Texas A&M
LSU
Texas State
Bethune-Cookman
Texas A&M Softball
Opening statement
"We’re really excited to be hosting Regionals. We’re really impressed with the group of teams that are meeting here. It’s a great pitching Regional. It’s going to be fun to see all of the great pitching and we’re excited to play in from of all of our home fans."
On being confident or complacent at home...
"I’ve never known our team ever to be complacent at home so I don’t worry about that a bit. We get really fired up to play at home. We feed off of our fans, but we always say that it’s our job to get our fans in it and not their job to get us in it. I think our team does a really good job responding here at home and playing very relaxed. Last year we were undefeated at home and this year we’ve dropped four at home and three of those are to two of these teams in the top 16, and the other was Houston, who’s in the Tournament as well."
On hitting well...
"Our kids have worked really hard at it. As a coaching staff we sat down and said that we need to get better with our strikeouts. Last year I thought we struck out way too many times. We’ve certainly improved in that area and I think that makes a big difference. We’re a better two-strike hitters than we were last year, and the other thing is we’re a year older. You don’t see any new faces on our field starting for us, but we’re still a young team. Last year you saw a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and this year you’re seeing a lot of sophomores and juniors and a couple of seniors and I think that that experience has made a big difference as well."
On senior left fielder Natalie Villarreal...
"She’s just a great all-around player. She’s as great offensively as she is defensively. She’s just one of those quiet, silent assassin kind of players. She doesn’t say much. She just shows up and really cares. She really has great passion for the game, even though you won’t see her be real emotional. That’s not her style. She’s a steady, steady player, one of the most consistent players we have day-in and day-out. She got in a little slump during conference and we had her in the leadoff spot, which we love her at. We ended up moving her down to the eighth and she’s just caught fire down there. It’s been really nice to have that kind of punch down there in the bottom of the order. Emily Albus bumped in there at leadoff and she did such a great job that now I can’t switch it. I’ve got to stick with what’s working. Natalie is a very committed ballplayer and she wants this really bad. She wants to be in the World Series and play for a Championship. In the first at bat when we moved her into the eighth I think she hit a double. She got over to third and I said ‘Geez, if I had known that I would have put you in the eight hole a long time ago.’"
On sophomore Nicole Morgan...
"I’m excited for Nic. Last year she kind of struggled just to be a consistent. It’s a tough transition from the summer ball/high school into college ball, especially at this level. I’m excited for her work ethic this year. She’s really worked a lot harder at it and been committed and it’s fun because she’s reaping the benefits of that, so she understands that now: what I put into this, I’m going to get out of it. She’s turned into a real threat up at the plate and you can see that. Her on base percentage is crazy high. She takes a lot of walks now, too. She’s a threat to hit the ball out. Teams now fear her and it’s nice to see her transition. She would love to be behind the plate catching but she plays first for us when Mel’s out there pitching and she does a nice job for us. It’s always hard for people to understand their role and Nic’s doing a good job of understanding how she can help our ballclub."
On Bethune-Cookman...
"We had the opportunity to watch them on film in conference play. That’s all we know really, is what’s in the scouting reports we’ve been able to get from other games and then that’s the only video we’ve seen. I see them as a very aggressive, athletic, speed-type team. They’re a team that’s scary because they come in here with no fear. They’re going to be a team where people don’t expect them to win and people need to understand that Bethune-Cookman is a great program and they have been to the postseason before. This isn’t some fluke that this team came out of nowhere. We understand that and we respect that and we respect them. Their coach, Chris Cochran, was in the Big 12 for many years as an assistant coach for Iowa State and then went to Brown as a head coach and is now at Bethune-Cookman. We need to understand that we need to make sure that we stay on top of our game and take nothing for granted here."
Pitcher Mel Dumezich
On playing in her third NCAA Tournament...
"I feel that the junior class, we know what we’re out here to do. My freshman year I didn’t really have an idea about Regionals or Super Regionals or anything like that and I felt a little bit lost. But now we’re a top 8 seed. This means a lot to us to host Regionals and Supers and we’re going to go out with a bang here. We’re going to make a run for it."
