The Penn State softball team is like a family and that family is getting a little bigger.

“Oh my goodness I’m going to be on a team now,” Aunnah Nagel, of Lewistown, PA, said.

With just one signature the 14-year-old became the newest member of the team.

“You’re stuck with us for two years,” Amanda Lehotak, PSU’s head softball coach, said.

The girls took to the field on Wednesday for their first outdoor practice of the season.

Lehotak told us they’re playing for their new recruit.

“It really gives us a purpose and a drive,” she explained. “I think she thinks we are teaching her things, but in reality she’s teaching us way more.”

Aunnah has been battling neurofibromatosis, a disease that causes tumors to grow anywhere on the body.

Three years ago she had one removed from her brain and it made her lose her ability to recognize facial expressions. Then, last year, she was in a car accident, which caused her symptoms to get worse.

“I was trying to figure out what we can do to help her because she was just in a very bad, dark spot,” Andrea Nagel, Aunnah’s mom, said.

Team impact, a non-profit organization, was the answer.

It brought Aunnah to people she can talk to, count on, a support system.

“I wanted to be part of a team and say that I’m part of a team and just have friendship,” Aunnah smiled.

She’ll be there for the games, practices and even meals. A softball sisterhood both on and off the field.

Team IMPACT has more than 1,000 teams waiting to be matched with children, ages 5-16, who have been diagnosed with a serious or chronic illness and who could benefit from becoming a member of the team. If you know a child who may be interested, visit www.goteamimpact.org for more information.