|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 1, 2019Kelly BarnhillAmanda LorenzTim WaltonOklahoma City, Oklahoma Alabama-15, Florida-3 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the Florida Gators. Would you please, Kelly, tell me about Amanda, what she's meant to this program, your relationship, how it's grown. Amanda, could you also talk about what Kelly has meant to the program. KELLY BARNHILL: Amanda has made an impact on this program since day one. She loves softball so much. But what she loves more is her teammates. These last four years, getting to know Amanda, it's been interesting. We've learned a lot about each other. I think this year is the best relationship we have, especially having her there on the infield. She knows where I was at head-wise. She would come over and be, I'll take a breath with you right now. She's just one of the catalysts behind this team. We don't do a lot of things we do without Amanda Lorenz. It's going to be very, very sad not playing with her anymore. Going to be even worse when I have to pitch against her. AMANDA LORENZ: Kelly has been amazing since the day she stepped on campus. I think she's always had a really high standard for herself, the people around her. I think we're a lot different, so we've both grown so much since stepping on campus. Our relationship has grown so much. I'm thankful to have been able to witness a lot of the amazing things that Kelly has done throughout her career. I'm proud to be her teammate. I'm proud of the relationship that we have now because we're two totally different people. We've really grown to know each other, know how to talk to one another, know how to get the best out of one another. I'm really thankful for her time here. I love the fact that she's a perfectionist just like me. We feed off of that, off of one another. That's why I chose Florida, to have teammates like Kelly Barnhill who push me every day to get better. I'm thankful, proud of her. Yeah, it's going to be weird not playing with her anymore, for sure. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Kelly, tough first inning. Talk about what happened. KELLY BARNHILL: Well, just didn't come out having my best stuff today. Looked pretty good in bullpen but got out there in the game and Alabama was on it. They took some good swings. I didn't make my best pitches. Q. After the first inning, when you got to go out and throw the last pitch, did you know it was going to happen? KELLY BARNHILL: Yeah, coach came up to me and he asked what I kind of wanted to do. Just kind of a moment to honor what I've done at Florida wearing the orange and blue. He told me that I'd throw one pitch, he'd take me out. It was a really special moment just being able to go out there again, have one more pitch with my teammates by my back. The crowd was absolutely amazing. But, yeah, it was just a really special moment for me. I love all of my teammates. They've supported me and they've been there for me, so yeah. AMANDA LORENZ: It was awesome. I was really trying not to get emotional until the last out was made. When I saw coach came out there, give her a hug, I was crying in left field. That's not fun. I'm in the middle of a softball game, I don't want to be crying, but I was crying. It was just really special, to hear all the fans cheering for her, honoring her, just having one more smile and happy memory as she's leaving the field. That is just so special. I'm glad she had that moment. She'll remember that for the rest of her life. Really special. Q. Is there a way you can put into words what your experience at Florida has meant. AMANDA LORENZ: Being a Gator was the best thing to ever happen to me. Getting the opportunity by Coach Walton, I'm just so thankful to have played for him, to have learned under him. I've grown so much as a softball player, but most importantly I've grown so much as a person. I know I'm definitely not the same person as when I first stepped on campus. I'm just most thankful for that and my teammates. It was by far the best four years of my life. I have not regretted it one time. I committed my freshman year of high school, I never looked back. I didn't know it was possible to love orange and blue this much, this university, these people, my teammates. Just means the world to me. Everyone has become my family. Gainesville is home. I wouldn't have grown as much if I chose any other school. I'm just so thankful to be here. The only thing I'm sad about is the fact I didn't help give Florida another national championship. I came here thinking that was it. But the lessons I've learned here are immeasurable. I'm incredibly thankful to have had the honor of wearing orange and blue and representing Gator Nation and playing for Coach Walton because I believe he's the best coach in the country. KELLY BARNHILL: Being a Florida Gator has meant the absolute world to me. Unlike Amanda, I waited until my senior year of high school to commit. I'm so thankful for Coach Walton, for being so persistent, not ever giving up on me, being patient until this was the place I wanted to be. Part of that reason was because of him and the culture that he created here. I've just grown so much in the last four years as a softball player and off the field. I can't imagine doing this anywhere else. It's a little heartbreaking we didn't win a national championship, but the experiences, teammates, friends and family we created will always have a place in my heart. It will be something I never forget. Q. Kelly, will you not be defined by what happened today, but in your mind what do you think you've learned the most about yourself during these four years? KELLY BARNHILL: I think one of the things I learned about myself is I've learned that you just need to tune out outside expectations and other people's opinions because at the end of the day it doesn't matter. All that matters is being true to who you are. Those other people, it doesn't matter what they think. It doesn't matter what expectations they have for you. They expect you to pitch a no-hitter every single time, five for five. