University of Massachusets Athletics
NCAA Amherst Softball Regional Holds Press Conference
May 15, 2008 | Softball
May 15, 2008
Interview with UMass Pitcher Brandice Balschmiter 
| Interview with UMass Coach Elaine Sortino
No. 1 Stanford Conference
Head Coach John Rittman opening statement:
"First of all, we're very excited to be here. UMass, the program that's hosting, has a lot of tradition and excellence in their program along with Princeton and Lehigh. So we're looking forward to a very competitive regional tournament. We know that in post season you have to bring you're A-game and we're looking forward to competing this weekend. We're really happy to be here, excited to play, and looking forward to making a run in the post season."
Coach Rittman on having a team-high on base percentage:
"I think offensively, we take a very aggressive approach. This year we've had a lot of base on balls for our team so I think that has definitely helped our on base percentage. I think one of the keys for us in not necessarily getting runners on base, but scoring runners. We've got to be able to hit with runners in scoring position and get those kinds of hits. That's one of the things we've really worked on doing, especially in the second half of the season. In comparing this team from years in the past, there's certainly something's that this team does differently. We like our offense and like our ability to score runs."
Coach Rittman on the differences from this years team to previous years:
"I think really the mindset. Our team has really taken a positive approach to the season, especially offensively. When you play in the Pac-10 Conference and you're facing All-American pitchers every weekend, it can be a little bit challenging if you start to slide or get into a little bit of a slump. I think that this team has done a great job rebounding and continuing to work hard and not letting their failures get to them. I think that's been a huge part of our success this year."
Coach Rittman on scouting Lehigh:
"We've obviously looked at some stats and looked at the teams they've played and done a few scouting reports out there. Lehigh is a very capable team. We know a couple of years ago in Regionals, that they had a big upset over Texas A&M. We really pride ourselves in taking each opponent seriously and making sure we're prepared for everyone we play. We know Lehigh has a lot of rich tradition in their program. They have a couple of kids from Southern California that we've seen in the recruiting process. We know that they are a capable team and we're going to be prepared for them. One of the things that we stress with our team is making sure that we worry about ourselves and getting ourselves ready to play the game. We're definitely looking forward to playing Lehigh."
Michelle Smith on the strengths of the team:
"We have a great mix of experience and youth with five seniors who have been through this process. We also have five excited freshman who are willing to do what it takes, plus our junior and sophomore class have been through this before and are playing for us well. We have great team chemistry. We get along on the field and off the field really well. As long as we continue to play the game that we've been playing up until now, I think we have a great shot at making a run for the National Championship."
Rosey Neill on working with pitcher Missy Penna:
"We were definitely on the same page by the end of last season, but experience is an awesome teacher. The more you can for someone, the better you know them and the more likely you are to know where that ball is going out of her hand. The more you can catch for a kid, the better off you're going to be at really helping her out by catching her pitching, catching her bullpen. The best way to learn a kid is to catch for a kid."
Rosey Neill on comparing Missy Penna to last season:
"She's definitely a lot more mechanically sound this year. We worked a lot in the fall on some mechanical things that just really make her a lot more consistent from pitch to pitch and from game to game. She's a lot more consistent this year than she was last year. I think overall, her level of focus has improved, not that she was in any way unfocused last year, but we have just reached a whole new level this year. She sees where we can go and she's excited, motivated and very focused on winning the game. She's just such an optimist that we could be down ten runs in the seventh inning and she's saying, "Come on guys, we're going to win, we're going to win." That's just how she plays."
Michelle Smith on previous Tournament experience:
"We've been through a lot of different things. My freshman year, we went straight through our Regional. We won the Regional Championship and went to the Super Regionals and didn't have as much success. Sophomore year and junior year we lost early in the Regional and had to come back and fight our way. Our senior class has been through different experiences so hopefully we will be able to help the underclassmen deal with whatever situation we're in."
Alissa Haber on having four of her six homeruns come from the leadoff spot:
"I'm not looking for power the first time up. As the lead the lead off hitter, I'm always trying to get on base so the 3-4-5 hitters can get try to get me in. I attribute a couple of those homeruns to pure luck. I'm pretty sure I had two strikes on me every time I hit a homerun so I was just swinging at anything close. I happened to get a good piece of the ball, but I didn't really feel like it's a bad thing to hit a homerun to lead off the game. It definitely gets us going and gets the offense charged. I definitely look more towards my 3-4-5 batters to hit me in and they're all very capable. They've hit me in more times than I've hit homeruns."
