This week has been absolutely remarkable.  I am so proud and honored to be on this team and with these girls.  We came out of the elimination bracket and are now heading to the National Championship game tomorrow afternoon at 3:00.  We lost our second game here in Salem Virginia but are now ready for the big game tomorrow.  I havn't written a blog in a week or two but I blame my lack of updates on a busy schedule and just having too much fun.  As you now know we have made it to the National Championship.  We beat Kutztown in Super Regionals the first and second game.  It was a tough two game series but we came out on top.  We went extra innings in both games and we scored our "one-up" run on a Brittany Muthard bomb to put us ahead of the Golden Bears.  We held them in the end and received our ticket for Salem. 

            So far this week has been very exhilarating.  We arrived in Salem on Tuesday night and spent the evening getting unpacked and adjusted.  On Wednesday we attended the bbq that all the teams were invited to.  It included karaoke, corn hole, basketball, and some delicious food.  After spending some time in the sun, we traveled to a local elementary school to read to the kids there.  We were able to do this in 2006 when we were at the National Tournament so it was fun to be able to do it again.  The kids were so cute and surprisingly curious about our reason for being in Salem Virginia.  Some of us were assigned to first graders while some of my other teammates and I went to fifth graders. The fifth graders were great and asked some really intelligent questions.  They wondered what conference we played in, where was the furthest we have ever traveled with the team, and if we visited a spa while we were in Hawaii over spring break.  The students in my class also wanted to hear some jokes and I gave them a few of my classics.  My teammate with me however, asked them "What kind of bee gives milk?"... The kids had no idea and Amanda Roosa thoughtfully told them the answer which is "Boo-Bee." Wonderful.  I was so proud of my catcher and fellow senior for telling 10-year olds that tasteful and appropriate joke. 

            After the comedy show by Roosa, and a class full of first graders asking for our autographs, we headed to practice where we had our usual productive yet entertaining practice.  After practice we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the All-American Banquet held at the beautiful Salem Civic Center.  We were all looking gorgeous and had a wonderful time at the banquet.  Great food, good company, creative opening speeches from all 8 teams, and the All-American Awards.  Our pitcher Kristen Erb received her FOURTH 1^st Team All-American Award.  We are all so proud of her and her accomplishments.  She deserves everything she is awarded and I am so lucky to have been able to play with her for four years.

            We won our first game on Thursday against Le Moyne and on Friday we lost a game to Alabama-Huntsville.  This put us in the elimination bracket and we had to play one game on Saturday vs. University of Indianapolis.  We were able to win that game where after we would have to play a double header on Sunday and beat the same team twice.  This team was North Georgia and we won both games at 12:00 and 4:00.  We played so well together as a team and our bats came alive.  We had 5 homeruns over the two games and 16 hits combined over both matches.  We had so much fun playing today and this fun included dancing to songs in between innings.  For example; the YMCA, the Macarena, and Twist and Shout.  Knocking out North Georgia put us into the national championship game which is tomorrow at 3:00pm.  We are so ready and pumped to play Alabama-Huntsville again.  I'll be sure to be quicker with my updates after tomorrow's games.  At this time I would really like to thank everyone who has supported us so far this season and for the four years my fellow seniors and I have been playing.  Our fans are so dedicated and loving, we are the luckiest girls in the world.  We have so many fans down here in Salem, Virginia let alone all the supporters we have listening on the radio and watching on the computer.  The support is overwhelming and helps more than you know.  So thank you for everything you have done for us, even if you don't think it means a lot, it is so very important to us. 

Stay tuned...

Norris #22