Washington 3, DePaul 1
May 31, 2007 | Softball
May 31, 2007
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Heather Tarr
General comment:
"DePaul was a very tough team. I know we no-hit them, but they were very tough at the plate and were very tough outs. Our team played great defense behind Danielle (Lawrie) and Alicia Matthews caught a great game. It was a great job by Dena (Tyson) for staying tough after her first at-bat by knocking Ashley Charters in with a home run. Ashlyn (Watson) really took the wind out of their sails with the other one. We did a good job."
On what the win does for her team:
"I think anytime you make an appearance in the World Series you start to pat yourself on the back a little bit as a team. We have had many highs. Our regional and super regional wins were big. We have to keep ourselves composed and understand there is a lot more softball to be played. It is more important being able to execute our game in this stage at this level versus telling myself I won my first coaching game at the World Series. It is more important that we are composed in this setting. You can go two-and-out really easy back-to-back."
WASHINGTON SOPHOMORE PITCHER Danielle Lawrie
On the game:
"Great defense and great offense wins games. I would like to thank my team for getting clutch runs when we needed some when we went down. It was a hard situation walking the girl with the (10)-second rule. I had to battle back and stay focused on the task at hand. I had to stay consistent throughout the whole game even though they scored a run because I knew we were going to come back."
On throwing a no-hitter in the WCWS:
"It was awesome and something I am going to always remember. It was a great feeling. There is not much more to say other than thanks to Alicia (Matthews) for helping me out and calling a great game. Without her helping me stay consistent and keeping teams off balance I would be nowhere."
WASHINGTON SENIOR FIRST BASEMAN Dena Tyson
On her home run:
"I figured I had a second chance with two outs and it was a see-the-ball, hit-the-ball type of thing. My dad always told me it only takes one swing. If you look at it, I don't really feel like it was a good day with me going 1-3 with two strikeouts. You come in when you need to come in and get the run when you need it."
WASHINGTON SOPHOMORE DESIGNATED PLAYER Ashlyn Watson
On her home run:
"Tracie (Adix) was a really good pitcher and we were battling all day. It was hard in the first at-bat and hats off to her for pitching so well. It was just one of those things where the bat and the ball met at the perfect moment."
WASHINGTON SOPHOMORE CATCHER Alicia Matthews
On why she thought Danielle Lawrie was so effective today:
"The first inning was a little shaky. She came back and really threw her best stuff out there and she really brought it. It was awesome to see."
DePAUL HEAD COACH EUGENE LENTI
General comment:
"I think it was just a day where we didn't execute our game plan. We had a much different game plan, obviously. We didn't expect to get no hits. We wanted our hitters to be aggressive, but you have to give (Danielle) Lawrie credit. She kept us off balance the whole day and when you have a pitcher pitching the way she is and defense plays. Their defense was a little shaky, but they made great plays when they had too. We have a lot of work to do but you have to give a lot of credit to Washington because they did the things that we wanted to. I always talk about that there are four aspects to the game: hitting, base running, defense and pitching. Well, we ran the bases really well and we defended really well but we didn't hit or pitch up to our ability. The way we got here was by great pitching by Tracie (Adix) and Becca (Heteniak) and timely hitting. But we didn't have timely hitting and Tracie just wasn't the Tracie that we have seen all year long. But we are glad that she got that out of her system, because she has promised me that she has got better stuff left in her for the rest of the way out. So we know where we need to get better. We are going to hit the practice field hard tomorrow and have a nice long, hard practice and hope the results will be better."
On what Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie did to get DePaul off balance:
"Well, we were getting ourselves off. It is a matter of taking pitches that weren't in the strike zone. That is really what it comes down to. But that's the pitcher's job, too, that's the pitcher's focus. So you have to shake the catcher's hand, too, for calling the game plan. We had a ton of strikeouts on her change-up. We just chased a lot of balls. We knew where the strike zone was."
DePAUL SENIOR PITCHER TRACIE ADIX
On her performance:
"I felt a little more loose during warm-ups. I didn't feel tight. I didn't feel like anything was really off. I felt good in the beginning of the game. They're just big swingers and big hitters and they got a hold of them."
On the home run pitch to Washington's Dena Tyson:
"It just wasn't in far enough. It cut back off the plate and she just took the change-up over the fence."
DePAUL SOPHOMORE RIGHTFIELDER STEPHANIE BLAGAICH
On the game:
"I thought that we didn't play as well as we should have. I think that we just didn't do what we should have. We knew coming in that she was pushing the inside, but we were just off the plate."
On how they will handle it from here:
"We have to play every game like it's our last and we didn't play like that today. I think we all know now that if we don't play better than today, we are going to go home for real next time and that we don't have another second chance."
On if she thought DePaul's first run was enough:
"No, no I knew it wasn't enough. I knew we needed to score one or two more as a security run. I knew that Washington was going to come out there and they weren't going to give up right away."
