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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESMay 31, 2014Lonni AlamedaBriana HamiltonLacey WaldropOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA Baylor: 7 THE MODERATOR: With us from Florida State is Head Coach Lonni Alameda, Lacey Waldrop and Briana Hamilton. We will begin with a statement from Coach Alameda. COACH ALAMEDA: What an outstanding venture for our program. Hats off to Baylor, they came back‑‑ we all came with our backs against the wall and they got some timely hitting, took some advantage of some things, but we rallied up the troops and talked about a game plan. It was important for us to come out and fight for each pitch and this senior class has been outstanding in guiding us to be relentless in the pursuit of being here. We have enjoyed this, we have enjoyed the support, our alumni are so proud of us, our support staff, our administration, this is awesome and everything we're learning right now as a program is going to get us back here. I couldn't be more proud of the two people to my right and the whole team and the fighting effort we had today. Q. Coach, were you surprised at all to see Heather out there pitching instead of Whit? COACH ALAMEDA: Yeah, for sure, but, again, like I was talking to Holly about it. It makes sense. I think Heather Stearns has a little bit of go‑go juice in her arm and Whitney was a little tired facing UF, so that's the strategic plan. We knew she would up/down she was throwing pretty hard for a couple innings there. We were just trying to foul stuff off to be able to get some pitches, and by the middle of the game we had chances. We had runners on and we had chances and we had the hitters at the plate that we wanted there. That's this time of year, it's me versus you and to bring Whitney in to close out a couple of innings, you know, they got two games today too. So a little bit of surprise but understandable. Q. Coach and Briana, a lot of people look and see 7‑2 and I see 8 left on base. How frustrating is it to get in position and not be able to capitalize better? COACH ALAMEDA: I think you have to throw frustration out the door right now, you're at the World Series, and it's all about one pitch and I think they made some good plays. Courtney's ball was down the line, a little left, a little right you know that's a different ballgame. We made some great defensive plays so you can't let frustration leak in, you've got to battle ask keep going and anything can happen mentality and I know that Bri was talking that in the dugout the whole entire time and you've got to have that short‑term mentality and get after your opportunities. BRIANA HAMILTON: Same thing. It's an opportunity for our program. We haven't been here in 10 years and for us to take it in was mind‑blowing for me as a senior. This is where I wanted to be, this is where I wanted to end my career. I wanted to be in that situation. I wanted to be that kid whether I'm going to strike out or whether I'm going to get a hit. I remember sitting at home in my bed and I'm like, this is it, it's a 3‑2 count. Is she going to strikeout, is she going to hit a grand slam. I always dreamed of being that kid and today my dreams came true. Q. I know it just ended but these six seniors what did they mean for this season and the incredible run that you guys had? COACH ALAMEDA: Yeah, we were talking about that in the golf cart. We have tears in our eyes here. A lot of heart. We go back a long time. We grew up as a family together. I'm going to get teary‑eyed. BRIANA HAMILTON: A lot of up's and downs, but Coach Alameda has definitely made me and the team grow up. We've turned from young ladies into women. I used to take her for granted all the time, take her decisions for granted and why is she doing this and doing that and you don't understand it until you get old enough to understand it. She is just‑‑ on and off the field she is probably one of the best coaches I have had in my entire life. COACH ALAMEDA: Thank you. Q. Bri, on top of that what has this program meant to you? Five years you've been here and you ended up at the college World Series, what does it mean to you? BRIANA HAMILTON: Each year we've gotten better and better and we've been the come‑back kids. We're from the ACC and that never happens! I think we have opened up the door for at lot of things to happen and Lacey and Jessica Burroughs are going to come back and be a one‑two punch, and this is a stepping stone and next year we're going to be here and we're going to compete here. Q. Lacey, last year after Texas you guys had one goal and you got here. Do you expect the same coming into next year? LACEY WALDROP: Absolutely when you leave something like this and you have your last game and you see your seniors play their last game, you something to fight for. They worked very hard to get us to this point and next year we're going to work even harder to have our goal of winning it all, instead of just getting here. We're going to get here and compete and we're going to show that their hard work paid off to get the team to the next step. Q. After you hit that ball to put you guys were within 3, what was the dugout like then? Did you guys start to feel like maybe we can do this? COACH ALAMEDA: For sure and I think it was the whole game, though, it started getting off the bus today. Our fight mentality was going to be each pitch, each pitch, and obviously Heather Stearns was coming in with a fresh arm and throwing a lot of pitches and we had to make adjustments, but we knew when we got to the second round we would make adjustments and do some things and it gave us a lot of momentum going into it and Jessica Burroughs hasn't gotten many opportunities this year to be in those tight situations and she is grown up so much, she's an outstanding kid. So if she misses one spot, you would think it would put you back into, "oh no" mode, but it didn't. They kept fighting and there we were again a chance to do something. Again that goes back to the character of the program and things that are younger kids are learning and when our juniors now seniors come back they have that under their belt. THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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