There was a time, not all that long ago, when Porters Chapel seemed to be going nowhere.

The Lady Eagles fast-pitch softball team was floundering along with a 7-7 record, struggling to find their way with several new starters, and the dream of improving on last year’s third-place state tournament finish seemed almost laughable.

One month and a dozen wins later, and it seems laughable that the Lady Eagles won’t do better when the state tournament gets underway next week.

PCA has ripped off eight wins in its last nine games, swept through the division tournament, and earned the No. 3 seed in the North State tournament, which began today in Tunica.

The reason for the turnaround isn’t a dramatic team meeting or a huge change in the lineup. The Lady Eagles just started playing better, coach Chris Etheridge said.

“We made a few tweaks here and there, but it was nothing drastic,” said Etheridge, who is in his first season as PCA’s coach after serving as an assistant last year. “I think it was a situation where the girls realized they were 7-7 and they were playing nowhere near to their potential.”

PCA (19-10) was to face either Humphreys or Sharkey-Issaquena – both of which it has beaten already this season – in a second-round game at 3 p.m. today.

The winner of that game will advance in the winners’ bracket to a 7:30 p.m. game, while the loser will play again at 6 p.m. in an elimination game. Etheridge was confident his team would not be in the losers’ bracket for a while.

“I’ve looked through the bracket, and we’re pretty confident throughout. Anything can happen, but when you beat a pretty good team like Veritas five times in a season you’re doing something,” Etheridge said. “I believe in my girls, and I believe if we take our A team up there and play our best ball, it’s not going to matter who we play.”

Etheridge isn’t just boasting. The Lady Eagles’ record backs him up.

PCA has lost only two games to Academy-A teams this season. In fact, a big part of the reason for the slow start was the competition the Lady Eagles faced, Etheridge said.

All seven losses in the early going were to solid Academy-AA and -AAA teams, while the games against Academy-A teams included matchups with No. 1 seed Deer Creek, No. 3 seed East Holmes and No. 7 seed Veritas.

“We played the No. 1 team in the state twice, the No. 3 team two times and the No. 7 team twice,” Etheridge said. “That was part of the purpose of doing it, because we wanted to step up and get ready for this.”