On why she works well with Meagan May...
"Since my freshman year she’s been catching me a lot. She’s a great catcher and I trust her with everything. She’s one that studies the hitters and I study the hitters too. If I don’t like a pitch and I shake her off, she usually knows what I want to call."
On potentially playing Missouri in the Super Regional...
"Missouri is a big rivalry for us. I think all of our games with them were by one run so it’s going to be close."
Catcher Meagan May
On learning from ending the season at National Champion Arizona State in 2011...
"Last year really showed us that we have the fight. We have what it takes. We just have to execute when it needs to be executed. Being at home is going to take a lot off of our shoulders because we just tend to do a lot better her. We’re really excited to see how all of those dominoes falling into place are going to help us."
On potentially playing Missouri in the Super Regional...
"We love playing Missouri. It’s that atmosphere of both teams really wanting to beat the other team. Those tend to be the most fun games. I don’t know how they feel about it but I am really glad that they are going to be playing us here if they do come to Super Regionals."
Opening statement
"We’re really excited to be here at Texas A&M. I’ve gotten to be here before and I know the team was here last year and they run a really quality event. We feel like we’re really prepared. We’ve had all week to get ready for these teams and we know we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re excited to be here and we feel like we’re prepared."
On struggling offensively...
"I think that it was a little bit expected. Of course as a new coaching staff we always feel like we’re going to be able to make a big difference. And I think we would have hoped to make a bigger difference with this team and this group. I don’t feel like they haven’t bought into things that we’ve asked them to do, because they truly have. I just feel like the gauntlet that we play in the SEC and facing All-Americans day-in and day-out not only affects your success offensively, but your mentality. I think it’s really tough to be confident day-in and day-out when you’re facing the absolute best in the nation every single day."
On preventing frustration...
"I think the month of March was a great month for us. We were on a pretty long win streak there – 12 games. We had a few of our kids with averages above .300 in the month of March and I really feel like it was there mentality at the time – just going out and competing and having some success. The month of April was definitely frustrating and something that we had to work through. We’ve tried a lot to stay positive about the things that we can be positive about. About people getting timely hits, about moving runners, bunting, hitting behind a runner, things that maybe don’t produce things in an average on a piece of paper but they increase our chances of scoring. That’s what we’ve talked about with LSU softball is let’s be selfless. Let’s move our runners. Let’s get people in scoring position and then see if we can make things happen at that point and just be selfless and manufacture what we can."
Junior Pitcher Rachele Fico
Opening statement
"The team’s been working really hard at practice. We’ve identified some of our problem areas and we’ve really gone to work and focused on them. So right now we just need to make sure we translate that into game play and execute in pressure situations and play Tiger softball."
On being successful in the circle without a lot of support...
"Whenever I step on the mound, I just focus on the pitch at hand. I take it one pitch, one play at a time. I know that my job is to keep my team in it as long as possible. I need to be strong and solid on the mound and give my team a chance to score runs. I know if I put forth my best performance, they’re going to come through and produce offensively for me. So I just stay focused. I have so much faith in my team. I trust in them so much and I know they’re very capable of getting the job done. I just need to do my best every time I step on the mound to keep them in it."
Opening statement
"We’re just excited to be here. I guess that’s the biggest thing. We feel like this is a great regional with a pretty good parody in it. So, we were excited to get on the bus and get to A&M."
On the Regional matchup...
"I keep hearing the statement that we could be in the 10th inning and no runs are scored because of the pitching. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how runs are generated tomorrow. Both sides have the pitching 1-2 duo that you could go either route and probably win a ballgame with. It’s going to be one of those deals where the team who gets a couple of runs across somehow is probably going to be the winner."
On the Texas State defense...
"Defense has played a lot of crucial roles for us this year. We’ve been able to keep a lot of base runners off of the base paths because we make a lot of routine plays. I think that’s one of the things we do well. Besides pitch, I think our second strongest point is the way we play defense."