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're true to yourself and you love who you are. Q. Kelly, I heard a story from your parents about Abby and Canada. What does that mean to you to grow the brand and reach young fans globally? KELLY BARNHILL: Abby is such a sweet little girl. Her dad I think messaged me on Facebook the first time. Oh, we're coming to a game. Supposed to be like a Central Florida game. The game was sold out. Couldn't come in. They ended up trying to go to an Alabama game. It was sold out. Then they kept on trying. They came down from Canada. They finally made it to an FSU game. I met her. She was the cutest little thing in the world. She's just so determined, so driven. It's just so amazing to see little girls like that who are going to be in our position one day. She had come down again this year to watch us play. She was out in the parking lot after the game throwing pitches to her dad. Can you look at this? They're the future. It's just so amazing to see these great little athletes. Some of them are better than I was at that age. I think whatever I can do, or Amanda can do or anyone to help encourage them, it's a pleasure and an honor, so... THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. You are excused. Questions for Coach Walton. Q. When did you start thinking you were going to run her back out there again? TIM WALTON: I think the big key there was once the game got a little bit more out of hand, Elizabeth came in and did a pretty good job all the way through the lineup one time. The second time through the lineup, she wasn't as effective. Once I think we got to 10, maybe 8, I don't remember the exact score, that was something that kind of came through my mind. I can't let Kelly Barnhill walk off the field that way. I talked to both Aric and Mike. I said, ‘What is the best way to send her off, the right thing to do here?’ When she looked at me, she gave me a weird look and said, ‘I'm going to cry again if you put me out there.’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I think it's worth it. We owe that to you. Have to send you out a little better than the first inning.’ Q. Is it tough to see it end this way for her? TIM WALTON: Yeah, I mean, I think when you look at it that way, it's tough to have the score be as lopsided as it was. Obviously, I looked up at the scoreboard at one point in time, we may have had about the same amount of hits, they had six or eight more runs than we did. Yeah, it's unfortunate I guess more than anything. But you can't do anything about the way the score was. Alabama did a really good job. Sometimes it looks like that four times in a season. She wasn't nearly as good as she was on Thursday, and not nearly as good as she was against them in College Station. I'm not going to look at it that way. I'm going to remember the standing ovation from everybody in the stadium, including the Alabama faithful. They were very respectful, very polite in that moment to recognize the last pitch one of the greatest has thrown. Q. Offense took a while to get going. What were Alabama pitchers doing to keep you off track? TIM WALTON: I don't even remember. Q. Did this team max out? TIM WALTON: Yeah, we overachieved. There's no question. Q. Any season that ends here is a successful season, you've said. TIM WALTON: The same thing people say; this is one of the best coaching jobs I've done in my tenure. I look at it two ways, goes both directions. I recruited the athletes, coached the athletes, created the expectations. Ultimately, we weren't able to deliver on quite a few of those things. I think it goes back to the training, back to what we've done to get to this point in a program. But, again, you go back to a lot of things that we have to continue to do a little bit better. We will. Already made the list. One of the things, I'm going to credit our athletes. As I sit here, we got better, where I say we overachieved, there was a point in time in the season where we were a regional team that could get bounced in the first round. The players kept getting better and better, more confident. Our post-season batting average was a lot higher than our regular season. A lot of things that were really cool to see. Just the overall maturity of our young women as they grew and got a little bit better. Yeah, we got a long way to go futuristically with our program, to continue the trend, the expectations, to continue to build on what we've already built. Again, I'm prouder than anything because I think our players really did a good job. As soon as finals were over, graduation was over, I saw a different competitive team. We got a lot more confident and the swings got a lot better in-game. Q. Locker rooms get emotional. How emotional are you? TIM WALTON: I mean, I don't know. Those two are special. I think the one thing that I was really hoping for was Amanda to get on base that last one so I could send her out the same way we were able to send Kelly out. Even in my first year we had a really good player in Kristen Butler, SEC Player of the Year. We were able to send her off our field with a standing ovation on Senior Day. I've been one to pay attention to recognizing great accomplishments for my team and other programs. Kelly and Amanda are two of the best ever to put the uniform on in any uniform color. The only thing that will be defined tomorrow is neither one of them won a national championship, but yet they still won three SEC Championships, three College World Series appearances, one national championship finals and two tournament championships, seven All-Americans between the two of them. Amanda is only the second player to be a four-time All-American. The list goes on and on and on and on. What it doesn't say is just how good they are as people. That's the one thing. You can sit there and blast somebody for whatever you want them to blast them on social media about this, that and the other. You have two really, really good human beings that are on the other side of that Twitter handle and Instagram account that are really good, and they're good for the game. They'd do anything for anybody no matter what color uniform you wear. That's probably the most emotional part for me, that I'm fortunate to get to know those athletes. I've known Kelly for over eight years, Amanda for over eight years. That's the part that is sad. I won't get the chance to coach them up again. They'll be around. I'm looking forward to Amanda being with us next year working on her master’s degree. Kelly will have a chance to play professionally wherever she wants to play. We'll get a chance to train her a little bit more. That's the part that's the most emotional part, that feeling of I don't have a chance to be with them again and coach them up. Q. What is it about Kelly that fostered respect from an SEC rival? TIM WALTON: I think that's the one thing about the SEC that probably doesn't get enough attention. Even though the fans, they're all about their team, they still recognize greatness. There's a lot of respect. It's not about Patrick Murphy or Tim Walton, whoever the coaches are going to be after us. It's about the players. The players go out and play their hearts out for their school, for the conference, for a lot of people. I think that's the part. Again, the list goes on and on of great pitchers that Alabama has had, that Florida has had, the great hitters. Florida fans would do the same thing, when you recognize somebody, whether they're hard to beat, just really, really good for the sport, I think you just recognize greatness and you have to tip your cap to them. I tip my cap to Alabama for being a really good team this year, but also for the level of respect that they showed another great player on the other side of the field. I thought that was really, really the definition, probably the definition of sport that doesn't get recognized very often. That was really cool. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|