WCWS Quotes: Missouri vs. Florida
6/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
June 5, 2010
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MISSOURI HEAD COACH Ehren Earleywine
Opening comment:
“I'll just tell you guys the same thing that I told the girls. I feel sorry for them that this weekend was the weekend that our bats decided not to show up. It was unfortunate because we have a good softball team. I'm not sure how far we could have gone in the tournament, but in both of those games I felt like we were a competitive team. We had a lot of opportunities with runners left on base and we didn't knock anybody in. It's unfortunate because these kids had a really good season. Most people didn't expect them to be here in the first place. It would have been nice to win at least one game to solidify the fact that maybe we do belong. We know in our hearts that we belong; it was just an unfortunate offensive weekend for us. I would like for it to be a magical, much deeper and philosophical thing than that but we really just picked a bad weekend not to swing the bats.”
On the number of home runs in the Women's College World Series:
“I think over the last five years, that's the way the game has been heading. I think this year in particular it's just coincidence. I don't think anybody has a more-juiced bat or harder ball or better mechanics. I just think, in general, it's a trend that's been happening over the last four or five years. I think it will continue and who knows what the NCAA will end up doing about that. I don't know if you scoot the fences back, or soften the ball, or deaden the bats or scoot the pitchers back. There are a lot of options if that's what people want to do. I think it's just a five-year trend that continues to move forward.”
On the season as a whole:
“Let's make no mistake. We are not satisfied with just being at the College World Series. None of us are saying that this is the pinnacle of where Mizzou softball wants to be. Everything we are doing is based on 'How we can win a national championship? What pieces do we have to put in place? How do we have to get better mentally? How can we get better physically?' The whole deal. Because we just don't want to celebrate being average. Not to say that being at the College World Series is average, but that contentment is not a part of who we want to be.”
MISSOURI SOPHOMORE OUTFIELDER Ashley Fleming
On her performance at the plate today:
“I take a lot of the blame offensively because all three of my at-bats I came up with runners in scoring position. They just had my number today. They kept throwing me away. My second at-bat, I don't know if it was a strike or not, but I should have been protecting with two strikes. After that they just kept throwing away to me and I just wasn't connecting.”
MISSOURI JUNIOR OUTFIELDER Rhea Taylor
On the size of the gap between Missouri and a WCWS champion:
“I don't think it's a large gap at all. We got here; we're in the top eight. We can compete with anybody. Just like Coach said, we all know that our bats weren't there and the name of the game is pitching. When our offense is on, it's on. I don't see a big gap at all between us and whoever wins.”
MISSOURI SENIOR PITCHER Jana Hainey
On her career:
“Honestly, I was a kid at 18 coming in here and I didn't know what to expect. I never would have imagined being here twice. It's been awesome, but obviously you wish you could go out on a win. But the reality of it is not too many people do. I couldn't have asked for 21 better girls and coaching staff. It's been a great career here at Mizzou.”
