Post Game Quotes
5/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 18, 2014
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Head Coach, Ehren Earleywine
On the team's costly error and how it was a turning point in the game…
“Yeah, but it wasn't just that. There seemed like there was so many other things. It was in the first inning, so it deflated us a little bit. You're hoping to score first. There was then the ball Randazzo hit that I thought for sure was over the right fielder's head, but she made a great play on it and it takes the wind out of you again. Then they came back and banged out a few more home runs. They were by far the better team today.”
On Nebraska's Tatum Edwards, and the team's capability of putting together an offensive display like they did today…
“Absolutely. I was pretty impressed with their ace (Tatum Edwards). She threw 146 pitches in the first game, and then came back in the last two innings of game two and was still thumping it in there pretty well. She's a fit looking pitcher, and the same pitcher that took them to the College World Series last year. They went to Oregon and beat Oregon last year. It's not like they are a 'flash in the pan' team. This was a good team. A really good team.”
On facing two high caliber pitchers that Nebraska possesses…
“It's tough. With all due respect, I felt like we should have scored several more runs off (Emily) Lockman. I felt like she was someone that we could've moved around better than what we did, but they kept banging out home runs. I knew we were in trouble.”
On how Casey Stangel pitched today, and how hard it was for her to pitch three days in a row…
“She didn't pitch very well, and she'd be the first one to tell you that. I don't know if the three days in a row affected her as much that there was an upgrade in hitters. She beat Bradley and Kansas, who are good teams, but Nebraska is a whole another level of hitters and that's what she ran into today.”
On losing senior Mackenzie Sykes and what she means to the team…
“She's a good player, but it's the human being that Mackenzie is that I'm going to miss the most. I truly admire Mackenzie. Her as a person is something I can't get close to, in terms of her moral compass and character. I'm going to miss that and our program is going to miss that.”
Senior Outfielder, Mackenzie Sykes
On the impact of losing freshman standout pitcher, Tori Finucane…
“You want to be full go with all of your players at every position. Casey (Stangel) and Alora (Marble) are great pitchers and they fought hard today.”
On being the last member of the team's last College World Series team, and ending her collegiate career today…
“This isn't where you want to end of course, but hats off to Nebraska as they were the better team today. This wasn't our end goal as a team by any stretch of the imagination. There's a lot of talent coming back next season. It's a great group of girls and awesome group of coaches. They'll be back.”
Junior Infielder, Corrin Genovese
On Nebraska's power display and what that did to Mizzou's team morale…
“It depends. A home run here and there is going to happen, but the key is not to have runners on base when that happens. We had a couple errors, couple walks and those things add up. It doesn't excuse the fact that we didn't hit the ball well today.”
On if Nebraska's Hailey Decker's four home runs today were deflating to the team…
“It's definitely frustrating, but we really should have gotten more runs off their pitchers.”
On if the team's offense felt some tension in the second game against Nebraska…
“The key to this game is timely hitting and hitting with people on base. We could never get the big hit to keep things going today.”
On if she (and the team) felt different this weekend without Tori Finucane pitching…
“She (Tori) was still very present in the dugout. The only thing that wasn't there was her being on the mound. Definitely when you have your ace on the mound you feel a little more (confident). At the end of the day, we trusted that our pitchers could get it done. We just didn't put together any runs to help them out.”
Nebraska Head Coach Rhonda Revelle
Opening Statement...
"I am extremely proud of our team and the way we played softball the past two days. We had our backs against the wall after Friday and we didn't particularly play well then. We got beat by the changeup pretty handedly on Friday but we did a better job of handling those changeups the rest of the weekend. I'm just very pleased with our offense, our defense, and our pitching. I thought we had some very clutch hits today."
On Kiki Stokes' success...
"We started her in the leadoff because she has the speed, but once we dropped her down in the order, I guess she was able to see more pitches and didn't feel as much pressure to set the tone for the offense. She's really come to life but she's worked for it. She's worked really hard this year to put her swing together and become a hitter."
On Kiki Stokes' homerun and the general amount of homeruns from Nebraska weekend...
"That homerun gave us a lot of momentum. I don't think it broke Missouri because they can fight and they score. I was never comfortable no matter what the score was. [The homerun] was like a punch in the gut. We've seen a fair amount of displays of power like this because they tend to come in bunches with this group. We don't try to hit homeruns, and when we do try, we usually don't get them, but when we stay with our approach we're usually fortunate to take some."
On Missouri not having Tori Finucane...
"It's huge. It's a huge difference. Pitching is a number one in this game. I'll give it to both of their pitchers, Casey in particular. They did a great job and they took on a responsibility that they weren't used to taking on this year. Casey did a very honorable job of pitching three back to back games. I'm not sure she's done that this season."
Sophomore Kiki Stokes
On her three run home run...
"I think it was a momentum changer at least for us. It got a lot of momentum going and it set a tone."
On being one of the few teams to have to fight up through the loser's bracket...
"It brought our team closer together. We knew what we had to do to make it to Sunday and I think we really came together as a group and came up with ways to play great defense and have great pitching."
On Taylor and Tatum Edwards' presence on the team...
"They were so important. They're the battery of this team. They love each other and they get along with the team. They have been awesome leaders not only this year but since they've been on the team."
Sophomore Hailey Decker
On where her home runs came from...
"I've never hit that many homeruns in a day before. I just went up there and after the back to back home runs in the first game I got over-amped and ended up getting myself out, so in the second game I tried to focus on hitting line drives and they just happened to go out."
