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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 1, 2019Montana FoutsBailey HemphillPatrick MurphyOklahoma City, Oklahomaa Alabama-2, Arizona-0 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alabama. Bailey, teams that have scored first in the College World Series are now 10-0. You are 42-0 when leading after six innings. Other than the obvious, anything significant, a momentum thing, for scoring first? BAILEY HEMPHILL: I think any time you score first, you set the tone of the game. When we came out and scored before them, the momentum was our way. We kind of just kept it the whole game, didn't really give it back to them. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Talk about what it means for Alabama to get to the final four. MONTANA FOUTS: I think especially after the other day, each game we're fighting to put on the jersey another time. Means a lot to us. BAILEY HEMPHILL: Same as Montana. Before every game Aly says, Let's fight to put it on one more day. We just got to keep going one game at a time. Q. What does it mean to be in the final four after feeling a little bit of that disrespect coming in at number eight? BAILEY HEMPHILL: I think the whole season everyone has kind of doubted us a little bit. Kind of have a chip on our shoulder, the whole season, especially the post-season when we're eight again. Just keep proving people wrong. We're having fun with it, rolling with it. MONTANA FOUTS: Same thing Bailey said. I think every game we go out there and we have fun. I don't know if you saw our dugout during the game. I think we have fun every game, that's what it's about. Q. Rematch with Oklahoma. What do you need to see different? BAILEY HEMPHILL: I think we just need to swing at strikes. I think we swung at a lot of pitcher's pitches last game, got ourselves out. Attacking the strike zone, keep playing how we've been playing, good defense, offense, pitching. MONTANA FOUTS: Just taking it one game at a time. I think today our hitters were starting to see it a little bit better. I think it's going to carry into tomorrow. Q. After the 15 runs in the first game, were you tired? Better pitching? BAILEY HEMPHILL: I wouldn't say it was better pitching because Florida had great pitchers. Props to Arizona. Their pitching staff is really good. Like I said, we swung at a little bit of pitcher's pitches this game. Got ourselves out. We were able to score, too, keep the lead. Q. Bailey, talk about the catch. BAILEY HEMPHILL: I don't know why, I had a gut feeling she was going to hit it in the 3-4 hole. I kind of cheated a little bit that way. It was placed right. I was able to catch it. Q. Your reaction to that play, you were pretty fired up. What was going through your mind? MONTANA FOUTS: Obviously she made a great play. That was a line drive. I trust Bailey over there. That was a great play. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Y'all beat Arizona in the regular season, Minnesota twice in the regular season, Florida in Gainesville. What does it say to beat three out of the eight World Series teams and be number eight? PATRICK MURPHY: I don't understand the number eight. I hope to get a real good answer about why. It just didn't make sense to us, with all our wins, winning the top-ranked league RPI-wise by four games, lead from start to finish, beat Arizona at Arizona, beat Minnesota twice, swept LSU away, swept Florida away, swept Georgia, swept Missouri. That's the SEC. That was the number one RPI league. We have four sweeps in the league, which is unheard of. That third game is a dogfight because nobody wants to get swept. We swept four SEC foes. I don't think we got credit for that either. But this is just icing on the cake. This is frosting. I'm really glad everybody got to see what a good team we have. My lineup was sophomore, junior, sophomore, junior, freshman. The pitcher is a freshman. We're going to be good for a long time. Q. What did you see from the team in the game tiredness-wise? PATRICK MURPHY: We went back to the hotel, got a meal. I think we left in the top of the third to come back over here. Did a really quick stretch, warmup. Didn't hit. Just threw before the game. Literally it was, Let's play. I think everybody just had adrenaline from the first game. Montana, that's one of the best games she's pitched all year. To hold them to I think it was three hits, I think she had nine strike-outs. Murderer's row is Harper, Martinez and DeJah. She struck them out in order three in a row the first time she saw them. That's just a really good hitting team. For her to do that, she was really throwing the ball well tonight. Q. Talk about how clutch Bailey has been. PATRICK MURPHY: KB, I think she took a walk before that to get her up. When I do this, that means pass the baton down. Especially with two outs, KB knows who is behind her now. Get her up and see if our best hitter can get the job done. She did. I told Holly during the game, I said, She has been money all year. Now I think it's 84 RBIs. She just keeps swinging a hot bat. She's one of the most simple hitters we've had. She doesn't do a lot of movement. Just no stride. She's just strong and she swings at good pitches. Q. What are your initial thoughts on a rematch with Oklahoma? PATRICK MURPHY: I think it's going to be fun. Like they said, when we had 16 of the 19, they'd never played here. That's a lot the first time out, playing the No. 1 team basically in their home facility. That was a big, big task. I think a lot of people were nervous. I think the first game today helped us a lot. Obviously it carried over. We're just hoping to play really, really well, and allow the seniors to keep wearing the jersey. Q. You brought up KB, the walk. Talk about what that catch in the seventh meant for you. PATRICK MURPHY: That was huge, too. If she doesn't catch it or if it goes out, who knows what happens. They have all the momentum. They're excited. The next kid got the hit, I think. Big catch up against the fence. Between her and Bailey's play, I think those were two of the biggest defensive ones for us. Q. Why do you think your team is so successful in these types of situations? PATRICK MURPHY: I think it starts with Montana where she's fearless. She's a freshman, but you would never know it. She won the 16 and under PGF. They were 10-1 on the week. They had lost early, but they just fought through the loser's bracket. Going 10-1 in that tournament, which is the top summer ball tournament in the country, I think it was her junior year. Right then and there we were, This kid is beating all the really good summer ball teams. She's from a small town in Kentucky. That's the beauty of this. When you look through both lineups, a kid from a small town in northeast Kentucky is an absolute stud on the field. They're are good kids anywhere. You just got to find them. She's very resilient. She's never nervous. Just a really gritty kid. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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