NCAA Super Regional: Notes & Quotes Game 1
5/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Softball
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2006 NCAA Super Regional |
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NCAA Softball Super Region 5: Game One
Friday, May 26, 2006
Alabama 4 ?? Stanford 1
Quotes and Notes
Alabama
Alabama Quotes
Head Coach Patrick Murphy
On tonight’s game: “I thought that it was just a great battle. It was a great setting with a good crowd. It’s what you expect when you are at a Super Regional trying to get to the World Series.”
On the production from the nine spot in the Alabama lineup: “I said before the game to her in the batting cage that we have our little package of dynamite in the nine spot. We hope that the other teams might overlook her there after seeing Stephanie (Van Brakle) and some of our other hitters in the lineup. She did a good job on a two-strike page on her first hit. We’ve done it before with kids in the nine spot, we can see what they do in practice every day.”
#24 Stephanie Van Brakle ?? Senior Pitcher
On the Stanford lineup: “They come from a good conference and are a great hitting team. I didn’t expect it to be easy against them, because when you get this late in the season it’s not going to be easy. Their lineup is tough. If not for our defense to get me out of a few situations it would have been a different story. Our defense was key.”
#3 Mandy Burford ?? Junior Left Fielder
On her hitting adjustments throughout the season: “I have just tried to be more consistent. Each time we play and the more reps I get the easier it seems to come.”
# 8 Brittany Rogers ?? Freshman Center Fielder
On her hitting approach: “The fire and the intensity that Stephanie (Van Brakle) showed in the first inning just gets you going and makes you want to get on base. It wasn’t just the top of the order getting it done, it was all of us out there. We have a great lineup.”
Alabama Notes
???? Dominique Accetturo and Staci Ramsey moved to fifth on UA’s all-time games played list with their 266th.
???? Brittany Rogers and Jordan Praytor extended their hitting streaks to four games. They have hit in ever NCAA game.
???? Alabama has scored first in all four of its NCAA Tournament games this year.
???? Rogers recorded her 30th multi-hit game of the season.
???? Mandy Burford tied her career high for hits in a game with three.
???? Alabama has won three straight Super Regional games.
Game Note
???? 1,037 attendance is the largest in Alabama Softball Stadium postseason history.
Stanford
Stanford Quotes
Head Coach John Rittman
On tonight’s game: “I thought that it was a very good game. In games like this it is all about pitching, defense and timely hitting. I thought that Alabama did a better job of that tonight than Stanford. We battled though, against an All-American pitcher, but we need to do a better job of not giving up outs. We need to try to keep the top of their lineup off base, that’s how they score a lot of runs.”
On his team’s comeback over Fresno State in the Regional:
“We have our backs to the wall and it’s do-or-die time. We don’t have a game to play with now. You just have to play one pitch at a time. We do have seniors that are capable of leading this team and we know we can bounce back.”
On Alabama’s sacrifice hits: “In this type of game you have to move runners up. When you get runners in scoring position, you give yourself the opportunity to score. We have to be able to do the same thing.”
#1 Jackie Rinehart - Junior Left Fielder
On facing Van Brakle: “We got the scouting report on her last week to prepare for the game and we knew she was a good pitcher. She was amazing tonight and has a little of everything. She just moved the ball around a lot.”
On the team’s approach at the plate: “We just tried to battle at every at-bat. We just go into every at-bat with a new approach and battling. She’s a great pitcher and we’ll come after it again tomorrow.”
Stanford Notes
???? Jackie Rinehart recorded her first three-hit game since going 3-4 at Oregon State on April 29.
???? Stanford has lost three straight NCAA Super Regional games.
