After visiting Saint Vincent College in Latrobe and learning she could play volleyball and basketball for the Bearcats, Devin McGrath was having a discussion about her desire to play multiple sports in college.

"She said, 'I'm not a volleyball player, I'm not a basketball player, I'm not a softball player. I'm an athlete and I just want to play,'" her mother, Bea McGrath, said. "A number of Division I and Division II schools recruited her to play just one sport, but she didn't want to do that."

That's because Devin McGrath has been participating in three varsity sports at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Coraopolis for the past four school years, and playing them at a high level. Before graduating last month, she had earned 12 varsity monograms at OLSH, four each for volleyball, basketball and softball.

This past school year, McGrath was a middle hitter on the Chargers' volleyball team that advanced to the WPIAL Class A semifinals; averaged 20.3 points, 12.4 rebounds and 3 assists as a guard/forward in basketball as OLSH made it to the WPIAL Class AA semifinals; and hit .512 with 20 runs, 19 RBIs and 22 steals as a shortstop on a softball squad that finished 11-5 and just missed the playoffs.

She accomplished all of that while maintaining a 3.5 grade point average.

For her accomplishments this season and during her high school career, McGrath has been selected as the PG West Edition High School Female Athlete of the Year. The athletes of the year are selected by the Post-Gazette's scholastic sports staff. Others who were under consideration for the honor in the West edition were Hopewell's Elise Farris, Ambridge's Lindsay Vrooman, Freedom's Ashley Adams and West Allegheny's Keri Dantley.

It comes as no surprise to her parents that McGrath has developed into such a talented, versatile athlete.

"She was walking when she was 9 months old," Bea McGrath said. "She played baseball with her brothers up through Little League and was on the all-star teams with them."

Her athletic development was spurred on by three older brothers, Tim, Matthew and David, her twin who is only a minute older. She also has a younger sister, Meg.

"I grew up playing tackle football with them," Devin said of her brothers. "Being around them made me tough."

She displayed that toughness her junior year when she developed meningoencephalitis, a rare infection of the brain and the surrounding membranes. She went into the hospital in mid-February and was there for a little more than four weeks after being told she might be there for as long as six months.

McGrath has no lingering effects from the infection, but said laying around the house for about three weeks after returning home was "the worst."

"She didn't really lay around at all," her mother said. "She about drove us crazy because she would walk up this steep hill and across the highway to go to physical therapy for three hours a day three days a week ... she didn't want me to drive her."

McGrath, who is 5-foot-9, played softball that spring for OLSH -- "She told me 'No way I'm not playing,'" her mother said -- which was an outstanding accomplishment given the circumstances.

Devin's response to making it onto the softball field: "I had an awful season."

Despite her illness McGrath was named to the Associated Press All-State Team's second squad in Class AA as a junior. This past season, she was an AP third-team All-State pick. In volleyball, she has been named to the Pennsylvania Volleyball Coaches Association All-State Class A team the past two years.

While she is better known for her basketball ability, volleyball has become McGrath's favorite sport. Maybe that's because she didn't start playing it until she reached high school and it is still new to her.

"I just like the constant action, that's there's always something happening," she said. "I guess softball is the one I like the least."

Still, she might give softball a try at Saint Vincent if her academics are in order.

"I'm thinking about it ... we'll see," she said.

A Robinson Township resident, McGrath plans to major in elementary education in college and then shift to physical education. Her goal is to become a teacher and a volleyball coach, although she laughed at the thought of coaching just one sport.

"No, probably not," she said when asked if she could specialize. "I'll probably end up coaching a couple sports."

No kidding.