May 16, 2014
Recap
Kentucky’s senior Lauren Cumbess plated both tallies of a 2-0 win over Ohio in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night. Cumbess hit her ninth home run of the season in the second inning and brought in an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth to propel the Wildcats to a matchup with James Madison on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The winner of that game will march on to the championship series on Sunday. Sophomore pitcher Kelsey Nunley threw a complete-game shutout for her 25th win of the season for UK. Alexandria Basquez led the Bobcats with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate in the loss.
Kentucky Postgame Press Conference
Kentucky Head Coach Rachel Lawson
Opening statement …
“First, I thought today was a good game for both teams. I thought that Ohio is obviously an outstanding team. They have a great pitcher and she (Savannah Jo Dorsey) showed it on the national stage. So, I thought that was a great showing. With that said, I thought our team played hard. I think we fought, and I thought it was a good first round game for the NCAA Tournament.”
On importance of leading off tournament with a win …
“I think it’s important that you always get the first win of the tournament. I think that way you can kind of kick the tires a little bit and get a little bit looser. Anytime you can come up with the first win in any sort of postseason tournament I think that helps. It helps your pitching; it helps your defense relax a little bit. It helps the girls sleep a little bit better. When you start the tournament and you’re in the loser’s bracket and your back’s against the wall and sometimes that can be a nerve racking thing especially for the older girls. To be able to start with a win especially against a good team really I think will help us going forward.”
On Kelsey Nunley …
“I think Kelsey did a good job; she used a lot of different pitches today. There wasn’t one pitch we kept coming back to over and over and over. I agree she gave them a good mix and it depended on the batter on what she was going to give them. I thought that was what she did really well tonight, she was able to attack each batter individually and that just says a lot about her command of the zone.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#19, Lauren Cumbess, Sr., 1B
On possible nerves to start the game …
“I don’t think that we’re really nervous, I think that we’re more just excited. We do play our best when we are loose. Hopefully tomorrow we can come out here and put on a little better show offensively. We still played hard, and that’s an awesome pitcher.”
On how well she was seeing the ball at the plate …
“We practiced hard all week and worked on hitting different pitches in the zone. It was just all about the right place at the right time.”
On her home run …
“I don’t know about effortless, but I was just looking for my pitch. On that count it happened to be it. So, it worked out. If I remember correctly, I swung at the first pitch (of the at bat). I really wanted to be aggressive and try and make something happen as the leadoff batter of that inning. I swung at the first one and missed it. The second one looked like it was even more in my zone, so I swung for it. It felt pretty good coming off the bat.”
#33, Kelsey Nunley, So., P
On how she felt on the mound …
“Well, it was a little hard to get warmed up, but after I got warmed up I stayed kind of loose. I felt pretty good.”
On what was working well for her …
“We were just mixing it up and trying to keep them off balance. Coach was calling pitches great, so that’s always great.”
On the difference between the opening innings and then the later stages of the game …
“Maybe I got a little bit looser. It’s kind of cold and last week it was really hot. So, maybe just pitching more pitches. The more I pitched the looser I got. We knew that they learned at each at bat. So the next time that they came up we just tried to give them a different look.”
Ohio Postgame Press Conference
Ohio Coach Jodi Hermanek
Opening statement …
“It was a great ballgame by both clubs. I was really impressed with our level of attack offensively. I thought we did a great job coming out and being aggressive and putting some hard pressure on the defense for them to make plays. Really proud of the batters and thought that they did a great job working through some challenging moments. I was proud of Savy (Savannah Dorsey), she settled in strong and got zoned in the later innings. Defensively we came up with some clutch innings for us to keep the pressure off of them scoring runs. The bases loaded scenario, I was just really proud of the Cats (Bobcats) and I thought we did a great job being ourselves and who our identity is and sticking true to it tonight.”
On getting a chance to scout Kentucky …
“Yeah, you know we did. You know that’s the benefit of being on TV, more people get to watch you. We spent some time watching them, mainly as a coaching staff getting our preparation on our scouting report. If they did, that’s to their own nature but for us, it was just about our scouting report preparation so we could get the information to them and let them play the games between the lines.”
On what it feels like playing here in the tournament …
“It’s a great platform to be in. It’s a great opportunity for such a young team to see this level and see this kind of atmosphere. We’re just really living on the spirit that we created these moments for ourselves and we earned these moments for ourselves. So we’re just really enjoying each moment and trying to create some memories through all of it from road trip to practice scenarios to this first game. But yes, we’re not happy with the outcome, we’re hungry for more. We, in our belief system, know that we’re the best team out here and that’s how we intend to play tomorrow.”
Ohio Student-Athletes
#20, Alyssa Wolf, Sr., CF
On what Kentucky’s Kelsey Nunley was giving the batters that gave them trouble …
“She was all inside the whole day, that’s all I saw. We knew that’s what she was going to throw so it was about attacking that pitch.”
#21, Savannah Jo Dorsey, So., P
On what she told herself after giving up a home run …
“I think that when someone starts off with a home run like that, the most comforting thought is that we had to score a run to win anyways. So trust in the offense to come out and score, in the first place that’s the game plan from the beginning. That one run didn’t really affect much in my mentality because I’m still going to attack the next one.”
On this game getting the nerves out of the way in the first game …
“I don’t think nervous is the right word, we were very anxious but we were ready and prepared like there was no lack of preparation. So going into it, it’s very easy to stay relaxed when the whole team’s mentality is to just play within ourselves, it doesn’t matter really who’s in the other dugout. It’s a platform to be here at regionals, it’s a very good opportunity for us especially since it hasn’t happened in a while, but we plan to play it just like we’re playing on our own field, it’s a relaxed game.”
