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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 1, 2014Briana LittleKatie MedinaHannah RogersTaylor SchwarzStephanie TofftTim WaltonOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA Florida: 6 THE MODERATOR: Like to welcome you to day 4 of the Women's College World Series. Joined by Florida, Head Coach Tim Walton, Stephanie Tofft, Briana Little, Taylor Schwarz, Katie Medina, Hannah Rogers. We will start with comments from Coach Walton. COACH WALTON: First of all congratulate Baylor on a tremendous season, going through the regional and going through Athens to get here obviously says a lot about their program. Their club and Whitney Canion, what an ambassador to college softball. Just what she's been able to go through how she represents her university and all student athletes across the country. I think she's a first‑class individual. You know, proud of the way she represents Baylor and I got to give my kids credit, I thought they came out on a mission today, really played well on defense, I thought that set the tone for us, made some nice plays. Hannah pitched a wonderful game and had a wonderful regular part of the World Series I guess. The pool play part, now we begin the championship but Hannah is throwing the ball well, defensively great and got some clutch hits, Steph breaking that game open with the first RBI, Taylor Schwarz, two out hit. Just a lot of two out nice hits and RBIs and Aubree was in the back, great squeeze bunt to give us that cushion. Little things win games here in the College World Series and just proud of our kids for believing in us and believing themselves and in their abilities and be not trying to do too much. Here we are getting an opportunity to play for a National Championship. Q. Tim, I guess a lot of people would have thought after the first time you played them and after what they went through yesterday they would expect this to be easy and that was not the case. What did you expect out of Baylor? COACH WALTON: I can tell you that being on the other side of that coin, winning an emotional game in the fashion that they did, I know how draining it can be, and Whitney only threw a couple of innings yesterday, she was sharper today, there was no question, in the first inning. You could tell her velocity might have been up a little bit. Her spin was tighter, she did a lot better job locating early and I think she set the tone. Q. Stephanie and Tim, with Lauren Haeger. She is 1 for 10 in the series, and she was struggling. How important was it for you to make something happen in that four hole? STEPHANIE TOFFT: I think Lauren is still doing her thing, working. She is still having good at‑bats. She's still fighting up there. I'm trying to help out the team and hit when I can and trying to help out as much as I can. Q. Just before the start of the 7th, you and the umpire and the chairman of the NCAA Rules Committee were having a huddle. I would be interested to know what you were talking about. COACH WALTON: I don't know what you're talking about. I was talking to the umpire about a substitute but I didn't see the chairman of anything out there. I'm actually really confused. Q. Okay. COACH WALTON: Sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. Q. Tim, can you talk a little about the mix of small ball, that you've added and getting the bigger hits and also about Hannah shutting the door after having the only trouble spot she's had? I think she retired the last 7 in order. And Hannah for you too on that. COACH WALTON: I think obviously it was important the way she was throwing the ball great. We had a couple nice hits. They did a good job going with pitches, they didn't kick the ball around, they had nice hustle plays on their part. I think the small ball mentality is probably getting a little bit overblown, in that the game is about getting singles and doing little things and it's not just about hitting home runs and I think that's the identity that I tried to instill in our team last year, actually the year before that, because we have come here so many times and we don't hit the long ball and we don't win the games. We strikeout double digit strikeouts and we can't manufacture runs, so I think having that in our back pocket when we need it is vital, very important. At the end of the day you still have to have the right personnel in the right spots to execute some things and I think that was huge. HANNAH ROGERS: Just to continue to do everything and not over think things and use my defense like I have all season and they've been doing a great job here and all year and continue to use them. Q. Taylor after those back‑to‑back hit‑by‑pitch, what were you looking for? TAYLOR SCHWARZ: Honestly I was looking for my batting glove on deck. So when I got in the batter's box I was thinking honestly, get my pitch and she threw a pitch right there and I jumped on it. Q. Coach Walton, could you talk about the possibility of playing Alabama and also playing Oregon in the championship series. COACH WALTON: I can't speculate as to who is going to win the ball game, so the key for us is to be able to enjoy this moment and whenever our opponent is determined we will get focused on that. You know, like yesterday, Kentucky is up and you don't know who you're going to play and you spend too much time on one team and then you gotta turn around and spend more time. So we're not going to worry about who we're going to play until tonight when we get together and figure out who we're going to play first. Q. The way the 2012 season ended and the frustration of that, what has this sophomore class meant to you as well as in terms of recharging and rebooting? COACH WALTON: You know, I think it's not only the sophomore class but the freshman class and the senior class. I think all the classes, but last year's club definitely had to come in and earn their stripes a little bit different than we'd done in the past. They will all tell you about going through the whole fall or most of the fall without their Gator heads on their tee shirts and things like that. I have a lot of respect for our players and I think they've all bought in and they understand the workman‑like program we're going to run. We expect perfection in all areas. We expect them to be, you know good, and good people and learn how to turn the competitive juices off once the game it over. Learn how to be friendly to your teammates, be good friends to your teammates and to your opponents. And I think that's the part of the equation that I'm most proud about is that we can go out there and compete and compete in the right way. Once the game is over I feel confident that our players are doing things that we expect them to do just like their parents expect them to do. Q. Stephanie, Coach Walton mentioned your team defense. Is that a strength that you guys have had all year? Also can you talk about the one where I think you went horizontal to snag a ball? Do you have time to think on something like that? STEPHANIE TOFFT: Not really. It's kind of a reaction thing. We practice really hard every day, all of our defense works really hard. I think our defense is a big part of why we win. I mean, everybody makes errors so it's not always perfect, obviously, but I mean, Coach puts a lot of time in with us on defense and everybody, I think is just really great. Q. Follow up on that, Katie did you expect to be perfect? KATIE MEDINA: It's an expectation that I hold for myself. I strive to be perfect on the field for Hannah, Lauren, Delanie, whoever is pitching and I think I can I speak for all of us when I say we try to make every play we can. Q. Stephanie and Briana, both of you got hilt. That seems to be a we for you guys, I think as team you've been hit by 70‑something pitches all year. Can you talk about crowding the plate and how that works in y'all's favor? STEPHANIE TOFFT: I was just looking for my pitch. I'm not looking to get hit, but if it's thrown at me I'm going to take it, I'm not going to try to jump out of the way. I think that those for all of us. If we're in a position where you get hit and can square around, I'm not going to jump out of the way. BRIANA LITTLE: I would agree. I think the key is to get on base and put pressure on the defense. You take whatever you can get. Q. Taylor, you came up with the bases load and got the 3‑run double. Coach is talking about doing the little things and that execution comes with runners on base, but it's a huge thing, 3 runs. So take us through your mentality. I know you were looking for your gloves, but how important is it? That's the epitome of execution there. TAYLOR SCHWARZ: I had been struggling at the plate a little bit since we got here, but yesterday we had the day off, and the Coach Walton took the time to work with me on my swing, so today I was trying to relax. She is a great pitcher. She made some good pitches on me, and I got up there and I didn't think about bases loaded. I didn't want to get it in my head at all, I was just like, if she's going to throw it right there, I'm going to swing at it. She just happened to throw me an outside pitch, and I just stayed on it. So ‑‑ but you have to attribute that to the really great three at‑bats before me and that really got me ready for my at‑bat, to be honest. Q. Stephanie, when Florida played for the title in 2011, where were you and were you watching? STEPHANIE TOFFT: 2011, let's see, I think I was sitting at home on the couch, watching the World Series, because my season was already over as a freshman. That's where I was, at home. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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