By By DAN WEISS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Last time is was Rockford. This time it's Greenville.
The Brandywine varsity softball team hopes the different location of this year's quarterfinal game yields the same result as it did in 2001 when the Bobcats went on to win the Division III state title.
Brandywine (35-5) will travel to Greenville High School today to face Lansing Catholic Central (28-10) at 5 p.m. in one of four Division 3 quarterfinal games around the state.
The Cougars are led by senior pitcher Nicole McMillon who is 25-4 on the year. She faced just 21 batters, striking out nine and walking none, in Central's 3-0 regional title game victory.
Brandywine junior pitcher Nicki McGowen is 33-4 on the season and has an ERA of .037. She gave up just one hit in each of Brandywine's regional games Saturday at Constantine and struck out 20 batters. She is averaging 1.3 strikeouts per inning.
Nakisha Washington, a senior shortstop, leads the Bobcats at the plate with a .509 average. She has hit six homers and 33 RBIs.
Senior second baseman Lauren Heyn is batting .440 while junior catcher Michelle Shoemaker is batting .424 with six homers and 36 RBIs. Shoemaker hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday against Hartford and drove in two runs against Kalamazoo Christian.
Senior first baseman Jessica Keeton is also batting .292 with two homers and 37 RBIs.
The winner of today's quarterfinal game in Greenville will advance to the state semifinals to be held Friday at Bailey Park in Battle Creek at 3:30 p.m. The Division 3 finals are scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m., also at Bailey Park.