Coach Rittman on traveling out to Amherst, Mass.:
"We try to go east coast every other year in our scheduling. Last year we went to Florida International and played a tournament there. These kids are used to traveling. I think it takes more of a toll on us older folk in the travel party than it does the younger players. They're pretty adapt and they adjust pretty quickly to the environment. This is a great opportunity to see a different part of the country and to play teams that we typically don't get to play. The travel was great yesterday, fly from San Francisco to Chicago, Chicago to Hartford, and then bus down. There will be a little adjustment period with the time schedule, but we're looking forward to it. It is what it is and were just excited that we're able to be here and play this weekend."
Coach Rittman on the seeding in the Tournament:
"I think the post-season is so tricky. There are so many good teams. The parity in college softball is outstanding right now. We really stress the importance of preparing our team to know that they're going to have to beat good teams to get to where they want to be. When you look at the NCAA committee and the job that they have to do to try to match and put teams together in Regionals, it's a very daunting task. For us, we don't look at it, we don't make excuses. We look at everything pretty optimistically and we're excited to be here. The NCAA has a tough job in placing the teams. The parity in softball is there. You're going to have to beat quality opponents, you're going to have to win on the road, and all the things that are going to making a National Championship run. You're going to have to do them so you might as well get used to it and not make excuses and not look at the negative sides of things. So that's what we're doing. We know we have to beat good teams and it starts right here in the UMass Regional."
Coach Rittman on Lehigh having previously beat Texas A&M twice in the Regionals:
"Our team is very aware of Lehigh's success. We're very aware of Princeton and UMass. WE know all of the teams in this Regional and all the teams in post-season are all very capable teams. You can not overlook any opponent. You literally have to take post season one pitch at a time. If you start looking ahead, that's where you're going to get hit. I think our players and the leadership that we have in our program, they understand that. WE have enough post-season experience to know that you have to bring you're A-game everyday to make it to the next level."
No. 2 Massachusetts Press Conference
UMass Head Coach Elaine Sortino
On Princeton
"They have some really good hitters and some good speed at the top of the order. They have a pitcher who is going to move the ball around a lot on us so we have to be very disciplined at the plate to handle what she gives us."
On how the Arizona and UCLA games helped prepare the team for the post-season
"I think those games were great games for us. We've had many like that going back to our first trip, and I think if you can't take heat, you've got to get out of the kitchen and our kids handled it really well. The good news for UMass was that different people responded in different and better ways so it wasn't just one person that had to make the play all along. Our depth and consistency and the fact that we can go deep has been very helpful for us."
"We haven't changed a thing, we've just been trying to get better each day and I think these kids are really doing that."
On this year's hitters vs. last year's You've go to live with what you got and our team had a machine on offense last year with Candice [Molinari] and Amanda Morin but this is a different personality team with different strengths and we still have things we haven't shown that we look forward to doing as the post-season goes on."
"We are being patient and finding a good pitch to go after and all year we have been teaching them to be patient and aggressive at the plate and those two words are an incredible contradiction."
Junior pitcher Brandice Balschmiter
On the aggressive play by Fordham and Charlotte batters at the A-10 tournament
"I thought that Fordham and charlotte had a very good game plan of going after me early on in the count. I wasn't anywhere close to my A-game and my goal going into the final game was to put the ball a little lower and come in with more movement with pitches early in the count."
On playing in the post-season again "It's exciting to get to the postseason again. We had a challenging A-10 tourney which I think helped us get prepared for the NCAA tournament."
Senior Left Fielder Lauren Proctor
On knowing pitchers from conference games vs. not knowing pitchers in post-season
"We know that as a general, all these pitchers are rise-ball pitchers so you have to come with a good mindset to at the plate but it's different because it's the postseason and you have to go with the same bat you've had all year and get better each at-bat, which is what we have been doing all year."
Sophomore first baseman Sarah Reeves
On knowing pitchers from conference games vs. not knowing pitchers in post-season
"We don't know much about these pitchers but sometimes that can help you because you have an attacking mind set going in and that's what we've been doing all year starting in Florida and California. If we come at the pitchers with that attacking mind set we will be fine."
On her aggressive hitting at the A-10 Tourney
"I tried to be aggressive throughout the counts all year. I was struggling mid-season and I was trying to come out in the A-10 tourney attacking pitchers and swinging at better pitches."
No. 3 Princeton Press Conference
Princeton head coach Trina Salcido:
We're excited to be here, excited to visit Amherst for the first time myself. The program has had a history back in the `90s of coming out here and we're excited to return. It's great to not have to go very far. We can make it a nice little bus trip. The girls are excited getting back to the NCAA tournament. We're just happy to be here, excited and ready to play ball.
