2015 NCAA Softball Championship - GatorZone.com
Tim Walton, Head Coach, Florida
Opening Statement:
"I thought today Lauren (Haeger) set the tempo really well. Going through the pitches, watching some of the pitches break, the way she was locating pitches and just her overall tempo, I thought, was really good and very consistent. It set the tone for us going into the first inning even 0-0. I can't say enough about the job some of our hitters do. I'm really happy with the way we scored, I think, five runs with two outs. It's the nature of what's going to happen in postseason play -- you're going to have to do a good job of getting hits with two strikes and two outs. I was talking to ESPN on the headset, and we were 1-for-12 yesterday with runners in scoring position, and that's postseason softball for you. You can sit there and talk about all the numbers you want. You've got to get a hit with two outs; you've got to get a hit with two strikes. I thought we were able to do that and clutch up and really spray the ball around against not only a good defensive team, but one of the best pitching staffs in the country. Give our kids credit today. I thought they really came out with a good game plan and squared the ball up early. With that lead at 4-0, I think it's a lot easier to swing the bat than being down 1-0 or even throughout the game. Give us credit, I thought we did a good job and made some nice defensive plays behind Lauren. She's the tempo-setter for us. We really did a good job all the way around."
On his decision to bat Kirsti Merritt second:
"I saw a couple things on film that I felt like Kirsti was going to be a better match-up in the two-hole, so that was really what we felt going into that. I guessed and guessed right -- I guessed the right starting pitcher and had the right lineup for that. That was what went into that thought process. I thought Kirsti was going to be a good match-up for her."
On Taylore Fuller's offensive production:
"You look at the number of RBIs she has -- it's fast approaching a phenomenal season with getting closer to 60. She's had a great year. She's had a lot of strikeouts, obviously, but you can take the strikeouts when you've got more RBIs than strikeouts. You can tolerate some of the bad at-bats that she's had throughout the season. She's locked in. She was locked in last night; she was locked in again tonight. She hit the ball hard last night; she hit the ball hard again today. I'm very excited to see her be able to make not only the mental adjustments but the physical adjustments as well."
On the importance of scoring early:
"Lauren keyed it in. To be able to get that one-out knock she got to score Kirsti was huge. Taylore with the two-out, two-strike home run in the first -- if you had a camera or video on me, I was pretty excited about that hit just because Taylore's worked really hard. I think she gets criticized not only by herself and her family and me -- she's got a lot of talent -- typically it's usually herself that gets herself out. She swings at a lot of bad pitches. I thought she's been really balanced and made a really nice adjustment. It's the same thing coming off of Tennessee -- we're down 2-zip at Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, and she hits a monster home run. I like to see hard work pay off for somebody, and I was excited for her to get us that cushion lead in the first."
On Lauren Haeger's pitching:
"I thought she was good today. You've got a lot of home runs in that lineup, and I thought she was able to change speeds well, change up her location and use the defense behind her. It's a good position to be in -- you have the freshman (Aleshia Ocasio) throwing great last night, Lauren being in a good position today and you've still got a left-hander (Delanie Gourley) that hasn't thrown an inning yet. We're in a good position no matter who we end up playing. I think we've still got a lot of work to do, but who wouldn't love to be sitting in here with three fresh arms and an offense starting to click a little bit? I'm really, really pleased with that for sure."
Bailey Castro, OF, Florida
On getting more offensive production out of the lineup:
"Being the three-four-five hitters, I think we're the RBI producers, and we're struggling a little bit. We just talked this morning --in the postseason, one run can win you the game, whatever it takes. I think today we just tried to step it up and put better swings on better pitches."
Taylore Fuller, UT, Florida
On getting more offensive production out of the lineup:
"When we get hit, we come back and we hit harder. If someone's going to take a shot at us or criticize what we're doing, we're going to come back and we're going to prove you wrong. We're going to prove that we are those hitters that can produce runs for our team, and we came back and showed that in the first inning."
On her three-run homer in the first inning:
"It was a different speed. It was slower than what she (Hofstra P Taylor Pirone) was throwing. I've been working on going through the middle, and I did just that."
Lauren Haeger, RHP/1B, Florida
On her pitching keeping Florida in good shape:
"For me, it's all about tempo. It's all about keeping the same tempo. I was hitting my spots really well. (Coach Jen) Rocha did a really great job mixing it up and calling the pitches, and we were definitely on the same page today. It's always nice to pitch with a lead. That's just a normal thing, but everyone was just backing me up really well and gave me the confidence that I needed."
On what she thinks about the Gators? fielding:
"This is the best defense I've ever had behind me at this school. Katie (Medina)'s just an amazing shortstop. Those plays looked so easy for her, but they're not, and that's just a normal thing. It's just so great to have a defense behind you knowing that you don't have to strike everyone out, and you can really use the people behind you."
Larissa Anderson, Head Coach, Hofstra
Opening Statement:
?Well you can?t leave the ball up in your zone, Taylor hung a couple change ups that were hit out. All the credit in the world to Florida, you know they hit our pitcher?s mistakes and they did an unbelievable job in doing so. We got to make better pitches, keep the ball down in the zone with Taylor?s throwing. Offensively, we didn?t attack the way we normally attack. We got to put a little more pressure on their defense. I will say compared to yesterday, we hit better pitches, we swung at better pitches, but we got to hit more balls hard.?
On the depth of Florida?s lineup:
?They are a great lineup and I thought with giving up 15 hits, we were in the game. We were in the game only having 4 runs to get. We kept ourselves in a good position. But we just left the ball up to far in the zone that they were able to capitalize on some of those and you can?t make a mistake to the University of Florida. If you leave the ball over the heart of the plate, it?s going to be hit and it?s going to be hit hard. Obviously we do have to make better pitches in those situations.?
When you get down in a hole like that early, how tough is that and what were you trying to do to pick your team up in that situation?
?It is but we?ve been there, done that. It?s not impossible for half of your team to score. You know like one time is four runs and then the other score is seven runs. Against the University of Florida, yeah it is going to be a little bit tougher, but I believe and the team believes that they are able to do that. We had our opportunities with runners on base and runners in score positions. You got to have better quality of bats when you are in those situations and hopefully put a little bit more pressure on them. It?s okay to make a out, but it?s not okay to make it an easy out and we gave to many easy plays to a lot of them. You know, easy pop ups where we got to be able to put a little more pressure on them, so they got to play a little bit harder.?
Your approach for the later game is to switch pitchers up and how do you feel if you got this layoff and waiting to see whom you are going to play next up?
?Yeah, we know that we have to, we are playing to survive now, we are playing for tomorrow. So we are going to go out and we are going to get a good start against whomever we play here. Taylor?s pitch count was pretty high against Florida, so we are going to give Morgan the start. She?ll go as long as she is capable of going and then I?ll bring Taylor into relieve. We know our backs are up against the wall right now, we have to fight to play another day and that?s exactly what we are going to go out there and do.?
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