VIDALIA, La. &045; An 0-5 start to the 2004 season didn’t leave Gary Paul Parnham worried.

Maybe concerned, but the Vidalia coach didn’t panic. All he had to do is look around the infield and remember there were all new faces across the diamond. And they were hungry, albeit young, and ready to follow behind last year’s Lady Viking squad that won its first state championship in school history.

Everything jelled, and this season’s Lady Vikings nearly ended up back at the state tournament. Give credit to Parnham, named the 2004 All-Metro Coach of the Year for a second straight year.

&uot;We said at the beginning of the season &045; this group was young but it was going to be fun watching them grow,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;By the time we reached the end of the season, we were a pretty good softball team. The girls did a great job. Our record was 16-11, and that’s a little deceiving. Seven or eight games were by one run, and those games could have gone either way.&uot;

But it was those first five losses Parnham points to as a turning point of sorts &045; the Lady Vikings dropped contests against Jena, Harrisonburg and Block and Eunice and Winnfield at a tournament in Alexandria.

The hand he was dealt included three starters who were not only new starters but were new to the game of fast-pitch softball. And on the mound was a young Christy Corley, who was trying to find her niche on the mound after the Lady Vikings were solid with Miranda Doughty and Jenny Watson the season prior.

&uot;They made the transition, turned it around and picked it up real quick,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;That was one of the keys to us at the end of the season &045; they showed improvement. &uot;

It was a significant accomplishment for Parnham and the Lady Vikings, who were by late April a completely different team than back in early March. The Lady Vikings hit better, got dominant pitching from Corley and &045; perhaps most importantly &045; played solid defense behind her.

Emily Raley and Lauren Clayton anchored a middle infield that became the anchor of the infield. The Lady Vikings won 14 of their next 17 games, opened the playoffs with an 8-0 blanking of Springhill before falling at Sacred Heart of Ville Platte a game away from a second straight trip to Sulphur.

&uot;We were playing people in different positions (early) to see who could go where,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;Losing four seniors like we did, and all of them were in the infield, you try to feel out players and see where they’re going to be most comfortable. It was growing pains. For them to stay focused and determined like they did and end up 16-11, that’s an accomplishment.&uot;

The season has Parnham sort of giddy preparing for next year with just two seniors lost. The Lady Vikings will welcome back Corley, who put up eye-popping numbers late in the season before ending the season with 142 strikeouts and 35 walks in 165 innings pitched despite having little mound experience prior to the season.

&uot;Christy Corley became a great pitcher over the course of the season,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;She picked up velocity on her fastball, and her breaking pitch was breaking better throughout the season.&uot;