On the spring break trip to California:
Salcido:
I always say that every coach makes a road trip like that knowing it can make and break your team. I hoped that it would make us and we came on the positive end of that. We had ups and downs. We had some heartbreaking losses against some really great competition. I think our girls grew in the way that we needed them to and confidence was built rather than kind of dwelling on the losses. We tried to learn from them and that's been our thing the whole way through, just getting better every day. You can definitely get better when you're losing. There's a lot to build off of. There's a lot of ways to get better the next day, and they did that. We definitely came back home to Ivy League and we applied everything and we did what we needed to do.
On Ivies:
Salcido:
I thought we got better at being a team every day. Teams are built on learning how to win, how to lose. We started out the season learning how to lose together and if that doesn't break you, you can definitely learn how to win. Every extra win, whether it came from the pitching staff, we learned how to work together better, how to rely on one another. Our hitters, 3-4-5, have been key for us this year. I think that was the beginning and the rest of the lineup kind of fed off of that. It was contagious and we just learned how to be a team. We learned how to win together.
On Salcido as a new head coach:
Princeton junior shortstop Kathryn Welch:
I don't think there was really an adjustment period. It's a different style of coaching, obviously. Trina's got a ton of energy and so it was nice to get into you to work hard. WE started right off the bat working hard, conditioning hard, just practicing hard, which I think was great ofr our team. Not really an adjustment period, but we just did things a little bit differently and it worked.
Princeton senior pitcher Kristen Schaus:
I think the standard and some of the expectations we started having as the preseason grew into the season was a little bit different. We were out there a lot. I think our conditioning was very intense this year, which really set a tone going into the season.
Princeton sophomore outfielder Kelsey Quist:
We all knew coming into the season that we would build off last season and do things this year that we didn't do as well last year. I think a lot of us knew the intensity that we were going to have to build coming into this season and knew our conditioning was going to be rough, knew our practices were going to be long and that it would make us better that way.
On the strong schedule preparing the team:
Welch:
I think so. We played Oklahoma (4-3). It was a tight game. We played well. When we play these teams, you see what you can do against better pitching, better hitting, things like that. I think it just prepares you. Our spring break trip really prepared us, I think, for now. Hopefully we aren't shocked with any team. We know how we play against very good teams and we expect to do it.
Schaus:
I think it just teaches us a lot about ourselves. We're really not too worried about the other teams, we're really focused on what we can do. Being out there earlier this season and in previous years, we know what we're capable of and that's kind of exciting for everyone.
Quist:
I think that spring break trip really showed the potential as a team. We went in there thinking we had nothing to lose. These are great teams, they're televised. We have the opportunity to play against great teams, and it kind of made us excited and it made us have that mentality that we have nothing to lose, why not play all out? I think we did nad it really showed us our potential as a team.
Difference between teams in Ivy play and at NCAA Regionals:
Welch:
It's also very different when we play these ot her teams because we're playing them one-and-done. With the Ivy League teams, we're seeing them four times in a weekend, maybe. I think that's very different. WE're going to see a great pitcher at Stanford one time. There's more time for us when we play these Ivy League teams to kind of adjust to their style, adjust to their pitching, to their hitting, get a feel for what their team is like. I think it's just a very different game playing a team four times compared to playing one intense seven-inning. It's just different.
Schaus:
I'd say some consistency too. Obviously you're playing bigger programs than a lot of the Ivies, but that's about right.
Quist:
The atmosphere, a little bit, changes. I remember going to Stanford and playing on their big field with the huge stadium surrounding us and fans all over the place. It's a different experience and it's really exciting. We draw a crowd at Princeton but definitely not as major as schools like Oklahoma and Stanford. It's really exciting to play at facilities that are top-notch facilities like they have.
On the home runs:
Welch:
I think we're just hitting well. WE've been working a lot. We work hard on our swings. WE take a lot of (batting practice). If you're getting all that practice and come game time, hopefully you want to do the same exact thing. We hopefully go from BP right into the game.
Quist:
I think, too, we push each other. 3-4-5, we push each other. If one person doesn't get it done, the nextperson wants to and it kind of goes down the line like that. If someone is having an off day, we know that the next two hitters behind us are going to get it done. Or if all three of us are getting a bad day, the bottom of the lineup is going to get it done. WE have that confidence in each other and that kind of helps push one another like a little intra-team rivalry kind of thing. Like `If I hit it out, can you hit it out?' kind of thing. It's really pushed us forward as a team.
Schaus:
I don't hit, but what I've noticed is that everyone feeds off each other really well. It says a lot through the 3-4-5, but also throughout the order and even pitching, which is what's so unique about our team this year.
