Washington 3, Florida 2
June 03, 2009 | Softball
June 3, 2009
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WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Heather Tarr
Opening comment:
"I am so proud to be a part of what this program is about and has been about for as long as it has been in existence since 1993. When I started playing in 1994 it was our dream to win a national championship. It was my junior year we lost it and we lost in the championship and I know exactly how that feels. The people who have played in this program, who have played for national championships, we all understand what this feeling is like. We knocked on the door. I knew when we recruited Danielle's (Lawrie) class that we going to have the potential to do this, and for that to become a reality and to do it the right way, I can't even put it into words. We have an amazing group of young women who went through the toughest road anyone had to hoe to get here and ultimately I think that's what caused this to happen. We don't really want to have to go that road again but the last inning of the UMass game (in regional play) was what got us through this. I can't say enough about Danielle and her ability to carry a team on her back, literally, from September until now. Ashley Charters and the whole senior class is just phenomenal."
On approaching Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson:
"I think we just kept getting better and better throughout the postseason and by the time this came we were peaking. You can go back to our batting averages, and comparing them to Arizona or a Florida, our batting averages might not be the best but we train all year for this. We train all year to be where we need to be when we need to be there and it is awesome to be able to see it come together."
On the toughness of the Pac-10 in softball:
"We are so proud to be representatives of the Pac-10 Conference because one through eight of us is a battle every weekend and everyone makes everyone else better. We had some challenges with Stanford earlier and we came back and beat them when we needed to beat them. We had tough challenges with UCLA. They no-hit us and we came back and found a way to beat them. Those challenges help you for this type of play and thank goodness we play in the Pac-10."
WASHINGTON JUNIOR PITCHER Danielle Lawrie
On the seventh inning:
"At the end I faced one of their toughest hitters (Francesca Enea) and she hit a good pitch. It wasn't one that was left over the plate. I think she was scraping to do whatever she needed to do to get her team back on the board. She hit a good pitch and I thought for a second it might have been out, but once it hit the fence and they had the runner on second I was just thinking no, no, no. We have worked too hard for this to happen right now. I like to keep it interesting, but no it wasn't going to happen."
WASHINGTON SENIOR SECOND BASEMAN Ashley Charters
On going out on top her senior year:
"This is definitely the best senior gift I could get. This is what I have worked for ever since I started playing softball. We had a very tough road to get here like Coach Tarr said, but we wouldn't have been here if it was easy and it is not meant to be easy."
WASHINGTON FRESHMAN OUTFIELDER Kimi Pohlman
On the long road to becoming national champions:
"The road to get here definitely hasn't been easy. For me as a freshman, it really took a lot to adjust to everything and I think we had people here who believed in the team and believed in me as a player. We faced really hard competition and we traveled a long ways. We went to Alabama and California back to back but we had a really tough season and we found a way to win."
