Senior Missy Kurian (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) is one of a pair of seniors on the LHU squad.  

This is her NCAA National Championship experience in her own words.

Wednesday, May 14

Today began as usual, I woke up at 7:00 am restless as always.  Shortly after waking up I received Ilia’s usual, “you awake yet” text message.  I tossed and turned until it was time to get ready for breakfast.  Today we went below the hotel to a little restaurant. They made fresh breakfast, with omelets, breakfast burritos, and other breakfast items.  The breakfast was very good so this was a very good start to the day.  After breakfast we went back to our hotel room and got our bags and hoped into our vans for the ride to our game.  Today our opponent was C.W. Post, who are from New York.  We have faced them before in our spring training tournament in Florida.  We knew that we could handle them so we were pumped to get back into our game with them. After many reminders J.j remembered her I-Trip so we could play an I-pod in the car.  This is how we get pumped up, by blasting our favorite pump up songs.  Unfortunately the day before it was forgotten and we had to listen to the radio before the game.  So today we made sure that we were properly pumped up.  With our one lost yesterday we have no room for error now and that was weighing on our minds.  We drove to our practice field thank god, I did not have to crutch today.  By the time we arrived to the practice field we were fired up and ready to go.  As soon as we went to get out of the vans we heard thunder and we had a NCAA rep run over to our van telling us that there is now a half hour delay and we have to stay in the vans.  Of course this put a little damper on everything but it did not slow us down.  In my van which is driven by Coach Shannon , since we weren’t going to scream our lungs out for another half hour Ilia came up with a game.  Ilia would start it by making so weird noise and we would have to go around the van one by one trying to mock it.  I know it sounds weird but by the end we would all be in tears.  The best part is that by the time it got to the back row which consist of Mere, Dianna, Brit, and Monty the sounds was so far off from the original.  I have to say that Monty’s was always hilarious, for some reason she does not hear the noise like the rest of us.  Finally the half hour went by with out another lightening strike. So we got out of the vans and went to the field where we do our usual warm up, some hitting throwing and of course running.  We made our way over to the game field,  my stomach started to turn a little.  I do not get nervous because I am afraid that we are not capable, I know that we are more then capable.  I think it is that small feeling of your career coming to end and there is nothing you can do about it.  When arrived at the field all of our wonderful parents were there to greet us. The previous game was still going and you have 35 minutes to get ready after the previous game ends.  So with this in mind we sat down and watched Barry and Francis Marion duke it out.  And a battle it was, two hours later in the 14^th inning Francis Marion came up with a double and then a single to pull out the win.  At this stage in the competition it is hard to see anyone go home because you know the dedication and hard work that goes into everything that got us where we are.  Also another thing that you see with teams this far into the season is their love for one another.  Team chemistry is so important and all of the teams have, you can see it through out all the games.  So finally it was our time to take the field and take care of our business.  We scored early when Julia got on base and Sarah bunted her over to second. After a ground-out that moved Julia to third, she scored on a pass ball.  This was good for us, we wanted to score first and get our momentum early. Then later in the game Devin came out to prove that she is not ready to go home when she sent another bomb over the fence and we sealed the deal when Sarah scored our 3^rd and final run.  Today we still did not bring the performance that we are capable of, but this is ok because I know our best is yet to come.  Which is perfect because the toughest is yet to come as well.  Our road to the championship continues against Ferris State.  We have to win our next three games to get to the championship game.  This would include two games tomorrow and then the third on Saturday followed by the championship game.  This is ok because it is normal for us to play double headers, we do it all year.  It is hard not to look ahead but we know that we have to take it one game at a time.  I know that we have a lot of play left in us and whole lot of heart.  So from here on out it is pitch by pitch and inning by inning.  Tonight after our game we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner.  Our meals were ok, but the desert that followed was wonderful.  A whole bunch of us got hot brownies with ice cream on top, that made everything so much better.  After we were done eating Sho reminded us that our favorite show Grey’s Anatomy was on in 20 minutes.  We quickly got back to the hotel to make sure we did not miss a minute.  Grey’s is our once a week where a bunch of the girls get together and live through the life’s of the drama filled doctors.  Instead of 67 Fairview, room 1911 had to suffice for everyone to come and watch. As usual it was amazing and we are still talking about it.  Now everyone is tucked into bed with their eyes barely open.  After a day in the Houston sun you are completely exhausted and we need all the energy we can get for tomorrow.  Looking ahead to tomorrow is very exciting and nerve racking at the same time.  So we are all going to get all the rest we can and mentally get ready for tomorrow.  At this point we have what have and I know that it is enough to get us through, all is left to do is prove it! WE BELIEVE

