Missy Coates is cutting back.

The senior shortstop finishes classes at Collegiate this week. The Cougars play St. Catherine's in the LIS championship today, as Coates' final softball season nears its end.

She's played on Collegiate's varsity since seventh grade. She played volleyball for four years, and this winter she decided to try high school basketball for the first time. This summer, Coates is going to try out not playing travel ball for the first time in almost a decade.

She'll get a job instead, she said, and maybe that will be good practice for this fall, when she starts classes at Virginia Tech. Coates might try to play intramural sports - field hockey or lacrosse, or something she hasn't gotten to try yet - but softball is over.

"I tried lacrosse one time, and I thought that was extremely fun," she said. "I used to play soccer for a long time, and I thought that was extremely fun up until I had to play softball for school and then I didn't have time. So I love playing soccer, and field hockey looks really fun, too.

"I just think all sports look really fun," she finally admitted, laughing.

For all that fun, Coates talks a lot about working hard and the time required to be good at any sport. For a while, all that hard work and a nagging hip and back injury had taken the joy out of softball.

"I don't like admitting that I'm hurt most of the time," she said. "So the fact that I finally had to go the doctor was a big deal."

In the LIS tournament semifinals Tuesday at Collegiate's Robins Campus, Coates led off the third inning. She calmly took the first pitch before stepping out of the box to look back at the dugout to her father and coach, Mark Coates. Settling back into her stance, she smacked the second pitch authoritatively into left field for a single.

On the first pitch to the next batter, she stole second. On a passed ball with a 1-2 count, she stole third standing up. And she broke on a 2-2 count as the ball left the Covenant pitcher's hands, hesitating as Brittany McCauley made contact and dropped a single just left of second. Coates scored upright but dusty for the first run of the game. The Cougars built on that lead, pulling away to a 5-0 win.

"Some days, I'll just really feel it, and I'll just be really good in the infield," she said. "I'm just reacting to everything really well. . . . But usually my hitting is more often on."

Offensively, Coates is a solid hitter. She's hit 32 career home runs and has a six-year batting average of .458. More than half of her hits were for extra bases.

Mark Coates played shortstop at VCU. His sons, Michael and Mark, played the infield at J.R. Tucker. The elder Coates took over the Cougars in 2005, leading them to their most recent LIS championship.

"I've always enjoyed watching her play, because she enjoys playing the game," he said. "But . . . she's going to enjoy doing all the things kids do in college."

The Cougars play today at the new softball complex on the 155-acre Robins Campus in Goochland. It's a long way from the grass field with no base-path, the one where Coates started her career with Collegiate. But her object is to work hard at having fun, no matter what the playing surface.

"I've had a great career in high school, and I figured I might as well go out working as hard as I can for my team and just for me," Coates said. "So I know I can go out on a happy note."