Delaney Elling is a 2016 first baseman/catcher for Trinity High in Washington, Pa. and was selected as a Pennsylvania AAA All-State 1^st Team catcher in 2014 when she hit .684 with 32 RBI. She had another strong year in 2015 as she hit over .500 and had an on-base percentage over .650.

The 6-foot commit to Penn State was selected as one of the 2016 Hot 100 players in the country and is equally outstanding in the classroom as she carries a 4.0 GPA and 30 ACT. She wants to major in Bio-Medical Engineering in college.

In today’s blog, Delaney talks about her high school team’s march through the Pennsylvania AAA playoffs, as 165 teams began the quest for the championship game and, against the odds, her Hillers’ team made it all the way to the final game, but she says the result wasn’t the important part.

She says she’ll always remember, “the memories made, the songs sang, the sundaes scooped (think Michigan with their pizza, that was us with sundaes), the at-bats, the ground balls, the ups, the downs.

Note, too, that in the playoffs Delaney hit .500 with three home runs, 10 RBI and walked seven times showing that opponents knew her well enough to pitch carefully to her!

Be sure to check out Delaney’s previous blogs and those of our other standout bloggers!

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This past Friday I had the opportunity to play at Penn State with my high school team to compete for a state championship. Although the end result was not what we would have hoped – we lost 2-0 – the only thing I can say is, what a ride!

However, our story starts at the beginning of April on a completely different note.

After losing in the second round of our district playoffs two years in a row, our major goal was to make it through that round and to the district semifinals.

Going into the season, our section was affectionately titled the “Section of Death” because of the abundance of high quality teams. Halfway through the season, the section lived up to its name and we found ourselves praying we would make it into the playoffs.

Nevertheless, we clawed our way into the postseason and that is where things started to get magical.

As a team we pushed past the first and second rounds of the playoffs, achieving our original goal of the season. After that second-round game though, we decided that was not good enough for us. So we changed the goal: we wanted the district title.

We decided to “stay hungry,” one of the phrases our team repeated all season.

During the district semi-final game our roller coaster ride of a season took a plunge. Our goal for the season changed yet again in the moment that followed the loss. We needed to pull it together because we knew we had to focus on our shot at the state tournament.

The district consolation game flew by and ultimately the good guys – us! – came out victorious.

We had reached the state tournament, a feat that we would not have even dreamt of earlier in the season. At this point, a motto that our team had adopted earlier in the season took over: “Why Not Us?”

Every pitch of every game in the state tournament, we focused on enjoying the moment. We won our games any way we could. Drastically outscoring our opponents? Absolutely. Bunting in the runs? You bet. Holding the other team with tight D? Come from behind victory? Yes and yes.

All in all, we refused to lose during those games. It was as if we didn’t know how to lose. During our run, we experienced every emotion imaginable. Of course there was inexplicable joy, but there was also gut-wrenching nerves, guilt, disappointment and anger.

The morning of the State Championship game, our community came together to send the team off to Penn State. Seeing my teachers, friends, and loved ones in the crowd is something I will never forget.

Our three-hour journey to Happy Valley consisted of sleeping, snacking, and an hour or two of some very poorly sung karaoke. Sorry, coaches!

As nervous as we had been for the past few games, our nerves were nowhere to be found on game day.

We went through our normal routine: Throw. Hit. Sing We’re All in This Together (yes, High School Musical). Take infield and outfield. Yell a chant. Say a prayer. Take a selfie. We were loose and taking in every single moment.

After seven hard-played innings and a 90-minute rain delay, the score was 2-0 and not for the good guys this time…

However, our tears were definitely outnumbered by our smiles. We were even jokingly titled the happiest state runner-up in PIAA history.

After the trophies had been handed out, we lined up down the first base line and sang our alma mater with our joined hands raised proudly in the air.

That was followed up by the chant, “It’s a great day to be a Hiller.” (A Hiller being our school mascot and the chant modeled after Florida’s “It’s great to be a Florida Gator).

I think we may have celebrated even more than the other team.

It is not fun to lose. It is never fun to lose. But, man, if I had to lose at some point, I’m glad it was in the state finals.

All in all, what a ride!

The memories made, the songs sang, the sundaes scooped (think Michigan with their pizza, that was us with sundaes), the at-bats, the ground balls, the ups, the downs.

I pray I don’t forget a single moment with the wonderful people I got to call my teammates!