University of Massachusets Athletics
Long Island University Press Conference Quotes
May 17, 2007 | Softball
May 17, 2007
Opening Statement from Head Coach Roy Kortmann
Obviously my goal and the team's is to make it to the tournament and we're all excited to be here. We're looking forward to the challenge. We've had a pretty good year, we're a bunch of young kids with a very young team, which is very exciting. I think this weekend is going to be a great challenge for us and we're looking forward to it.
On playing against UMass in the fall
Jenny Giles:
My opinion is that it's two different teams because I see the way that our team has grown over the year. It makes it a little bit harder to compare our team to their team. If our team threw that much, I'm sure another team did.
Randi Gillespie:
I agree, I think we are two totally different teams. I feel like they fight about where there pitching is but I think we're both two different teams and we'll see in competition between us both.
Randi on preparing for UMass (scouting)
We saw a game. I only saw "at bat", but I got a good idea of what she threw me-down and out. So I have a good idea about what she's going to throw at me.
Randi on what she looks for in a pitch
Coach: Randi hits everything. Randi doesn't look for anything. If she's sitting at the plate she's swinging at it.
Randi:
I just focus on going up the middle with every pitch that gets pitched to me. I'm not really looking for a certain pitch or a certain method.
Coach on his inexperience (in the NCAA's) and areas of improvement for LIU
Probably everywhere. Colgate had a very nice win over Lehigh. UMass and Oklahoma are the two teams they talk about in this region. They're performed well for a long period of time not just this year. So they're very well established. I think when you play at this level of regional ball, you have to play defense. A lot of games are won on balls that roll four feet or balls that go just over somebody's head on a blooper when someone made an error. You gotta play defense, try to control the game a bit on the offensive end.
How much does the schedule early on help you?
We're going to find out, but one of the things its supposed to accomplish is get us ready for the rest of the year. Over the last four or five years we've played a very difficult schedule, our kids are ready for that level (of competition) and we perform well at that level. We look forward to getting back to it.