Memphis vs. Chattanooga Postgame Quotes
5/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 20, 2011
Memphis Quotes
HEAD COACH WINDY THEES
Opening Statement:
“Well, my kids were excited to be here from the moment we got here, and I think that it showed here today just how excited they were. I have been proud of this team all year. I’m not going to say I am prouder of them today than I have been all year long, it’s the same. We are a family, and we got it done. We need to clean up our defense and score more than four runs off of 13 hits, but if we can fix that we will make some progress tomorrow.”
On today’s hitting:
“Our kids know to put the bat on the ball and put pressure on the defense. We play at a really big park, so putting the ball in play is important because you have to earn a home run at the University of Memphis, you really do. We work on that a lot; making adjustments and making the defense make plays. We put a little bit of pressure on them and they made a couple of errors, but then we started dinking them in. If I didn’t get some of my kids thrown out on those bases we probably would have scored more runs.”
On being aggressive:
“I’m mean we are in the NCAA tournament. Let’s go! We are going to try to get to second, get to third then get home.”
NO. 7 SOPHOMORE PITCHER CARLY HUMMEL
On her pitching style:
“I think that one of my best assets is probably the movement on my ball because I am not the fastest person. I’m not going to get up there and throw 68 miles an hour. One of the main things that I worked on as soon as I came to Memphis was spinning and getting my balls moving, so it’s going to happen because sometimes I can’t control it. I have done my best to keep them where they are supposed to go. I have tried to do my best to get them in their corners and putting them on their box, but some have a mind of their own, and they go where they choose. I won’t say it is a bad thing because I get most of my strike outs on some of those. The ball knows where to go.”
NO. 2 REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE OUTFIELDER KAMRI CHESTER
On today’s hitting:
“It felt really good to actually break through and get a solid, hard contact hit, and it just kept rolling after that. We just kept hitting and getting on top of things. It felt really good.”
Chattanooga Quotes
HEAD COACH FRANK REED
Opening Statement:
“You know things are going to go bad when you start off the morning with your top two hitters in the hospital with IVs, and that’s what it started off as this morning with (Tiffany) Baker and (Michelle) Fuzzard. Both of them got IVs and tried to play through what we had today. We started thinking about those two kids being sick and worrying about them. I think we got caught up in that a little bit. You know it’s not going to be your day when eight of the 13 hits were dinks. We’ve had that happen before, and you have those days. It’s tough. We will work through it and come back and play better tomorrow hopefully and get those two kids better.”
On things not going their way in today’s game:
“If you have ever coached this game or been around this game long enough, you know you are going to have days when those things are going to happen. What I spoke to the team about was how we respond to that situation. We had that happen during the conference season, but when you have that happen during the postseason, time is limited.”
On if the team will respond well tomorrow:
“I think we will (respond tomorrow). Obviously the team we put on the field today is not the team we have put on the field for the past 42 wins.”
NO. 23 SENIOR INFIELDER TIFFANY BAKER
On Memphis pitcher Carly Hummel:
“She is definitely one of the top pitchers in this regional. She has a good rise ball. She knows how to keep you off balance, and we did not adjust well at all. We started to towards the end, but overall we did not. I think we were getting in our heads more than she was getting to us though.”
Memphis Notes
• Junior Lelani Bernardino set a career-high with four hits, marking Memphis’ first four-hit game by one batter since Heather Mott tied a school record with five against Alabama State on April 6, 2011. Bernardino was one shy of tying Cara Stiles, sister of Chattanooga outfielder Lyndsey Stiles, who had five hits against Grambling in 2006, and Mott. It was the sixth multi-hit game of the season for Bernardino and 31st of her career.
• Five Tigers (Mott, Bernardino, McKinley, Chester, Kassner) collected more than one hit, the first time since April 6 against Alabama State that five Tigers have picked up multiple hits in the same game.
• Memphis’ 13 hits were most allowed by Chattanooga this season and most by the Tigers since getting 15 base knocks against Arkansas, April 19. This game marked the 10th time in 2011 Memphis had pounded out 10 or more hits.
• Sophomore Carly Hummel was magnificent on the mound, throwing her season’s second one-hitter (sixth career) en route to her 21st victory of the campaign. She struck out five batters, giving her exactly 400 for her career and putting her one behind Jenna Kubesch for most all-time in Memphis history. She also moves to 26-2 in her career when the Tiger offense picks up three or more runs in support of her.
• While senior Heather Mott collected her season’s 15th multi-hit game (30th of her career), it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Pensacola native. She committed a career-high three errors at shortstop, after entering the game with six on the season. She did keep her batting average up, and is now hitting a robust .368, which keeps her above Cara Stiles’ .358 mark in 2006.
• The Tigers won their 36th game of 2011, tying the 2007 squad’s record for most wins in a season.
• When staked an early lead, the Tigers have been practically untouchable in 2011, moving to 30-1 when scoring first and 28-0 when leading after four innings.
• Kamri Chester drove in the game-winning run on her third-inning single, giving her four game-winning hits in the Tigers last 10 wins. She was 2-for-4 on the day, for her fifth game with multiple hits in 2011, and 12th of her career.
• Senior Maddie McKinley went 2-for-4, giving her 11 multi-hit games in 2011 and 28 in her illustrious career.
• Senior Kailey Kassner also picked up a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 in her season’s third game (13th in her career) with two or more knocks.
