Alabama Softball Holds Preseason Media Press Conference
2/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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Head Coach Patrick Murphy Opening Remarks
“Thanks for being here. It seems like it was just a couple of days ago that we did this last year and that’s why Jackie’s back because we went to the World Series so I’m not going to mess with anything. Can’t believe we’re starting to play next Friday, already. This school year has gone by really, really fast. I know I’m anxious and I know the players are really anxious to get started playing. We’re playing a PAC-10 team for the third consecutive year. Maybe this will be the year we come home with a winning record.”
What did you learn the first time (you went to the College World Series) that can help you this time?
“It was almost the exact same thing. We have 13 letter winners back this year and we only lost our catcher and our shortstop. It was a very veteran team. It was probably the most depth that we have ever had, as well. The time before in 2001, it seemed like we talked about it a lot ‘we were there. We were one of the top six teams in the country.’ This year, this senior class really hasn’t really talked about it all. Now it’s ‘getting to the next level, getting to the championship game, or being a national champion.’ I don’t know if it’s more level headed or more grounded, just seems like it’s been an easier group to kind of control the ego with.”
How do you replace your catcher?
(Kellie) Deska, probably from day one to today been the most improved player we had. She’s getting stronger every day. She’s been hitting the ball really well. Now she’s is kind of taking control of the pitchers. For a freshman to come in and for me to say ‘take control of Steph, Erin and Jen’ a junior, sophomore and a senior is kind of hard, but I think Jackie will agree that she’s getting better every time out.
Jackie what do you think of your new catcher?
I think she has improved a lot. Everyday she gets better. Today she even showed how much she improved. I’m sure tomorrow in the scrimmage she’ll be even better. It’s really a day to day thing. If you were out there everyday you could see it. I think she’s going to be really good.
Talk about the pitching rotation.
We have a senior back, Erin Wright, a junior, Jennifer Wright, and a sophomore, Stephanie VanBrakle. Last year, I never ever would have thought it would have happened. We have three pitchers and it was like 21 starts, 20 starts and 19 starts and that just doesn’t happen in softball. It was like a three game rotation in SEC baseball, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Every game it seemed the matchups were good with whoever was there and we were one game out of the SEC championship so it worked for the most part. I’m not sure what the situation will be like this year. Because last year, one would pitch really well and then the next game we would kind of have a bad outing. The second or third would come up with a big outing. It was kind of like that until the very end when until all of the three basically stepped up. I think we’ll feel comfortable with anybody out there
How the pitchers are pitching will decide it?
Definitely, today I think Steph struck out 13 or 14 in the scrimmage and really stood out.
Are your expectations higher this year?
As long as there is a championship to be played, why not shoot for it. That’s the reason I think we are playing because there is a championship in division one softball. That’s number one on the goal sheet. To be ranked No. 6 is still amazing to me. For an Alabama, for a southern team to be ranked that highly is still amazing because the respect still isn’t there. I think our girls kind of feed off of that because they know it. My expectations are to go higher.
Jackie, can you tell a difference in the attitudes when you play western teams?
It was always, even in ASA softball, it was always California teams winning or the teams from Arizona. I think it is more even now. It seems like more teams from the south are being able to compete with the teams out west so I think it is becoming pretty even.
Jackie, what are your expectations of this team?
I think we are going to be really good. As long as we keep improving everything will be fine. We all have the same goals. We had a retreat this year and we went over that. Our goal is always to get back to the World Series but actually to win it. Getting there is not enough for us right now. We want to get there and win it.
Coach Murphy, can you talk about the SEC?
It’s getting (close to being a national power) because all we need were a couple of more pitchers. A couple of schools did get some pretty good pitching this year. I think you are going to see, it’s almost going to be like SEC baseball this year where a team could lose 12 games and still win it. Definitely Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi State, LSU—I mean you could see seven, possibly eight, teams in the regionals again.
How did you improve from last year?
From last year, I definitely think our team speed is better. A couple of kids worked on conditioning over the summer. You can definitely a big improvement in their foot speed. Just the maturity level of the team is better. When you have seven sophomores now there are seven juniors, it’s huge. You wouldn’t think it would be much but it’s a big difference in the maturity level. It’s probably going to be things that you don’t see outwardly but the coaching staff and the team will see just better judgment by the players. We maybe have a little more power this year.
On replacing catcher and shortstop.
Reach was just so solid at shortstop. We never had to worry about a routine ground ball because it was always an out. Nobody ever stole on us because Lacy’s arm was so good. Definitely two huge spots to fill. I’ve done a lot of thinking about those two spots. Somebody else on the infield, Jackie or Leah White or Staci Ramsey is going to have to pick it up even more to offset those losses.
It’s a long way off, but how do you feel about hosting the SEC tournament?
I think it is awesome. For those of you who don’t know, the SWAs met probably a year ago and decided to move the SEC tournament to on campus sites. The environment was not very good when we were off campus. Last year when we were down in Plant City, the field was okay and everything, but it didn’t feel like a tournament. Marie Robbins, our SWA stood up and said ‘we will host the first one.’ It will be like volleyball or another sport where it goes east-west alphabetical. So next year it will be at Florida. I think it’s really exciting for us to have the first one.
