UK softball coach Eileen Schmidt discussed her team?s progress during the fall schedule with the media today. Schmidt enters her third season as the Kentucky head coach and returns 11 players from last season?s team which finished 21-36. The Wildcats return five seniors and welcome seven newcomers to the 2007 roster.
On turning the corner in her third year:
?It seems like the third year is the charm in a lot of sports, like women?s basketball, in the third year they seemed to turn that corner. Baseball, obviously, had a great year in its third year and they?ve set a standard for our softball team. It?s been a little rough just like everybody else. It?s a big job. I think there are a lot of teams here that have had to make big changes to get to where they want to go and set the standard [UK Director of Athletics] Mitch [Barnhart] has set for us to get wins and to do well within the SEC. So we?re just trying to follow in the footsteps all of those other sports that have done that.?
On the program and its outlook for the 2007 season:
?So far, this fall it?s been pretty interesting because we?re pretty young. When we got here, we didn?t have a lot of scholarships open right away. Finally, this year we?ve got a large class of good, quality kids. Not that the kids that we have had before were not good, quality kids. The one thing I would tell you about the softball team is that they always work 100 percent. There is not another team out there, no matter what conference or what sport, that works harder than our kids. It just hasn?t fallen into place yet. And I say ?yet? many times because I think that this is the year that it needs to turn around.?
On the fall season thus far:
?We played Georgetown last Wednesday and Kentucky Wesleyan yesterday. Georgetown was a good game. It seemed like we went out there and just played though, which could be exactly what young kids needed ? to get out on the field and play somebody else in a different color jersey. Yesterday was much better.?
On the newcomers on the team:
?We have a lot of freshmen that have stepped up. We have Molly Johnson, from Arizona, who was a high school All-American, and Natalie Smith also from Arizona. We have a junior college transfer in from central Arizona, the same place as Sean Coughlin from the baseball team, named Audrey Meyer who should be able to step into the SEC and play right away. She won a national championship and played for another. Those kids have all been winners in the past and competed at the highest level. I think that is important for our team to make that turn.?
On the returning senior class:
?We have a big senior class. For Brooke Marnitz, from Dunbar High School, the key really is to make sure she stays healthy. She?s had a rough four years. She?s got a lot of talent. This kid could be the number one shortstop in the conference if she wanted to be, and if we could keep her healthy long enough to do that. Also in that group we have Gina Florence, Katie Campbell, Jenny Sibert and Ashley Fertic. It?s a good group of leaders. When that class came in before I was here, there were 11 players in it and now we?re down to five. It?s not easy; the SEC is the second-toughest conference in the country behind the PAC-10 and gaining ground quickly. I think the way they have stuck it out, worked hard and fought through injuries has really been a testament to how much better we?ve gotten.?
On team improvements last year:
?Our team GPA and went from a 2.7 to a 3.4. Last year we won the CATSPY for Academic Team of the Year. With a 3.4 GPA and over 280 hours helping out in the community, these kids do things right. It?s just getting that last piece of the puzzle with the wins. If they?re doing things right in the community and in the classroom there is no doubt that they are going to make that change on the field.?
On last year?s season and this year?s outlook:
?Last year we started out with the best start in Kentucky history. We got into the SEC and we were still overachieving a little, but we got beat up a little bit in the SEC. It?s a tough conference ? no doubt. With the best start and to continue to fight the way they did, I?m really proud of the way our players performed. Getting through the fall healthy, and a little more depth takes us into an exciting spring with 18 home games.?
On why the third year is important in turning things around:
?I don?t know, it would be an interesting look, because you can see things with Coach [Rich] Brooks even, it takes a while. The thing about Mitch you learn as a head coach is that he?s not a trigger guy. He?s going to let you do your job and give you the time to do your time. It seems like it takes a couple years to get your kids in and get them into a system. Everybody?s system is different. When you look at [women?s basketball] Coach [Mickie] DeMoss, [baseball] Coach [John] Cohen and Coach Brooks who are trying to make a change with a big job, it doesn?t change overnight. You try to get the right fit for your pieces of your puzzle and it takes time. When you?re competing in the SEC, it is the top conference in college athletics. When you match our team up with a Tennessee, which has been at the World Series the last two years, they are bigger, faster and stronger than just our softball team. Now we?re starting to catch up and we?re starting to look bigger, faster and stronger and we are starting to get the performance in the circle and in the field. You?re asking freshmen to compete against seniors who have been at that level and are consistently getting better. You?re asking freshmen and sophomores to come in when Tennessee and Alabama and all those schools are getting better and you are trying to play the catch-up game.?
