Virginia native Katie Gregerson looks to represent Nats fans in MLB Fan Cave

For prospective MLB Fan Cave Dweller Katie Gregerson, baseball is more than a game. The sport completely captured the attention of the 24-year-old freelance writer and copy editor last season, when the world watched the Nats make the postseason for the first time. "Last season, baseball brought me so much joy and made me forget about all the other things going on in my life," Gregerson said. "I think, as part of the Fan Cave, I would like to do that for all the other baseball fans, regardless of whether they're a Nationals fan or not." The MLB Fan Cave gives a few baseball die-hards the opportunity to spend a season in its event space in New York City, with their ultimate goal being to watch every single major league game of the season. Participants create articles, videos and more based on their experiences, which, since the Fan Cave's creation in 2010, have included appearances from players and celebrities and concerts by bands and artists such as One Republic, Nas and Jason Aldean. Now, Gregerson is ready to give back to MLB fans after baseball has helped her. "I think sports is something that everybody can unify under and that they just use as an outlet to get stress out of their lives and things like that," Gregerson said. "I would just like to sort of pay it forward as a Cave Dweller for what baseball has done for me." Since finding out she was one of the top 52 contestants in the Fan Cave last week, Gregerson has been campaigning, predominately using social media, as 30 will make the cut and be invited to spring training. Social media was even the outlet that broke the news to Gregerson (@katiegregerson) that she was a finalist in the running to be a Cave Dweller. Sitting in an auto repair shop, she found out that she had made the cut after checking Twitter. "I looked at my notifications, and there were all these tweets about how I made the top 52, and people were voting for me. ... I was shocked," she said. Gregerson has lived in Alexandria, Va., for her whole life and believes in supporting hometown teams. Although she has been a Redskins fan her entire life, she did not really start following the Nats until opening day 2012. "I'm an everyday person. It's not like I've been following baseball since I was a little kid," Gregerson said. "You can fall in love with a sport or anything at any point on time and want to rally behind it. I think that's what happened to me. Maybe, because of that, some people would consider me to be an underdog, but I think I'm just a big a fan as anybody else." In her application video, Gregerson showed off her baseball knowledge with a Nats-themed parody of "A Christmas Carol." "It was the holiday season when I applied, and that made me think of the whole 'Christmas Carol' thing, and the Nationals' history lends itself really well to that, I think, with the whole past, present and future thing," she said. "So, that's why I decided to go with that video. I had a really good feeling about it from the get-go." Voting for the top 52 ends Feb. 13, when the contestants are narrowed down to the top 30. They then will have the chance to travel to spring training in Arizona to compete in various events, which will decide who will become an MLB Cave Dweller for the 2013 season. To watch her video and to cast your vote for Gregerson, you can click here and share this link: http://masn.me/KATIENatsFanCave