It was a tough decision to make.

The tears that Margaret Brown shed Thursday in her last game as the Weatherly softball coach showed how she felt. Not even her sunglasses could hide those tears.They started as tears of joy as the Wreckers put an exclamation point on her coaching career with an 11-9 come-from-behind victory over Millville on Thursday. But the tears were also a sign of the many emotions Brown was feeling after spending 38 years as the Wreckers' mentor, and knowing that time had come to an end."I decided it's time," said Brown. "It's probably time for me to move on. They always say, 'You know when it's time.' I think it's time."When Sam Kane struck out Millville's Cassidy Bricker to end the game, Brown opened the gate to the fence one last time to walk out to the pitcher's circle and congratulate her Wreckers on the victory.Kane handed her coach the ball. Brown pulled it close to her heart and began to cry. The Wreckers huddled around Brown for one last post-game chat - 'forever.'"I originally said I didn't want the paper to do anything on me because it's not about me," said Brown, who took over the program in 1979. "It's about the kids and I really sincerely mean that. This was hard for me. The focus is on them. My job is to mentor them and not get any press."The seasoned Wreckers' coach reluctantly stood in the spotlight for just a moment.Brown's coaching career actually almost ended last season. She considered stepping down then, but with seven seniors graduating from that team, Brown decided to stay at least one more year."I thought that would probably be an inappropriate time to leave and let a new coach come in with a whole new group," said Brown. "But, honestly, every time I thought about packing it in, I got teary eyed and upset ... I wanted to come back again and not leave the cupboard bare. I wanted to come back and give it my best."Brown, who is a guidance counselor in the Weatherly School District, enjoyed getting to know her players and following them through their scholastic careers, both on and off the field."As a teacher, or as a guidance counselor, or whatever, you see a different aspect of the student," Brown said. "And, in coaching, you get to see the uniqueness of their personalities. You get to watch them grow and develop. I had the unique position seeing them from kindergarten all the way up."It's a whole different atmosphere when you're coaching. You see the troubles with the boyfriend or breaking up, their struggles with their schoolwork and yet they're focusing on the game. You just get to see a whole unique part of their personality besides just being a student."Coaching gave her a chance to share the love of softball with student-athletes who shared that same love."It keeps them off the street," said Brown, who started coaching at Weatherly as a junior varsity and junior high basketball coach in 1977. "It keeps them out of trouble. It teaches them a lot of life lessons. There's so much more to sports than your win-loss record. There's so much more they get out of it. I know that these kids got more out of it than whatever their record would be."I was always proud to be the Weatherly coach. They're always respectable. They don't argue. They're never embarrassing. They don't fight with officials. They're just great and always have been. It never changed from 1977 till now. I was very fortunate to have two wonderful athletic directors in Ron Sandt and Scott Zoscin."And, I was blessed in that time period to have great assistants - Wayne Hittinger, LeAnn Miller, Lori Demoor and Diane Polchin. Those four people were with me through my coaching times. They were great assistants. They helped me a lot. I could not have done it without them."