Louisville Press Conference – NCAA Regional – May 19, 2016
Head Coach Sandy Pearsall
Opening statement…
"Clearly, we just didn't get the job done. We made a crucial mistake in the seventh inning that didn't help us. I thought our team did a great job coming back in and tying up the game. We just needed to get a little more offense going. We just didn't get it done today."
On what the opposing pitcher was doing so well…
"Our hitters were making bad adjustments. They just weren't making any adjustments."
On whether the opposing pitching was doing anything specifically to half offensive production…
"They just weren't making any adjustments. We were getting in the box and doing the same things over and over, and we weren't making good adjustments. She kept the ball down in the zone, which is a key, and we kept hitting ground balls and they have a good defense. They got it done."
On the decision to intentionally walk Nebraska OF Kiki Stokes…
"In everything in stats, she's the kid you don't want up to bat in that setting. At that point, then we set up the force, too, and we hope to get out of that with a double play."
INF Hailey Smith
On getting the team back into the game with a 2-run single…
"We already knew it was early in the game. We've been in this type of game before where we were on the losing end. It was early in the same, so we were calm, we were cool and collected."
RHP/1B Maryssa Becker
On what happens now with a tough weekend ahead…
"Definitely not the outcome we wanted to start off with, but now it's just the hard way instead of the easy way. So, just going back and watching this next game between these two teams and seeing who we play tomorrow and then kind of making a game plan from there and formulating the best plan to come out tomorrow with some wins."
Nebraska Press Conference – NCAA Regional – May 19, 2016
Head Coach Rhonda Revelle
Opening statement…
"What I was really most pleased with, I thought we had a really even temperament. We knew going in that we were going to face a really good pitcher that kept the ball down and makes you work for your base hits because she really puts a nice spin on the ball. When we scored the two and Madi [Unzicker] was able to read that changeup and hit it out of the ballpark, that was a big deal, but I didn't think that we were going to shut out their offense because they're also a great offense. We just hung in there. They scored two, we hung in there, and then in the seventh… We've have had a little history this year of being able to do some things in the seventh and make some things happen."
On whether she was happy with the approach of hitters even before the home run…
"I thought we were making really good choices and having really good gos. That's what we said, we just needed to make a small adjustment on the ball because it was breaking, and she's a great pitcher. I don't know if you can hit a ball any harder. That was a great play."
On Emily Lockman's pitching performance…
"I thought that Emily pitched just a really, really clean game. That's the word that I keep thinking of. It was just really clean. She rolled so many ground balls, she did it efficiently, she did it by not working deep in the count. I just thought she really threw a good game. I'm actually going to take it. [It was] my pitch call for the 2-run RBI because we saw the kid shift in the box and I didn't get it in time, so that's on me."
On confidence late in games with other recent come-from-behind victories…
"It gives us familiarity. That's not an awkward moment or doesn't feel like any pressure. It's pretty cozy in those situations. Maybe cozy is a little too much of a word. We are really familiar with it and we've had good success in that. Really, the thing about this team, the reason that we've put ourselves in a position to have games like that is because there's no quit in us in the fourth inning or the fifth inning. We're playing hard the whole game."
On who she plans to start in the circle for tomorrow's game…
"Yes, I know who I plan to." [laughter]
On whether she plans to share tomorrow's starting pitcher…
"I think she should be the first to know. Fair enough?"
On production from the bottom of the lineup and carrying over to the top…
"I've told you many times that they've kind of got a little something going there with turning the lineup over. How many late innings has Laura Barrow started it all? A lot."
Nebraska 3B MJ Knighten
On whether the collision in the first inning was an ankle or lower leg injury…
"It was my ankle. I've had issues with it before. We just collided and really just pushed it back a little bit, but I've learned to work through it. Props to our trainer for getting me back out there."
On whether the ankle was bothering her throughout the game…
"Yeah, it was bothering [me], but the adrenaline kicked in and so did the ibuprofen, so it was fine."
On being at the plate in a crucial situation and then producing the game-winning hit…
"It felt great. I know coach [Diane] Miller and I talked right before to relax me. [Producing the game-winning hit] has never happened before, so it was a great feeling to just come up big for my team in that moment."
On whether there is added comfort after playing in a Columbia Regional two years ago…
"Yes, I agree. I know I personally have a little bit of comfort being here. It has good vibes just knowing that we won here two years ago and knowing that we came back here. Nothing is different, it feels the same, everything is the same, just different teams. We just have to come out and be comfortable with the team and the field."
On whether she felt cozy at the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh inning…
"I would say it's cozy and just familiar. I don't overanalyze it. I just take it as another at-bat, and I just try to put the ball in play for our team to score, so any way I can get it done, I can get it done."
On playing strong defense and how that positively affects the team…
"It just builds. It's like a domino effect. It just keeps building and building and building. It's just a great feeling out on the field knowing that everyone has each other's back and we all are there for one other. We're just all in and you can just feel it on the field, so it's great."
Nebraska C Madi Unzicker
On what she was seeing in the pitch sequence and what pitch she hit for the home run…
"[Maryssa] Becker does a good job of throwing a really good drop ball. We worked on trying to stay below it the whole game. There were a couple of tried to lay off him. You just have to be ready for anything."
On having a more prominent role this year and coming through in the NCAA Tournament…
"I just took last year as a huge learning year. It made me into the player I am today, and I'm still learning to this day. Taking last year and my failure and my strengths, my weaknesses and just showing them and helping my team this year is one of the major key roles that I was trying to do."
On her approach during the at-bat of the home run…
"I was just going in as another at-bat. You don't really sit there and hope for a home run. You just get in the box, and like I said, the game plan was to try to get really under the ball because Becker has a great drop, so that's what I tried to do."