Platte County softball coach Callie Peoples relied heavily on a trio of seniors on the softball diamond last fall.Now, those three seniors — Paige Rocha, Gracie Erickson and Madi Shields — are all college softball players. Rocha and Shields took part in a signing ceremony late last month at Platte County High School.

“I’m proud of the senior class,” Peoples said. “They are all very close, very talented and all worked really hard. I’m proud of them to see what they do in the next chapter.”

Rocha signed with Division I Wichita State, while Erickson and Shields will be future rivals in the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Shields chose Missouri Valley College and Erickson picked nearby Park University.

Rocha was a four-year starter for the Pirates and hit .520 with 17 doubles, three triples and had a .568 on-base percentage this past fall. In her career, she had a .512 average and earned all-conference, all-district and all-region all four years. She is the all-time leader in batting average and hits in a career at PCHS.

Rocha will be a third baseman for Wichita State.

She signed with the Shockers in November, one of eight signees for coach Kristi Bredbenner.

“Paige will bring a steady, consistent glove to our defense,” she said. “She brings a scrappy, determined lefty bat to our lineup and knows how to get on base and make things happen.”

Rocha had been committed to the Shockers since her sophomore season but that didn’t stop the recruiting letters from showing up. She never wavered from her chance to join Wichita State, a member of the American Athletic Conference.

“I knew when I stepped foot on campus,” said Rocha, who also looked at LSU, about knowing that Wichita State was the right choice. “Everyone was so nice and the campus looked pretty and the facilities are super nice and that drew me in.”

She is one of nearly a dozen players from her club team, Top Gun, to land a college scholarship.

Erickson will play at Park, the same college her high school coach played.

She will be a utility player for the Pirates, much like her role with her high school Pirates. She could see time at third base and shortstop for Park.

She first started getting recruited as a junior by Park and it didn’t hurt her hitting coach, Ross Ensor, is an assistant coach for Park.

“I like how close it is to home and I know some of the girls on the team,” said Erickson, who also drew interest from Central Methodist, Benedictine College and Cloud County (Kan.) Community College. “I just like Park better out of all the schools I looked at.”

She joins a recruiting class with a lot of local flavor in LaMunyon and Kali Day from Park Hill and Meggen Keller from Park Hill South. She played on a summer team with Keller and LaMunyon.

Shields will head to Marshall, Mo., to play for the Vikings.

The infielder also looked at William Jewell, Park and Loras College before picking MVC.

“I like the coach (Marcum) and how close it was to home,” Shields said of picking Missouri Valley.

Shields had wanted to play softball in college since junior high and the opportunity presented itself this year.

The two-sport athlete — she is on the track team — plans to major in biology in hopes of becoming a dentist.