By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - When you reach your senior year of high school, everything changes.Your not looked down on as just another student or athlete anymore, you become the top dogs.
You run the school and look so big and intimidating to the rookies, but you are looked up to by those unfamiliar faces. You're role models. The students and athletes who will set a good example of how things should be done in school and on the field. And it may not always be the easiest job.
Just ask Brandywine softball players Amanda Grice, Dee Echevarria and Ashley Antus, all four-year lettermen with the very successful Bobcat softball team.
These three girls are the seniors of this year's squad and know they not only have to set a good example for their team, but for future Bobcat players as well.
Though it may always seem difficult, these girls know they can't give up and have to continue to work hard each and every day. The payoffs for the hard work have been some very successful seasons for Brandywine.
In 2001, they claimed the Division 3 state championship and have since made it to the semi finals. Not to mention the team has dominated the Lakeland Conference for quite some time and just claimed their seventh straight Division 3 District Championship.
But, coming into the start of the season, all three seniors were pretty worried with how their team would compare to the successful teams the Bobcats have seen in the past few years. They were young and just not determined like the girls they were used to seeing.
But as the season progressed, the Lady Cats proved they still had what it takes to be a top ranked team. While things may have been a little shaky at first, the team got on the right track, had another great season and are still on a mission.
On Saturday, they will have a shot at winning their seventh straight regional title at Constantine High School where they will face Kalamazoo Christian for the sixth time at regionals in the second semi final game of the day.
The Bobcats have shut out Kalamazoo in their last two meetings, but will the third time be a charm?
The girls know that if they want a shot at winning, they are going to have to step up and be leaders, as they have been all year.
Echevarria is a catcher for the Bobcats and recently received All-Lakeland Conference and All-District first team honors.
With two outs in the last inning of the district championship game against River Valley, Echevarria hit a hard ground ball to drive in the winning run.
Antus plays center field and doesn't let too much get by her. She also received first All-Lakeland Conference and All-District honors.
Grice is a third baseman and, like Antus, is a wall. She has also been a top hitter offensively for the Bobcats this season. She also received All-Lakeland Conference and All-District honors.
While the girls know their roles as seniors, they all agreed that there is one person a step above them that pushes them harder than anyone else. And that's coach Myers.
And that is another reason all the girls said they have had such a successful program for so many years.
Grice plans to attend Southwestern Michigan College, then transfer to Western Michigan University to study Elementary Education
Antus will be attending Oakland University to study Marine Biology. She says she might play softball while she is there.
Echevarria will be attending Northwood University to study accounting.
She has to undergo surgery for a disconnected knee cap, something very common in female catchers. If everything turns out ok after that, she will be playing softball for the university.