On being in a bigger conference next season...
"We talk about how it doesn’t really matter who is in the other dugout. Whether this is going to help us along the way – you would like to think it would. Anytime you change conferences you’re changing the routine. I think that’s where we are at this weekend. We’re changing the routine up a little bit and we’ll see what happens."
Pitcher Chandler Hall
On what she knows about LSU...
"I know Brittany Mack. I’ve heard her name quite a bit and she’s from Round Rock, which is right down the road from us. I know she’s a really, really good pitcher. She mixes speeds, throws hard inside. She does a really good job. Other than that I know we played them my freshman year, and I don’t think I played that game because I was injured. It was one of our first tournaments my freshman year. Other than that, we haven’t seen them."
On her style of pitching...
"I’m mainly a drop ball pitcher. I try to keep the ball low and mix up speeds a little bit. I mostly just work the corners like any other pitcher, I guess. I try to get ahead."
Opening statement
"We’re happy to be here. We’re excited to be here. The competition that we’re going to face over the next two days is going to be great competition. Texas A&M is annually an elite program in the country. Jo does a great job year-in and year-out and their players really buy in. I have a lot of respect for what she does and what their team does every year."
On coming back from a 6-20 start to the season...
"I don’t know that I can put my finger on one thing. I took us awhile to find our identity as a team. We lost a pitcher early in the year, early in spring practice actually so she never threw a game for us, which is the reason that [Shanel] Tolbert has thrown most of our innings. There was an adjustment period with that. And also because this was Shanel’s first year doing most of the pitching, it was a learning period, it was a growing period. The team kept working. Certainly we took our lumps early but I don’t think they stopped believing. We got over the hump. Certainly we’re a better team now than we were February 10."
On losing to Florida A&M to end the regular season before beating them to win the MEAC Tournament...
"We just didn’t play very well quite honestly. Florida A&M played really well and we didn’t play very well. There were some things that we had to get better at, which we did get better at when we played them in the MEAC Tournament. This is just kind of the start of a new season here, essentially. The MEAC Tournament now is in the past, the regular season is in the past, so this is where Regionals start."
On playing A&M at home...
"This can be a very difficult environment to play in. There are going to be a lot of people here. There are going to be a lot of Aggie supporters here and so we should enjoy it. This is Sabrina’s last year. I have talked to them a little bit about the crowd. We have to stay focused on what we do and focus on us."
On having a team who has experienced the postseason...
"Each year has been different and I think each year with your team is different. I thought our first year, three years ago when we played in Regionals, I thought we played really well. We lost to Florida, I think 6-0, and we lost to FIU, 2-1 in extra innings or something like that. Last year it took so much out of us, I think, to win the conference tournament that year because we had a losers bracket and we had a lot of rain delays, so the tournament ended up going four days. We didn’t have much left when we got to
Regionals. A lot of that was my fault because I didn’t do a good job of getting us ready to play. Probably the competition there had a lot to do with that as well. I have tried to learn from that. Hopefully our team has learned from that a little bit as well. Hopefully we’ll have a better mindset here this year."
On playing in NCAAs again...
"We’re certainly glad to be here. My thing now is that I would like us to win a game and go from there. Just being here, I don’t think you can be satisfied with that. We’ll see. We know that it’s going to have to take our best effort and we’re going to have to play really well."
Catcher/Utility Sabrina Ferguson
On having a last chance in Region...
"This is big for me. We’ve been here for the past three years and having the opportunity to go on the road this time is exciting. I tell the girls all the time, ‘We’re on the road to Oklahoma City. That’s what we’re doing.’ We’re going to do some damage in this tournament."
On playing in College Station instead of in Gainesville again...
"We were really excited to go out of Florida, to have an opportunity to see a new place and be around a different crowd and really make a mark here."
