May 17, 2014
Recap
DePaul utilized a four-run first inning to earn a 5-1 win over Ohio in the first of two elimination games played on Saturday in the Lexington Regional. The Blue Demons advance to play JMU at 6 p.m. ET for the right to play in the championship series vs. UK on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. DePaul’s Allie Braden went 3-for-3 and Megan Coronado posted a three-run double to lead the bats for the designated home team. The Blue Demons’ Kirsten Verdun earned the win, tossing six innings and giving up just two hits while striking out 11. Ohio was led by a two-hit performance from pitcher Savannah Jo Dorsey. Ohio’s season concludes with an overall record of 32-26. The Bobcats were making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995.
Ohio Press Conference
Ohio Head Coach Jodi Hermanek
Opening statement …
“It’s a tough day when your season ends that’s for sure. At the same time there’s a cross between the feelings, because we want to still be on that field competing, but so proud of everything that we have accomplished this season. I’m so proud of the history that this team has laid out for the Ohio University softball program. It makes us hungry for more, I mean I’m sure we are going to itch for the start of next year probably in about two weeks. I’m just proud of the guts and effort that the girls put out there in the last two games, and I’m just so proud of the Ohio Bobcats.”
On scoring OU’s first-ever NCAA Tournament run in the seventh inning …
“That’s the first run that Ohio has every scored at a regional tournament, and I think that it is so amazing, and suitable that it was done by a senior. I wish it would have been done earlier, and more often, but it’s just another stake in the claim of taking this program a step further and creating some history. I’m just proud of the opportunity that we kept creating for ourselves there in the seventh, and watching the girls fight until the end.”
On the team’s never-say-die attitude this season …
“I’ve seen that out of this team so many times throughout this season. They will stick in there and stay together and continue to believe that something can be created all the way until the end. Sometimes it has come up that we’ve won games in the end that way, and sometimes it comes up that we fall short. However, that team knows that they didn’t walk away without any pressure on them. That’s the character of who we are, and I was telling them in the huddle that we have been so resilient all year long. We’ve faced some adversity. We’ve faced some challenges, some things that we wanted to go our way that didn’t, and some things that went our way that shouldn’t have. No matter what, these girls come together and are united, and fought all the way through. I’m just really proud of that defining character of this club.”
Ohio Student-Athletes
#9, Alexandra Basquez, Sr., 1B
On what it means to be a senior and play on this stage …
“It means a lot. Freshman year we had the chance to get here and we kept fighting. It just means a lot that I was able to help this team succeed and actually be here. It’s a dream to all of us. I was telling them yesterday before the game when we were eight, nine, 10 years-old, we were watching the girls play on this stage and we’ve always dreamt to be here. We want to be here and we were finally here so it means a lot that I can put forth and help my team be here.”
On playing on this stage being different …
“It is different but it’s still softball. You take the stage away, it’s still going to be the game. The game doesn’t know whose playing; you just go and have fun. At the end of the day, it is softball.”
On what they were seeing from DePaul’s pitcher that gave them trouble …
“It was more of her change up I felt we struggled with. But we were still hitting the ball, it wasn’t anything, it just wasn’t falling in our place today. It wasn’t like we were completely struggling. I felt like we were still hitting. I know there were some things we could have changed but we still fought all the way through. We could have just sat down in the first inning when they were up by four but seventh inning we still wanted to score, wanted to be that team. Coach was talking about in the huddle that OU has not scored a run in the regionals. We wanted to be that team so even in the seventh inning we were going to do whatever we could to score that run.”
#21, Savannah Jo Dorsey, So., P
On what allows the team to stay so upbeat even when they were down …
“Just the mentality overall. We kept saying have fun, have fun. Because it is a different stage and it is fun just being out there. We like to say ‘put on a show.’ There’s no pressure, just trying to show off in front of the fans. We kind of have that mentality so it’s fun either way. And me personally, I just love pitching. I just love it.”
On what she thought of her performance compared to last night’s …
“Not one of my best as opposed to all of the ones I’ve had. Not very different from last night, just last night maybe things went more in my favor but I think I could have done better.”
On having 298 strikeouts on the season ...
“Two more would have been 300 which sounds like a better number. So that’s what I say to that. I wish someone would have told me that in the sixth inning. Next year, I’ll be at 300.”
On thinking she got her ball to the wall over …
“No. I thought it was a pop-up fly out. We run hard on everything so I just ran and then she said ‘go two,’ and then I got to two and then I thought I might as well go three. So I went three. But no, I expected it to be a fly out and just ran it out.”
