Alabama vs. Chattanooga Postgame Quotes
5/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 22, 2011
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Alabama Quotes
Head Coach Patrick Murphy
Opening statement:
"I just want to say congratulations to Chattanooga on a great year.; I know that it's a tough way to go out, and they had some really good teams the past couple of years. I know their third baseman (Tiffany Baker) is a heck of a hitter. They are a great team. It's just tough this time of the year. It is tough to move on and advance. I thought Kelsi (Dunne) did a great job against a very good lineup, and we played great defense behind her. That first inning set the tone with (Jennifer) Fenton and (Kayla) Braud getting on. It was just full on from there"
On hitting the ball hard:
"I thought we hit the ball as hard as we have in a long time. (Kayla) Braud hit a shot that knocked the first baseman backwards. Whitney (Larsen) hit a couple. Jackie Traina hit a double, which had not happened in a while. I told them if you swing at strikes, they aren't going to get you out. If you swing at pitcher pitches, they are probably going to get you out. I thought they did a really good job of laying off the bad pitches and hitting balls in the strike zone."
On heading into the next part of the tournament:
"This is the nerve-racking time for me. This is the time where you need to keep it rolling and stay focused. This is the toughest part."
#00 Kelsi Dunne, RHP
On Chattanooga's tough lineup:
"I think it's fortunate that we play in a tough conference. Our pitchers face good hitters all the time. They have good hitters, but our pitchers face good hitters all the time. As a result, we are mentally prepared when we face a good hitting team like today. We always have the same game plan to mix everything up, and that's what we did."
On playing the best softball of the season:
"We didn't have everything together at the SEC Tournament. We didn't have great pitching or hitting. We didn't play our best game yet. I feel like we are definitely coming together better on all three aspects of our game. It's something we are going to keep working on."
#20 Whitney Larsen, SS
On avenging last year's super regional loss:
"Well obviously everybody's goal this time of the season is to win the national championship. We were disappointed at the way the season ended last year. It is just something that is motivating, but we didn't focus on it every single practice this season. We just take one day at a time and work on things that need to be better. We are just focusing every day, but it is do or die now. The little things are going to matter."
On postseason anxiety:
"It's not anxious, but it's exciting. Sometimes you overlook that now it is down to 16 teams. It's exciting. We feel very fortunate that the coaches have put us in a position to do well. We just have to follow up with that."
Chattanooga Quotes
Head Coach Frank Reed
Opening statement:
"It was a great run for our softball team, not a great week in comparison to the things we had to face. Not just on the field, but off the field with the kids (Tiffany Baker and Michelle Fuzzard) being sick and all of that. It is devastating for the two kids who are sick, to get that sick during the tournament. It probably filtered down into the team a little more than we like. You can't say enough about what the team has done this year and the records they put up. It's a building block for the things that we want to do in the future, and I think that you will see Chattanooga in a regional in the future and hopefully the supers."
On the short game for Alabama:
"I think that it was that the field plays really hard. You get a bounce here, a bounce there and it could really make the difference. I would have preferred it to be more wet I guess per say. We knew what they were going to do; unfortunately we were not able to take advantage of that."
On Alabama pitcher Kelsi Dunne:
"We thought that we had a good plan for her. I don't think that we ever felt like we were going to catch up and not be able to put some runs on the board. I think that it put the kids down a little bit."
On getting ejected from the contest:
"It was just a rule. We had already taken a defensive time out, and the catcher walked over and they charged us with another defensive time out. I didn't even realize that she had walked over to talk to the pitching coach; I didn't even talk to her. The rule is that two defensive time outs and the person in charge, which is me, has to leave the game. We had a freshman catcher out there that didn't understand that she wasn't supposed to come to the dugout. I am sure that it has happened somewhere; I really don't understand the rule. I don't understand why that would be something you would want to eject a coach for. I'm not a rule maker."
#5 Kasey Tydingco, 1B
On Alabama's small ball:
"Going into this game, we knew that it was going to be tough. There was no doubt in our team that we could hang with them. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we thought we could have caught back up there."
On the future:
"This is my first regional with this team, and I think that this is the best team I have been a part of and the most diverse team I have been a part of. I am excited to see where this leads us next year. I think that it set the standards higher for this team. We won't accept anything less than what we have accomplished this year."
#9 Lyndsey Stiles, CF
On Alabama pitcher Kelsi Dunne:
"I think that she mixed up all of her pitches well. She had us guessing for the most part. I think we were going up to the plate thinking not to guess, but they changed the pitches up so well during the game, and we never knew what was coming."
On the last inning:
"For me being a senior, my last at-bat, I was thinking, 'Don't strike out. Don't go out that way,' so it was huge for me to step up, and for my team to put some runs on the board and that's what we did."