Softball: Coaches, players meet with media prior to regional
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Jo EvansOpening statement
"We’re really excited to be hosting Regionals. We’re really impressed with the group of teams that are meeting here. It’s a great pitching Regional. It’s going to be fun to see all of the great pitching and we’re excited to play in from of all of our home fans."
On being confident or complacent at home...
"I’ve never known our team ever to be complacent at home so I don’t worry about that a bit. We get really fired up to play at home. We feed off of our fans, but we always say that it’s our job to get our fans in it and not their job to get us in it. I think our team does a really good job responding here at home and playing very relaxed. Last year we were undefeated at home and this year we’ve dropped four at home and three of those are to two of these teams in the top 16, and the other was Houston, who’s in the Tournament as well."
On hitting well...
"Our kids have worked really hard at it. As a coaching staff we sat down and said that we need to get better with our strikeouts. Last year I thought we struck out way too many times. We’ve certainly improved in that area and I think that makes a big difference. We’re a better two-strike hitters than we were last year, and the other thing is we’re a year older. You don’t see any new faces on our field starting for us, but we’re still a young team. Last year you saw a bunch of freshmen and sophomores and this year you’re seeing a lot of sophomores and juniors and a couple of seniors and I think that that experience has made a big difference as well."
On senior left fielder Natalie Villarreal...
"She’s just a great all-around player. She’s as great offensively as she is defensively. She’s just one of those quiet, silent assassin kind of players. She doesn’t say much. She just shows up and really cares. She really has great passion for the game, even though you won’t see her be real emotional. That’s not her style. She’s a steady, steady player, one of the most consistent players we have day-in and day-out. She got in a little slump during conference and we had her in the leadoff spot, which we love her at. We ended up moving her down to the eighth and she’s just caught fire down there. It’s been really nice to have that kind of punch down there in the bottom of the order. Emily Albus bumped in there at leadoff and she did such a great job that now I can’t switch it. I’ve got to stick with what’s working. Natalie is a very committed ballplayer and she wants this really bad. She wants to be in the World Series and play for a Championship. In the first at bat when we moved her into the eighth I think she hit a double. She got over to third and I said ‘Geez, if I had known that I would have put you in the eight hole a long time ago.’"
On sophomore Nicole Morgan...
"I’m excited for Nic. Last year she kind of struggled just to be a consistent. It’s a tough transition from the summer ball/high school into college ball, especially at this level. I’m excited for her work ethic this year. She’s really worked a lot harder at it and been committed and it’s fun because she’s reaping the benefits of that, so she understands that now: what I put into this, I’m going to get out of it. She’s turned into a real threat up at the plate and you can see that. Her on base percentage is crazy high. She takes a lot of walks now, too. She’s a threat to hit the ball out. Teams now fear her and it’s nice to see her transition. She would love to be behind the plate catching but she plays first for us when Mel’s out there pitching and she does a nice job for us. It’s always hard for people to understand their role and Nic’s doing a good job of understanding how she can help our ballclub."
On Bethune-Cookman...
"We had the opportunity to watch them on film in conference play. That’s all we know really, is what’s in the scouting reports we’ve been able to get from other games and then that’s the only video we’ve seen. I see them as a very aggressive, athletic, speed-type team. They’re a team that’s scary because they come in here with no fear. They’re going to be a team where people don’t expect them to win and people need to understand that Bethune-Cookman is a great program and they have been to the postseason before. This isn’t some fluke that this team came out of nowhere. We understand that and we respect that and we respect them. Their coach, Chris Cochran, was in the Big 12 for many years as an assistant coach for Iowa State and then went to Brown as a head coach and is now at Bethune-Cookman. We need to understand that we need to make sure that we stay on top of our game and take nothing for granted here."
Pitcher Mel Dumezich
On playing in her third NCAA Tournament...
"I feel that the junior class, we know what we’re out here to do. My freshman year I didn’t really have an idea about Regionals or Super Regionals or anything like that and I felt a little bit lost. But now we’re a top 8 seed. This means a lot to us to host Regionals and Supers and we’re going to go out with a bang here. We’re going to make a run for it."
