University of Massachusets Athletics
UMass/Lehigh Post-Game Press Conference
May 17, 2008 | Softball
May 17, 2008
Lehigh Coach Fran Troyan Quotes:
General Thoughts:
First I'd like to thank the University of Massachusetts for doing a tremendous job. I thought the NCAA representatives, given the weather and everything, did a great job with that. In terms of my team, I'm very proud of the way they played. We got down 2-0 in the first game against Princeton and they showed a lot of resiliency and came back and fought back and did a good job. We're a non-scholarship program from a school with extremely high academic standards and for us to win a game in the NCAA Tournament is a real credit to the players and the program. With that said, we made one bad pitch in the UMass game and Reeves had one good swing. Otherwise it could have been going on a little bit longer and Elaine (Sortino) does a wonderful job and her team is well-coached, well-schooled and they do everything well and obviously Balschmiter is one of the better pitchers in the entire country.
Coach Troyan on the seventh inning:
In the seventh inning I thought we were going to win it, to be honest with you. I don't often get funny feelings but I really felt like we were going to win it there. We had a pinch hitter who is usually clutch in those types of situations, but it didn't happen for us and at this level that is all you can ask for. We were in it. We were one swing away from tying the game.
Coach Troyan on Lisa Sweeney:
When the game was still a one-run game, if we had tied it up, my intent was to bring her in. She was a little bit fresh. She has pitched a lot this season and we were hoping to get her in if we were able to scratch a run. That was our mindset at that point.
Bailey Sanders on save:
I was thrilled for the opportunity. Obviously it was terrible circumstances to have to come into the game like that, but I was thrilled to be able to contribute to my team. I really hope Brandice gets better soon because we don't want that to happen, but I was thrilled to be able to help out.
Bailey Sanders on coming into the game:
I'm sure a lot of people said many things to me that I did not hear. Coach said, "take as much time as you need to warm up. Make sure you're ready." Everyone was waiting on me and they couldn't start the game without me. I had to calm down and my teammates were nothing but encouraging. Whitney Mollica told me that I had this. She said, "You've been waiting for this your whole life." So nothing but encouragement was said from my teammates.
Whitney Mollica on Sarah Reeves' home run:
Sarah Reeves always comes through when you need it. She always gets that big hit to put us up even more than we already are. She really helped us out. On that ball, she got her hands out and drove it. It just pumped up the team and kept the energy going.
Brandice Balschmiter on tomorrow's challenge:
I will be ready to go tomorrow. Once I get out there, there's no stopping me. I iced my ankle and it is compressed right now. I can't really feel anything. I was mad when it happened because I didn't want anything to go wrong, but Bailey came in and did a great job picking up where I left off.
Coach Elaine Sortino's general thoughts:
I thought defensively on the mound, Brandice had a pretty good performance through the sixth inning. I thought she moved the ball around effectively. I didn't think they got too many good pieces as far as getting the ball in play. I think they are an aggressive team with a pretty good batting average. I think we made the plays in the field and that is important at this level. I also thought we got some timely hitting. It came late in the game, and it took us time to get better cuts.
Coach Sortino on Sanders' performance:
We had a long talk this morning about her role on the team and about the fact that we had two pitchers we can go to. Brandice is the workhorse, one of the best in the country, but Bailey must be able to support her. I thought she came out in the Princeton game and got three outs that we needed. There isn't much more of a pressure situation and I thought that she did a phenomenal job.
Coach Sortino on tomorrow's challenge
I do not think the challenge tomorrow can evne come close to the challenge we faced today. Being here at 6:45 in the morning, we spent a 13 hour day on the field, we were in the winners bracket but it felt like we were in the loser's bracket playing so early in the morning and going all day long. We will be much more prepared for Stanford tomorrow. We know what to expect and a good nights sleep will do us a world of good. I feel much better about tomorrow than I did about today.