TAKIN IT ALL IN TEXAS  Missy #13

Tuesday, May 13

All I can do right now is sit back and take it all in, today was absolutely awesome. Today started off kind of early, the alarms in my room were going off at 6:30 a.m. Being a senior I get the bed to myself, but I rolled over to Sarah and Nancy’s bed to make sure they were awake. We all shuffled around the room half awake to get ourselves around for breakfast. We got to breakfast which all of the other teams share with, so of course the awkward stares shoot around the room. It was mostly picked over by the time we arrived, but they had pancakes and muffins and some other breakfast items. I grabbed a muffin and a cup of coffee and found a seat. But we had to eat fast and hop into the vans to start our community service, which happened to be Habitat for Humanity. Even though I didn’t get to participate the way I would have liked, it was awesome. Due to my foot injury that my career has succumb to earlier in the season; I try my best not to let it hinder me more than it already has. The whole team came together to help build a house. There are going to be ten houses built in the specific community by the student athletes this week. This is an amazing accomplishment for Habitat and the student athletes. As soon as we got there we were thrilled to find that we had to get gear. We all received t-shirts, gloves, a tool belt, and a hard helmet. We looked kind of silly, but of course all the girls loved it. All the habitat workers were great people and wonderful to work with. They were so quick to not only help you with everything but to teach you how to do things. After three grueling hours it was time for lunch, thank god. I worked up quite an appetite hammering in 2 nails and sitting in my chair watching over everyone’s water bottles. I just consider myself the supervisor in charge. Since Houston is a crazy city and no one has a GPS we got a little off track on our way to lunch. We got a little grumpy from being hot and hungry, we eat even when were not hungry so imagine us when we are hungry. Monty got a little car sick in the back trying to figure our way to lunch. Time was important today because we had the practice field at a specific time for only 2 hours. Needless to say we were able to shove down Subway and make it on time. The facilities were pretty cool; it is always nice to see a field that is groomed specifically for us. After we got our defense and hits in, we took a walk to the practice field. Unfortunately no one told me that it was a half a mile away, so I crutched there to look at the field and crutched back. I could have probably done without seeing the practice field; I am now ready for a nap! Now we have downtime in the hotel before opening ceremonies at the Houston Aquarium. Right before we left we found out about our three All Americans. Erb for the 3rd time and the two newest members, Sarah Norris and Amanda Roosa. We could not be more proud of our deserving teammates. We departed from the hotel a little before 6 and took the shuttles to the aquarium. We arrived and got a wonderful greeting and took the usual team pictures. Then we got to walk through aquarium where Ilia and I were blown away by enormous turtles, octopus, beautiful fish, and the sting rays we wanted to pet. The best was for last; at the end were two beautiful white tigers. The one get rolling on its back, I just wanted to say “here kitty” and rub its belly. Not really sure if it would really like that, it was a pretty large kitty. Then they had a ballroom with lots of different kinds of food ands and a great band and also had food and two other bands playing outside, besides the humidity and frizzed hair and it was really cool. A lot of the girls weren’t crazy about the food, so we could only hope that coach would feed us later. The highlight of the night was the arrival of Coach Shannon; we missed having her with us. To end the opening ceremonies they had the president of the NCAA say a few words of encouragement and the main speaker of the evening was Yolanda Jones. Yolanda was NCAA track champion and is now a very successful lawyer in Houston and is a very aggressive business women and still active in the NCAA. She gave a very inspiring speech; she made me feel like she was talking to us and everything about working hard and succeeding was about us. The final words came from a popular radio voice from the area and in his closing his words he said, “I will see you all back here on Saturday to crown our champions”. My stomach turned, because I know how bad we want this and how bad we want it to be us that is announced and awarded in front of everyone. On our way out we were all in discussing how many emotions that stirred up in us, we were ready to play right there and then. We all got into our shuttle where the girls were sure to make sure coach knew that we were still hungry. We ended up coming back to the hotel and ordering pizza for the girls that were hungry. I am now lying in bed in my wonderfully air conditioned room ready to fall asleep. We had a long day today, but the toughest is yet to come. I know that we are ready and prepared for what comes our way; we are pumped and can’t wait to play. All of the power cleans, sprints, practices, team meetings have been for this, and this is what we have worked so hard for. We do not plan on stopping yet, there is still more to be written and definitely more games to win. TAKIN IT ALL IN TEXAS Missy #13

Monday, May 12

WE’RE GOING TO TEXAS! These are words that I have been waiting to say since we found out that the 2008 National tournament was going to be held there. After having a good a season, good PSAC showing, and fighting our way through regional’s it is nothing short of amazing to be on our way to Texas. It was a big rush considering that we had less than 24 hours to get home from Kutztown get ourselves together and head to Houston. Well our day started out with leaving for the Penn State airport at 1:00p.m. Our flight was expected to leave for 3:00 p.m. Since all commercial flights were booked, a charter was our only other option. This was nice because we didn’t have to take a 4hour bus ride somewhere before we even got to an airport. Some people were hungry wondering if there was going to be a McDonalds or other food there. Well to our surprise we pull up to the airport walked inside to a one room boarding area with one vending machine and one soda machine. Of course the girls made do with what we had to work with. As we sat around and waited for our flight we got our first glance of our 30 passenger puddle jumper. This is where the nerves began. Unfortunately we have girls that don’t like big planes let alone 30 passengers with one flight attendant and a pilot that loads the plane himself. Our nerves weren’t calmed when Coach Green underestimated all of our weights by about 20lbs each. Needless to say, a few tears and white knuckles later, we were in the air. I think some of the singing and chanting helped some people to relax as well, also singing Happy Birthday to Scho for her 21st Birthday. The pilots let us one by one go in the cockpit and look from their view, and also showed us all the instruments. To our surprise they see less than we do from our window and don’t really fly the plane! BP actually saw another plane cross in front of us. Not really sure yet if that is a good or bad thing. We stopped in Mississippi for gas before we arrived in Houston. This was pretty cool because these are states that I have not yet been in. So I got to go out and stretch my legs in Mississippi. We have a jammed packed week. We are so excited and happy to take part, but we know that we have a job to do first. We are not just happy to be here, we have business to take care of. Softball is fun for us, so mixing business with pleasure is not a problem. Almost all of our parents already have their plane tickets, so our cheering section is going to be awesome. We really do have great fans and parents; they are always behind us every step of the way. We arrived at the Hyatt Regency at 9 pm. We walked into the hotel and our jaws fell to the floor. The hotel is nothing short of gorgeous; we took a tour around and visited the pool and the rotating restaurant on the top floor. We have so much energy and excitement; but we know that we have to rest up because we have a long week ahead of us. TAKIN’ IT ALL IN TEXAS Missy #13