On why she works well with Meagan May...
"Since my freshman year she’s been catching me a lot. She’s a great catcher and I trust her with everything. She’s one that studies the hitters and I study the hitters too. If I don’t like a pitch and I shake her off, she usually knows what I want to call."
On potentially playing Missouri in the Super Regional...
"Missouri is a big rivalry for us. I think all of our games with them were by one run so it’s going to be close."
Catcher Meagan May
On learning from ending the season at National Champion Arizona State in 2011...
"Last year really showed us that we have the fight. We have what it takes. We just have to execute when it needs to be executed. Being at home is going to take a lot off of our shoulders because we just tend to do a lot better her. We’re really excited to see how all of those dominoes falling into place are going to help us."
On potentially playing Missouri in the Super Regional...
"We love playing Missouri. It’s that atmosphere of both teams really wanting to beat the other team. Those tend to be the most fun games. I don’t know how they feel about it but I am really glad that they are going to be playing us here if they do come to Super Regionals."
Louisiana State Quotes
Head Coach Beth TorinaOpening statement
"We’re really excited to be here at Texas A&M. I’ve gotten to be here before and I know the team was here last year and they run a really quality event. We feel like we’re really prepared. We’ve had all week to get ready for these teams and we know we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re excited to be here and we feel like we’re prepared."
On struggling offensively...
"I think that it was a little bit expected. Of course as a new coaching staff we always feel like we’re going to be able to make a big difference. And I think we would have hoped to make a bigger difference with this team and this group. I don’t feel like they haven’t bought into things that we’ve asked them to do, because they truly have. I just feel like the gauntlet that we play in the SEC and facing All-Americans day-in and day-out not only affects your success offensively, but your mentality. I think it’s really tough to be confident day-in and day-out when you’re facing the absolute best in the nation every single day."
On preventing frustration...
"I think the month of March was a great month for us. We were on a pretty long win streak there – 12 games. We had a few of our kids with averages above .300 in the month of March and I really feel like it was there mentality at the time – just going out and competing and having some success. The month of April was definitely frustrating and something that we had to work through. We’ve tried a lot to stay positive about the things that we can be positive about. About people getting timely hits, about moving runners, bunting, hitting behind a runner, things that maybe don’t produce things in an average on a piece of paper but they increase our chances of scoring. That’s what we’ve talked about with LSU softball is let’s be selfless. Let’s move our runners. Let’s get people in scoring position and then see if we can make things happen at that point and just be selfless and manufacture what we can."
Junior Pitcher Rachele Fico
Opening statement
"The team’s been working really hard at practice. We’ve identified some of our problem areas and we’ve really gone to work and focused on them. So right now we just need to make sure we translate that into game play and execute in pressure situations and play Tiger softball."
On being successful in the circle without a lot of support...
"Whenever I step on the mound, I just focus on the pitch at hand. I take it one pitch, one play at a time. I know that my job is to keep my team in it as long as possible. I need to be strong and solid on the mound and give my team a chance to score runs. I know if I put forth my best performance, they’re going to come through and produce offensively for me. So I just stay focused. I have so much faith in my team. I trust in them so much and I know they’re very capable of getting the job done. I just need to do my best every time I step on the mound to keep them in it."
Texas State Quotes
Head Coach Ricci WoodardOpening statement
"We’re just excited to be here. I guess that’s the biggest thing. We feel like this is a great regional with a pretty good parody in it. So, we were excited to get on the bus and get to A&M."
On the Regional matchup...
"I keep hearing the statement that we could be in the 10th inning and no runs are scored because of the pitching. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how runs are generated tomorrow. Both sides have the pitching 1-2 duo that you could go either route and probably win a ballgame with. It’s going to be one of those deals where the team who gets a couple of runs across somehow is probably going to be the winner."
On the Texas State defense...
