As she watched her brothers and friends engage in the bat and base sports, a young 3-year old decided to follow their lead.

Coach Tiffany Kaiser believes senior Christina Cabias exercises her title as captain of the girls’ softball team with her love for the game and leadership ability.

?Cabias won?t let the girls slack off,? Kaiser said. ?Over the many years of playing sports, she developed a sense of leadership without being overpowering.?

With only three girls returning from last year, the team managed to maintain the same record as last year?s, with the season still in progress.

?Without Christina the team would have such a huge loss,? Amanda Wood, ?08, said. ?She is the one thing we can all rely on.?

As catcher and captain, Cabias earns special privileges as well as responsibilities.

?I send Christina to get water and run drills,? Kaiser said. ?When I give her responsibilities she likes to help and rise up to the tasks I give her.?

Juggling both school and sports took a toll on Cabias? physical health but taught her how to prioritize. She was also captain of the varsity volleyball and soccer teams.

?Being athletic all year round made schooling especially difficult when I would come home late after games and still had lots of homework,? Cabias said. ?All around, it has made me manage my time better. I wouldn?t change a thing.?

Cabias believes playing on the local softball travel team, The Fresno Force, can be both positive and negative.

?On my travel team, we took 9 in the nation, when I was only 14,? Cabias said. ?A year before that, when I was 13 and played with all 18 year olds, during the middle of the game, one of the older girls pulled my pants down, just to be mean.?

Although Cabias does not plan to continue any sports competitively in college, athletics will be in her future.

?I will definitely play sports just for fun,? Cabias said. ?I?m going to Fresno State, since it?s one of the top colleges in California, to study kinesiology. Who knows, maybe I will become a coach some day.?

The Junior League of Fresno awarded 18 high school girls with scholarships for excellence in both athletics and academics. The League selected Cabias as one of the athletes; Athletic Director Scott Callisch nominated her. The Senior Athlete Awards Banquet was held at World Sports Cafe in Fresno on April 23.