Delaney Elling is a 2016 Hot 100 first baseman/catcher from Washington, Pa., who has committed to Penn State where she plans on majoring in Bio-Medical Engineering.

The senior-to-be is a standout in the classroom and on the field. Academically she has a weighted GPA of 4.75 and is 1^st in her class of 265.

In uniform, she’s playing for the Wagner’s 3n2 team this summer after earning 2^nd Team FloSoftball All-American honors as well as being named 1^st Team All-State as a catcher.

Delaney is blogging for FloSoftball this week about her experiences at the USA Softball JO Cup and today recaps her team’s two games during the first day of bracket play.

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With elimination games in my future, I woke up early this morning to get a head start on the day.

After eating my standard “breakfast of champions” (Reese Puffs and GoGurt!), I left the hotel to meet up with my team at the batting cages to get some swings in before our first game.

Showing up at the fields with only 20 minutes until game time meant we only had time to stretch, throw, and get into the right mindset for the seven inning battle.

However as the other team took the field to start the game, the umpires noticed the field was not playable with mud throughout the infield. As we waited for the field crew to finish working on our field, I could tell we were all anxious and excited to get the game started.

Our built up energy exploded into our game play as we won our first elimination game by one run, beating a very good Indiana Magic Gold team.

Following a much needed lunch break, the team met up at the hotel to take a picture to give to our coaches as a end of the season gift. (I didn’t have the chance to see it, but I heard it turned out nicely!)

Moving on to our second game of the day, we were hoping to build off of our first game. Yet, we found ourselves in a hole midway through the game.

Battling our way through the rest of the innings, we couldn’t seem to find the holes in their defense and ended up down two at the end of seven as we lost to the Texas team Aces Express.

Since we were together for a majority of the day, we decided to break up for dinner. My dad and I decided to go the Italian route with my teammate, and Penn State commit, Michelle Leone and her dad.

Over dinner we shared stories of our lives back home, highlighting the differences between Florida and Pennsylvania, and I learned that trying to catch waves on an unwaxed surfboard was equivalent to trying to “ride on a banana” (Yes, that’s a quote. And yes, he was speaking from experience.)

When we finally returned to the hotel around 7 pm I was beat. With elimination games to play tomorrow, I decided to call it a night and I read my Tim Tebow book (for the hundredth time, I think) until I could finally fall asleep.