Brantlee Richards stood on the infield dirt between first and second base, her right hand balled into a fist in her glove. She stared intently toward home plate, fidgeting with her feet while waiting for the ball to be put in play.

It was the ready position, a natural stance for a fielder to take, but also showed off a bit of nervous energy. If Richards wanted to see the ball hit and get on with the game, it’s understandable. She’s got plenty of other things to do.

Richards is participating in three activities this fall — softball, soccer and cheerleading. It’s a tripleheader that has led to plenty of juggled schedules and perhaps a lack of sleep, but also a lot of fun for the St. Aloysius freshman.

“I’ve been doing them all this year, and all my teams wanted me to play so I didn’t want to let them down in any way. I knew it was going to be hard, but I knew I could do it,” Richards said.

Richards’ busy fall sports season began in late July, when St. Al left the Mississippi High School Activities Association to join the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.

She had participated in all three activities as an eighth grader, but they’re split into different seasons on the MHSAA calendar. Cheerleading is a fall activity, soccer is in the winter, and softball in the spring. Under the MAIS umbrella, all three are played in the fall.

Several female athletes at St. Al were suddenly forced to split their time between two of those activties, but Richards is the only one participating in all three.

Richards said her parents Ginger and Michael Richards have been supportive, even if it means splitting their time and driving duties three ways. Richards’ sister Brooklyn is also on the softball team, and their brother Bryce plays football.

The family lives in Edwards, and of the three siblings, only the senior Bryce has a driver’s license.

“They kept a positive attitude, because they didn’t want to get down on me. But it’s been hard,” Brantlee said. “I go from cheer for an hour, straight to softball for an hour and 45 minutes, then to soccer. It’s usually 9:30 before I get home, and then I have homework and everything.”

Richards’ family hasn’t been the only ones who have to schedule around her busy schedule. The coaches of all three programs have had to communicate with each other to figure out where she’s needed most.

Games take prioirity, and district games get the highest priority. On days when only practices are scheduled, Richards tries to get to at least two of them for some amount of time.

“We do the best we can. We try to schedule later games so that Brantlee can go to cheer practice before we get on the bus to go to a game,” St. Al softball coach Candice Reeder said. “If we’re not going to games, she goes to cheer practice, then to either one of our practices or the games.”

Richards appreciated the cooperation and pateience her coaches and St. Al’s adminisstration have shown. St. Al’s reason for joining the MAIS was because the MHSAA banned out-of-state students from participating in all sanctioned activities. Another part of that ban included students living outside a 20-mile radius of campus. The Richards live just outside that zone.

The grueling summer is beginning to wind down. St. Al will play its last softball game of the season today at 6 p.m. when it hosts Central Hinds at Bazinsky Park.

Soccer has about a month to go, including the playoffs, while cheerleading will carry on through the football season.

Richards might be ready for a rest, but said she has no plans to hibernate for the winter.

“I’m just going to try to find something to do to stay in shape,” she said.