think we need to get stronger and work together with the new girls coming up,” Johnson said. “They have to work with us and we have to work with them.”

Among the newcomers Griffin is hoping for big things from is pitcher Kory Miller. The seventh-grader was 6-0 in B-team games this season and got some playing time in the state tournament.

There will also be some holes in the outfield, but Anna Reiber, Brittany Stevens, Jessica May, and freshman Ashley Johnson seem ready to fill in, Griffin said. Ashley Johnson hit .270 this season, mainly as a designated hitter, and does a lot of little things well.

“She really started to understand how to approach the game at the varsity level,” Griffin said of Johnson. “She got bunts down, she moved runners, she did a lot of little things that don’t get noticed.”

Getting noticed is something the Lady Eagles did as a team this season. Next year, they hope to get a little more notoriety.

Griffin noted that PCA beat three of the four state tournament semifinalists during the season, giving his team something else to build on.

“We may not have won the tournament, but we were able to compete with them during the year,” Griffin said.