Brandi Catherman came to Mike Beckley with a question this past winter: Did he think she should apply for the head coaching vacancy at Lewisburg High School?

Beckley, the long-time Mifflinburg coach, asked his former catcher if the job would still be available next year. Catherman didn't believe that it would, so Beckley told her to go for it.

Catherman hasn't looked back since.

A former Mifflinburg star backstop and a four-year letter-winner at Division II Millersville, the 23-year-old Catherman doesn't exactly have the Green Dragons in playoff mode yet (they haven't been to the postseason since 1997). But they were only three games under .500 (4-7) entering this week. With two more victories, they'll surpass last year's win total.

"A lot of the umpires after the game have said, Your girls look great, they've improved since the first time I saw them,'"Š'' Catherman says. "I think that's what we have to focus on."

Catherman has a young team (just one senior starter), so she's building for next year. Despite the setbacks in what will almost certainly be another losing season in eastern Union County, Catherman has been impressed with the girls' attitude.

"The program has struggled for so many years, but their determination is still there," says Catherman, who's a first-year science teacher at the high school. "I really look up to those girls and they really inspire me."

As if taking over a struggling program and being a head coach for the first time wasn't enough, Catherman had to face her mentor in only the second game of the season. The Wildcats won 5-0.

"It was very emotional, I wasn't sure what to expect," says Catherman, who was an assistant coach in the Mifflinburg program last year. "I wanted to make (Beckley) proud of me in some way."

Sure enough, Beckley came away impressed.

"She's teaching them the game and they're communicating with each other," Beckley says. "They're talking to each other ... and that's good fundamental softball. I was kind of impressed with that."

Once Catherman got that nerve-wracking game out of the way, she could go back to teaching the game. Like most former players who are just starting a coaching career, Catherman has had trouble watching from the sideline.

"I didn't think it would be as hard as it is," she says. "It's hard not to have that control like you would if you were playing yourself."

Catherman does have control over the team's offseason programs. She wants to develop some offseason clinics, like the pitching clinic Beckley puts on at Mifflinburg, to try to keep the girls focused on softball -- and maybe get a few more to come out. Catherman only has 21 girls between her varsity and JV programs.

"Most of the better (female) athletes will do track (at Lewisburg)," she says in reference to coach Jon Clark's powerhouse girls track program. "It is hard to compete. But I think we're opening a lot of people's eyes. I know there are some up-and-coming softball players."