Seeing Mary Villarreal lead the Fort Stockton softball team deep into the playoffs may have seemed like not long ago for some.

Just over three years ago she graduated from Fort Stockton High School with a softball scholarship in hand from Sul Ross State University and nearly all her general education courses complete by way of Midland College/WRTTC dual credit program.

The Fort Stockton natives high-achieving mindset in the classroom put her on a fast track for college graduation and this past August Villarreal earned her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.

Villarreal immediately joined Sul Ross’ Health and Human Performance Master’s Program with hopes of one day becoming a physical therapist.

But the lifelong Fort Stockton resident acknowledged her career path could take another route.

Villarreal accepted a science teaching position at the middle school for this upcoming school year and will be a coach for three sports programs. The former three-year college softball athlete will be the head coach of the middle volleyball and girls basketball teams in the fall and winter before finishing the school year as an assistant for the high school softball team.

“It just happened that way, gods plan. I’ll stay here for a few years and then I’ll apply for PT school because I want to be a physical therapist,” she said. “For right now I want to teach and coach and see how it is. If I like it I might end up staying”

The Fort Stockton native has high goals and hopes for the Prowler athletic programs in the near future. Villarreal aided in the Prowlers volleyball camp this past week and said at the event that she is familiar with a majority of the girls – something she believes could help the transition in being one of their new coaches.

“I want to help build up all the Prowler programs because I’ve seen them from when I left high school to where they’re at now and I’m here to build them. Encourage all the girls and I know they all look at me as a role model so I have to stay at my standards,” Villarreal said. “I’m excited to be here, especially knowing most of them since I grew up here. I just want to push them and encourage them to be at their best.”