Throughout the year, www.GoASU.com will give fans an insiders' look at their favorite Appalachian teams and the day-to-day lives of Division I student-athletes through online journals provided by various Mountaineers. Representing the softball team this season is junior Diana Cook. Cook hails from Concord, N.C. and is majoring in physical education. March 30 The past weekend was another good one for us, it was our second series of conference games. We played really well and won two out of three for our first series win. We showed up and played well every game. There wasn't a single game where we were out of it. None of the games were very high-scoring, but we did what we had to do to win. We had very few errors and mental mistakes, both games were good team wins. Our loss was disappointing, but we were in it. One more hit and we would have turned it around. I'm glad to see our team stepping up and winning the games we should be winning. Georgia Southern is a team that we should beat and it's great to see our program finally win those games. It gives us a lot of confidence heading into the next two weeks. We're looking forward to two wins against ETSU tomorrow. They're an old conference school, so we'd like to make a statement against them. March 21 Our 10-day road trip was, in my opinion, one of the best we've had. Not because everything was perfect, but because we had some of our highest highs and lowest lows we've had this season. That's something we can really build on heading into our conference season. It got kind of long on the road, when I got back in Boone, I was so glad to be back minus the cold weather. The team bonding over the trip was awesome, we really got to know each other on a deeper level over the 10-days. On the field, the competition in Florida was awesome. It's exactly the type of competition we need to play heading into the conference schedule. The teams were right at our level, we competed with them in every aspect of the game. Even though there were some big-name schools there, we competed right along with them. In our first win of the tournament we beat Troy, who had just beat defending national champion Michigan. That was a huge win for us and a great confidence builder. We scored a lot of runs and played very well, that was one of the highest points of the road trip. We also played an awesome game against Indiana, who ended up winning the tournament. We lost 2-0, but were in the game from the first pitch to the last. We were making the plays we needed to make, we just missed a few timely hits. It makes me feel great to know we can play at the same level as those caliber of teams. Even though we had some great games, we also had a few games with too many mental lapses where we didn't play as well. At Furman, I think we went in there a little too confident and they gave us a game and beat us back-to-back. That gave us a wake up call and made us realize that we need to show up every game because teams aren't going to lay down for us. It was a good reality check for us, knowing that we can play at a high level, but that we have to do it every game. Coming off two losses against Furman, we completely turned it around in the last game. We were hitting the ball, playing defense and it was a really great win for us with 13 hits and 13 runs. Furman tried to come back but we were able to shut them down. We also managed to spread our runs out over the whole game. I think there were only two innings that we didn't score. That's good because it means our entire lineup is producing and doing so consistently. We had over 30 hits in three games at Furman and to be able to do that in softball is great. If we can consistently do that, we'll be very successful. Overall, we had ups, we had downs, but it's been a very positive time for our program and something great to build on. We're going to work hard this week on those little things that have prevented us from being as successful as we'd like and turn some of those games around. March 7 Overall, last weekend went really well. This is our longest winning streak at five games and only the second tournament we've won. This was a good weekend to build off of in terms of confidence. We were solid throughout each game both offensively and defensively. Our first game was a little shaky, but we were trying to implement a few new hitting strategies. I think that's why we didn't hit so well in that game, but after that we got a lot more comfortable at the plate and hit well the rest of the tournament. We just kept building throughout the tournament, each game things were clicking a little better. Out pitchers were awesome for us. Kayla Richardson threw great in the championship game, she only faced 22 batters. We had some freshmen that came up with big hits two. Ashley and Brittany Gaston hit our first two home runs of the season. Individually, I'm very proud of our team and the way the freshmen are stepping up and the way we're coming together heading into the conference season. February 21 Overall the weekend was very productive. We've made a lot of improvements from our last few games against Georgia. Defensively, we looked great. We were making the big plays and were really consistent. We were really happy with our defensive performance. We performed much better than we expected on defense. We hadn't had a chance to play on a real field yet. We'd been practicing on the turf and gym floor and it's had to practice bounces on those surfaces. Offensively, we struggled a little bit early, but I think a lot of that had to do with our competition. We were facing some of the top pitchers in the nation. We still had good at bats, it probably wasn't where we wanted it be, but when you look at individual at bats, I think we had some real strong ones. I wasn't as confident at the plate as I'd like to be for the whole weekend, but looking a few of the at bats I had, I felt good about them individually. I'm looking to build on those at bats this weekend at UNC Charlotte. It's going to be a good tournament for us with Western Carolina, North Carolina A&T and Charlotte. We'll be playing teams that are of a similar caliber to us so we'll have something to compare ourselves with. This weekend, we're really looking for a couple wins and put the past weekend behind us. Overall, our first weekend went really well with three freshman pitchers. They're only going to get better as we go along and the offense and defense will follow. February 14 So far we've been trying to focus on hitting as a team since that's the first thing that suffers when you have a long break. We've really been focusing on hitting live and I think we've done real well so far. We've come a lot further with our offensive game than any season in the past. We're being more aggressive as team this year and going to the pitchers before they come to us. Defensively, we've been trying to work better as a team and incorporate the new players with the upperclassmen. So far, it's gone really well. We're really focusing on our tournament at Georgia this weekend with Winthrop and Marshall. Those are three good schools and the Georgia game is a really big one to look forward to. This season we're trying stay focused and mentally in it. In the past we've had troubles staying mentally focused so we're really working hard to maintain that focus for the whole season. I'm really looking forward to starting the season at Georgia. They have a great team, field and stadium. It's always good to play infront of the big crowds they have there.