"Defense has played a lot of crucial roles for us this year. We’ve been able to keep a lot of base runners off of the base paths because we make a lot of routine plays. I think that’s one of the things we do well. Besides pitch, I think our second strongest point is the way we play defense."
On being in a bigger conference next season...
"We talk about how it doesn’t really matter who is in the other dugout. Whether this is going to help us along the way – you would like to think it would. Anytime you change conferences you’re changing the routine. I think that’s where we are at this weekend. We’re changing the routine up a little bit and we’ll see what happens."
Pitcher Chandler Hall
On what she knows about LSU...
"I know Brittany Mack. I’ve heard her name quite a bit and she’s from Round Rock, which is right down the road from us. I know she’s a really, really good pitcher. She mixes speeds, throws hard inside. She does a really good job. Other than that I know we played them my freshman year, and I don’t think I played that game because I was injured. It was one of our first tournaments my freshman year. Other than that, we haven’t seen them."
On her style of pitching...
"I’m mainly a drop ball pitcher. I try to keep the ball low and mix up speeds a little bit. I mostly just work the corners like any other pitcher, I guess. I try to get ahead."
Bethune-Cookman Quotes
Head Coach Chris CochranOpening statement
"We’re happy to be here. We’re excited to be here. The competition that we’re going to face over the next two days is going to be great competition. Texas A&M is annually an elite program in the country. Jo does a great job year-in and year-out and their players really buy in. I have a lot of respect for what she does and what their team does every year."
On coming back from a 6-20 start to the season...
"I don’t know that I can put my finger on one thing. I took us awhile to find our identity as a team. We lost a pitcher early in the year, early in spring practice actually so she never threw a game for us, which is the reason that [Shanel] Tolbert has thrown most of our innings. There was an adjustment period with that. And also because this was Shanel’s first year doing most of the pitching, it was a learning period, it was a growing period. The team kept working. Certainly we took our lumps early but I don’t think they stopped believing. We got over the hump. Certainly we’re a better team now than we were February 10."
On losing to Florida A&M to end the regular season before beating them to win the MEAC Tournament...
"We just didn’t play very well quite honestly. Florida A&M played really well and we didn’t play very well. There were some things that we had to get better at, which we did get better at when we played them in the MEAC Tournament. This is just kind of the start of a new season here, essentially. The MEAC Tournament now is in the past, the regular season is in the past, so this is where Regionals start."
On playing A&M at home...
"This can be a very difficult environment to play in. There are going to be a lot of people here. There are going to be a lot of Aggie supporters here and so we should enjoy it. This is Sabrina’s last year. I have talked to them a little bit about the crowd. We have to stay focused on what we do and focus on us."
On having a team who has experienced the postseason...
"Each year has been different and I think each year with your team is different. I thought our first year, three years ago when we played in Regionals, I thought we played really well. We lost to Florida, I think 6-0, and we lost to FIU, 2-1 in extra innings or something like that. Last year it took so much out of us, I think, to win the conference tournament that year because we had a losers bracket and we had a lot of rain delays, so the tournament ended up going four days. We didn’t have much left when we got to
Regionals. A lot of that was my fault because I didn’t do a good job of getting us ready to play. Probably the competition there had a lot to do with that as well. I have tried to learn from that. Hopefully our team has learned from that a little bit as well. Hopefully we’ll have a better mindset here this year."
On playing in NCAAs again...
"We’re certainly glad to be here. My thing now is that I would like us to win a game and go from there. Just being here, I don’t think you can be satisfied with that. We’ll see. We know that it’s going to have to take our best effort and we’re going to have to play really well."
Catcher/Utility Sabrina Ferguson
On having a last chance in Region...
"This is big for me. We’ve been here for the past three years and having the opportunity to go on the road this time is exciting. I tell the girls all the time, ‘We’re on the road to Oklahoma City. That’s what we’re doing.’ We’re going to do some damage in this tournament."
On playing in College Station instead of in Gainesville again...
"We were really excited to go out of Florida, to have an opportunity to see a new place and be around a different crowd and really make a mark here."
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