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 talks about the journey to get to Calif. and her first day on the field…

***

This week, I am fortunate enough to be playing in the ASA Junior Olympic Cup with my team in Chino Hills, California.

After leaving Pittsburgh at 6 in the morning (Eastern Standard Time) yesterday and having a small layover in Phoenix, my father and I finally landed in L.A. and made it to our hotel around 12 pm California time.

We took a quick nap and got situated in the hotel before my team left for the fields to sign in and to get our bats tested. (I am proud to announce that my bat passed with flying colors!)

I got to see my former teammate, and future Penn State teammate, Destiny Weber before my team put our newly approved bats to use while we took some batting practice at a nearby field.

Closing out our night, we had a team dinner and hung around the hotel until the time difference got the best of us.

Today, my team played two pool play games and—although they did not go the way we had hoped—we became comfortable with the fields, got used to the weather and played great competition!

Following our games, about half our team went out for pizza with our coaches and parents before getting some much needed rest at the hotel.

Heading into our last pool play game tomorrow, we are all very excited to see where the week takes us and thankful for the opportunity to be playing the game we love in a wonderful environment!