May 8, 2013
Alabama Head Coach Patrick Murphy
Opening statement …
“I just thought this was a very entertaining game. I think everybody got their money’s worth. I think TV got their money’s worth. I think I told ESPN after practice yesterday that the last thing this team needed to do was to come from behind to win a game because we hadn’t done it all season long. We’ve had several chances, and I think that was a reason we lost a lot of games in the conference. We had a lot of opportunities and just didn’t cash in. In the bottom of the seventh, I said look, there is a lot of positive in this. We get an opportunity again to make a come back and get a walk-off win. Dani (Richards) did the rest. It was a hard-fought battle. (Texas) A&M is a great team, they will do really well in postseason. It is definitely a tough line-up to pitch too in postseason.”
On three-hour rain delay …
“Kudos to the grounds crew. I know it’s a tough situation to be in a tournament of this magnitude and thank goodness that there were only two games today. If it was tomorrow, it’s kind of scary because you have four games and then it backs up tremendously. We’ve been up here before in snow and rain and ice. Just great guys (the grounds crew) and I knew they would get the field ready. I didn’t have a bit of problem with the infield and the outfield grass was fine, too. Not an issue at all with the field.”
On if the delay had an impact on first-inning scoring …
“No, I don’t think so. When you grow up, you play ASA and summer ball and they play six games a day. They could play at nine in the morning and not play again until six at night. They are used to that. It’s the coaches. That drives us nuts. But, the players, I think everyone here has played since they were five years old and they are used to sitting and waiting. It’s almost like hurry up and wait that you go through a lot. They capitalized on a mistake by us in the top of the first and then we capitalized big time on a couple of baserunners. It was an entertaining first inning for sure.”
On who he will start in the circle tomorrow against No. 1 seed Florida …
“Probably Leslie (Jury) and Lauren (Sewell). We will ask Jackie (Traina) on the bus back to the hotel and see how she feels. I did see (that she threw 156 pitches) on the paper, but she had 10 strikeouts and I thought she was throwing pretty hard there at the end. A pitch here or there could have eliminated a couple of walks. This is a tough park to pitch in. It seems really short and the ball travels well. Shoot, they had seven or eight girls in their lineup with double-digit home runs. That’s a tough line-up to pitch too.”
Alabama #19, Danielle Richard, 3B
On her last at bat …
“I was just trying to look for a strike, and something inside. She threw it there and I just hit it.”
On having confidence in her team …
“I was definitely confident. I always believe in my team and they had my back all night.”
Texas A&M Head Coach Jo Evans
Opening Statement …
“I thought our ball club fought really hard tonight. We gave ourselves a chance to win and come from behind. I’m really proud of the way our kids fought. We really wanted it, just one through nine, every one of our hitters did something good tonight at the plate. We had opportunities and we didn’t take care of business right there in the last inning. I think we can take this and learn well from it. We’re working to change the momentum for our team and I thought we did well tonight.”
On John Cropp Stadium …
“I think it’s a gorgeous facility, I’m really impressed. The press box is the best I’ve seen and it’s first class what they’ve done, nice aesthetic touch. You can tell they put a lot of detail into it and paid a lot of attention. I think they’ve done a really great job. The field is in great shape, the field crew has worked their tail off with the weather. I’m very impressed. We’re planning on building a new facility ourselves and there are certainly some things we’ll take away from Kentucky, what we’d like to do ourselves. Their indoor facility is terrific. I think (Kentucky) Coach (Rachel) Lawson has done a really nice job building a facility that’s very functional and very attractive.”
Texas A&M #5, Cassie Tysarczyk, OF
On coming back against Alabama …
“We were thinking we had nothing to lose at this point. Coach told us in post game that when our backs were against the wall, we never gave up and kept on fighting. That’s something that we’re pretty proud of and we can take that away from this. We’re kind of in a dry spell lately, coming off a win at Mississippi St. and we did a lot of good things tonight.”
On the NCAA tournament …
“Hopefully we’ll be hosting a regional and it’s always great to play at home. We have a great crowd at home. Like I said, I think we’re on the up from our dry spell. We’re doing a lot of great things, like coach said, hitting all the way through the line up, Mel (Dumezich) threw a great game tonight. Her curve ball was throwing them off and also her drop ball. We have a few things to fix obviously but we’re almost flicking from all cylinders so it’ll feel really good to play like that.”
