"Her attitude is super and she will play any position for me," third-year softball coach Rob DiGiacomo says. "And she gives 110 percent in practice or a game. What more could you want?"

Although Belden is at MCC on a full basketball scholarship, she was recruited for all three sports in a fullcourt coaching press.

Parrinello, DiGiacomo and soccer coach Tracey Britton would make the one-hour trek to Warsaw, Wyoming County, to see Belden play basketball during her senior year.

This despite the fact that the point guard was coming off two anterior cruciate ligament tears in her left knee -- both suffered on the basketball court.

"People were telling me about her as a sophomore," Britton says. "The three of us were excited about her, and I think that was part of the draw for her."

Belden was brought to Parrinello's attention by former Warsaw and MCC point guard Kerrie Schillaci, now an MCC basketball assistant.

"At first I thought she was a good player on a not-so-good team," Parrinello says. "But she grew on me."

Belden is the youngest of five children, and her siblings all played soccer, basketball and baseball or softball. It didn't take Arin long to get into the act.

"I was at my first basketball game when I was less than a week old," Belden says. "And I was the soccer and basketball manager in second grade."

Eventually, she played five varsity soccer seasons and six in basketball and softball. She was an All-State selection (fourth team) in soccer and softball and scored more than 1,700 points in basketball despite missing much of her past two seasons with the ACL tears.

Belden is 127-18-1 in her combined career at MCC, but the numbers are even more impressive in the classroom. The physical education major came to MCC with 24 credit hours under her belt and has a 3.95 grade-point average, with 18 grades of A or A-minus and a "low" grade of B-plus for sports psychology.

"Playing sports definitely helps," she says. "I'll put things off if I have a lot of time."

Belden's favorite sport is basketball, but her career highlight is scoring with one minute remaining in the first half of last fall's NJCAA soccer championship. It gave the Tribunes a 1-0 win over Utah's Dixie CC and avenged a title loss to the same team the previous year.

"I felt all year I had missed some goals," she says. "So getting the game-winner against the team that beat us was awesome."

Belden led the MCC soccer team with 23 goals and 5 assists her freshman year, then added 13 goals and 11 assists this past fall. On the basketball court, she is all about assists.

Just ask Erie CC: Last week, Belden scored only four points against the Kats but dished out a school-record 17 assists -- while playing just 24 minutes in a 109-27 romp.

She has helped lead the Tribunes, ranked No. 1 nationally, to a 21-0 record entering tonight's 6 p.m. home showdown with Genesee CC.

Belden has been pursued by a few Division I schools (Buffalo, Binghamton, Maryland-Baltimore County) and dozens of Division II and III colleges. She hopes to play both soccer and basketball but very likely will drop softball after this coming spring season at MCC.

Belden has been a starter in sports for as long as she can remember, so having to share the point last year with Cooper -- who is now at Division I St. Francis, N.Y. -- was an adjustment. But like any good athlete, Belden seized her opportunity when it came.

During the opening round of the NJCAA Tournament, Cooper was forced to the bench with foul trouble and Belden took over.

"Arin did such a good job that we couldn't get her off the floor," Parrinello says. "And we haven't been able to since."

Only graduation will do that. Opponents must be counting the days.