June 4, 2006
NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES
June 1-7, 2006"
Don E. Porter ASA Hall of Fame Stadium
Game 9: 3, 1 (9 Innings)
HEAD COACH Clint Myers
On the game:
"Let me first say how proud I am of this team. Nobody knows what to expect with new coaches. I went asking for blind trust. They did not know me. It is an honor, and I say this with the utmost pride, that I am the coach of . These ladies fulfilled dreams of mine and dreams of their own. We make no excuses. We went out there and battled for eight, nine innings. Katie (Burkhart) pitched her left arm off and Heidi (Knabe) found some wonderful power for us the last two days. Again, we have worked hard all throughout the year and we have set a tradition, an expectation and a standard for all future teams. They have set the standard and we expect to be back here every year."
On the speed of :
"They have five All-Americans on their team and we have one. They are a very fast team and Ralph (Weekly) does a great job with his club. They are a talented club and I take my hat off to them. But we battled with them. If you look at the numbers it shouldn't have been a game. But it comes right down to heart. They had to beat us. We didn't give it to them."
SOPHOMORE Katie BurkhartOn if fatigue affected her pitching:
"I wasn't thinking anything about being tired. I was just taking it one pitch at a time. Fatigue wasn't a factor. I just mentally tell myself one pitch at a time."
On the pitch she threw on Jennifer Griffin's home run:
"It was a screwball. She got a hold of a good pitch. You have to give her credit. She did a good job with that. I would like to take that back, but that's a different story."
JUNIOR Heidi Knabe
On how she felt after hitting two home runs today:
"I could have never expected that. Just coming to the World Series was an awesome experience. I'm glad I was able to help the team out with those home runs. But it's so hard taking a loss. Any girl on the team could have hit those. I would have traded a win for those."
CO-HEAD COACH RALPH WEEKLY
Opening comment:
"It was an absolutely fantastic fast pitch game - the type of game that you would expect to be played at this venue, at this time of year. I'm very proud of our kids and the way they fought. I was also proud of , I thought they were very well coached. I'm an graduate, but there's no question where my loyalty was today. But I thought they played fantastic. My hat's off to the kids wearing the orange. I thought they did a good job."
On preparation for today's game after having only one hit last night:
"We told them that we have been a legitimate good hitting team all year long. We've hit the ball well. We just didn't hit last night. Sometimes that happens in this game. I just challenged them to visualize doing what they do best. If you're a slapper, where you want to put the ball, etcetera, etcetera. I told them I would be proud of them no matter what happened today because they were champions in their own right."
On his prediction of Jennifer Griffin's home run:
"I had a feeling she was going to do it. I went into the huddle before the inning started and I said, `Jennifer Griffin is going to get ticked off and hit the ball out of the park.' I've never done that before, but she did it. I did know she had that capability."
FRESHMAN JENNIFER
On her mindset before hitting the home run:
"I think I'm trying to be more aggressive and not as passive as I usually am. Basically, I'm seeing it well. I just have to be more aggressive."
SENIOR MONICA ABBOTT
On pitching the bottom of the ninth after 's two-run home run:
"After Jennifer hit that home run, I knew I had to go out there and attack their hitters from a pitching standpoint. I couldn't give them a chance to come back. I knew I needed to step up for my team since they stepped up for me."
JUNIOR LINDSAY SCHUTZLER
On if the team has been feeling under pressure:
"By now, we're not feeling a lot of pressure because it's every inning, every game, a do-or-die situation. If you make the play, great, if you don't, oh well, just shake it off and move on. I think that's why this team has been playing so well - it's because we're not feeling pressure. We're playing every game like it's our last."