From 1-7 to 9-9, Big Walnut has turned the corner, flipped the switch and embodied every other sporting cliche.

These new softball Golden Eagles, at an even .500, are a far cry from those old softball Golden Eagles, six games under.

"We're heading in the right direction," Big Walnut coach Jeff Hatfield said, his Eagles 4-5 in the OCC Capital Division. "Obviously the league title is out of the question, but we still have Mount Vernon, Hilliard Bradley (canceled Monday, April 26) and Delaware coming up, so we can be a spoiler.

"The other thing, we can be a tough out in the (Division II postseason) tournament. If we're on our game we can play with everybody in the district. We've just got to hit more through the order. Hopefully we're starting to get our confidence back and get some rhythm."

With rhythmic victories over Fostoria 15-5 Friday, April 23, Brookville (5-4) Saturday, April 24, and Huber Heights Wayne (6-3) April 24 -- all in Centennial's Stellar Classic at Ohio State's Fred Beekman Park -- a little pep has been restored in the Eagles' step.

"They were three really good teams we played," Hatfield said. "To be honest, we had actually been playing pretty good ball until the Olentangy Orange game (10-3 home loss, also on April 23).

"As flat as we were against Orange, we struggled in the circle a little bit. I think Tabatha Piper had four or five walks in that game that came back to haunt us in one inning. So I was a little nervous about going to OSU after that and having to play three pretty tough teams, but the girls played unbelievable."

Adding a couple feathers to her cap at the Stellar was junior-varsity call-up Allie Walker, a freshman pitcher.

"Allie pitched in relief in both the Brookville and Huber Heights game and got both wins," said Hatfield, who also supplemented his roster with another arm in freshman Cheyan Pace. "That was a big boost.

"Obviously she pitched well and obviously we hit well. There's a good chance she's going to be seeing some more varsity action."

On the other end, crashing opposing pitchers' parties most frequently for the Eagles this season has been Leah Haines (.489 batting average), Piper (.383), Emily Petty (.353), Shelby Fink (.344) and Tayler Nance (.328).

But in the interest of full disclosure, though the offense hasn't set the world ablaze, per se, BW's earlier troubles originated elsewhere.

"We've struggled obviously a little more than I thought we would," Hatfield said. "It still comes down to hits and runs. We've lost some league games I felt like we shouldn't have lost. There were some games, like Mount Vernon (April 16), they were undefeated in the league and we beat them (4-0), shut them out at our place.

"It's been up and down. I'll say this is still as athletic of a team as I've had in four years, we're just young. We're still trying to find consistency in the circle with our pitchers. That's probably been the bigger key, we haven't had the consistency in the circle."

Charged with honing in on that steadiness both inside and outside of the circle, Big Nut will host DeSales Tuesday, April 27, and Delaware Hayes Wednesday, April 28, before returning to the road against New Albany Friday, April, 30. The Eagles will also play at Westerville South at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 1, and at Westerville North at 1 p.m. on the same day.

Additionally, the Central District tournament draw will be held Sunday, May 2.

"We've struggled obviously a little more than I thought we would. It still comes down to hits and runs. We've lost some league games I felt like we shouldn't have lost."