On UMass:
Salcido:
I'm not a big focus-on-the-other-team kind of coach. I prepare and obviously I know the have a great program. I know they have great pitching. I just need to know a few things. They throw hard, they throw well, they've had great success this year. I haven't had the opportunity to see them play at all and people were throwing out names. `What's your opinion on this?' I don't really know. I just know I prepare my hitters. We prepare our pitchers. We prepare as a team. Throwing my arm out throwing them batting practice, add in a few miles an hour to my pitch. But other than that, we're just preparing the girls to come out and be successful. It's the same game we've been playing, it's just a different opponent. It's about choosing a good day to be great and hope it falls your way.
On the challenges of playing in the northeast:
Salcido:
I think facilities is one thing, as far as being in this part of the country. You need to have good facilities as far as not just playing surface but being able to accommodate practices in the offseason when it's raining, when it's cold, when it's snow on the ground. You're trying to attract the best recruits from all of the country. You want the sunny-state recruits, you want the Californias, you want the Floridas, the Arizonas and you've got to give these kids who've been playing year-round the opportunity to let them know you're going to be able to come and practice and play and get better year-round. You're not going to be on the gym floor. I think that's a big thing. And then just something special. You've got to have a great philosophy. I think you've got to preach and you've got to tell kids what your philosophy is and what you're trying to get to. (You've) got to have some time to try and build a tradition. You've just go to work hard and just hope you get the good ones. I feel like we get the good ones. And you've just got to put your best foot forward. You've got to work hard every day. We've got to work a little harder than the big programs, the big facilities, top 25, but that's why we do that. We love the game, we love to coach, we love the kids. You've just got to work hard and hope you get the good kids every year.
No. 4 Lehigh Press Conference
Lehigh Head Coach Fran Troyan
"We're absolutely thrilled that the NCAA Saw fit for us to come back to Amherst, we had a wonderful experience here a couple of years ago. We were disappointed in our season last year and just in the way it ended up, we had such good experience a few years ago that we were really hoping to come back here."
"Our season is this year is very interesting. We had a real strong start then we were plagued by injuries and this particular team did a wonderful job overcoming a lot of adversity and finally we are healthy again and we are starting to play again on all cylinders."
On being a regular in the NCAA tournament
"Well honestly, it take's some of the unknown out of it . We have been to NCAA four of the last five years and played in a number of places and just knowing what to expect takes some of the surprise element out of it. For some of our classes it's new to them but others have been here before so hopefully the juniors and seniors will lead the way for our younger kids."
Comparing this team to the team from a few years ago
"That's a good question! It's tough to compare the two. This particular team starting out the season was a lot younger than that team we had. We had lot of young people playing a lot of new positions early but there are still freshman and sophomores playing many positions so when the lights on, your not sure how they are going to react. I know how the juniors and seniors are going to play but it's a learning experience for the freshmen and sophomores so to be honest I don't think we are quite as strong, so I don't know."
On playing Stanford tomorrow
"What I know about Stanford is that it starts in the pitching circle with Penna. Obviously she is an elite athlete, she competes at a very high level and anytime that coach Rittman gives her the ball they have a chance to compete with really anybody in the country. They're strong offensively, they play great defense, they run the bases well and there's a reason why they are one of the top teams in the country."
On Lisa Sweeney's progress as a hitter this year
"At the end of Last season she developed a really tired arm and almost on a weekly basis Lisa would come into the office and say coach I don't want you to sell me short on a hitting stand point, but wherever you think I can help out I'll do whatever, and this fall she didn't pitch at all for us and she focused almost exclusively on hitting. She is a very natural athlete with great hand-eye coordination. So we tweaked some things just a wee little bit and let the athlete in her come out and she has been very relaxed at the plate and has just done a tremendous job. She has not only been one of the best pitchers in our league, but now she is one of the most feared hitters in the league."
Senior Shortstop Meghan Conrad
On her transition from second base to shortstop
"It's been fine. I actually played shortstop all through high school so it's something I've done before. In the past few years when we've had some injuries it was mostly getting used to covering the steals and making some 1st to 3rd plays working on the longer throw. It's something I'm used to and comfortable with so I'm hoping I can use my senior leadership to step up and play that position.
Senior First Baseman Taryn Hanley
On whether coming back to a stadium she is familiar with will make a difference
"I don't think it will make a difference. It's certainly comforting playing somewhere you are familiar with and it helps that we've been here before to have a little senior leadership. We are a very young team so being in a place that we have had some success at will make things more comfortable for us."
Senior Outfielder Kate Marvel
On getting the young players prepared for the tournament
"I just told them it's going to be an exciting experience. When I was a freshman we went to Arizona and it was just a cool experience because we got to see it on TV and to actually be there is more exciting. I just told them to relax because the pressure is off of us."