Postgame Quotes
May 22, 2003 | Softball
May 22, 2003
Recap| Box Score| Notes| Photo Gallery
WASHINGTON HEAD COACH Teresa Wilson
General comment:
"It was an excellent game. I don't think you can be a fan of softball and not have enjoyed that game. Oklahoma did a nice job and made some great defensive plays. Obviously, they put a run on the board early and had a great fan base. It was tough playing in their hometown. We were fortunate enough to put some people on base and make some things happen and come out on top. I am thrilled for our team."
On the effect of close plays in games:
"This is our sixth World Series in the last eight years and I can't tell you how many plays have been that close. So many defining moments come down to inches and this is a game of inches. It is no different than Arizona playing the Yankees in the World Series a couple of years ago. It was a great pitch. It just happened to go for a jam shot up the middle and that is the World Series. Whether it is baseball or softball, that is the nature of the game. You can have the best strategy, you can execute to the best of your potential and sometimes the baseball and softball gods don't smile on you."
WASHINGTON JUNIOR Amanda Oleson
On her game-winning two-run double:
"She was beating me inside the whole game. I was lucky to get any bat on it but I got at least a handle on it."
On the 21-17 loss to Arizona in the Pac-10 regular season finale:
"That game turned into a lot of fun. Both teams got their bats working a lot. That game was a big confidence booster. We are going to disregard that one as far as coming into this next game. It is going to be a lot different."
WASHINGTON JUNIOR Tia Bollinger
On her pitching performance:
"I think going into it we knew Oklahoma was a tough line up to go through. It was just a matter of sticking with my game plan and letting my defense help me out, which they did a lot today."
On playing in front of Oklahoma's crowd:
"We spent a lot of games on the road and everywhere we went it was the same crowd. We spent regionals in Nebraska. We didn't get to play Nebraska, which would have been similar, but still the crowd was not really for us. I think that we enjoy it and we bring our own fan base. We really don't look at it as a negative."
OKLAHOMA HEAD COACH Patty Gasso
General comment:
"Obviously we're disappointed because we know the first game is critical to continue in this tournament. We were ready, we were prepared. We did everything to get ready for it. I thought we had a good game plan. I thought Kami did a good job of executing. Kami Keiter is a great pitcher. But Keiter isn't going to win all of those battles. So we give that one up to Clark. I felt, for us, it was a game of missed opportunities. We sort of ran ourselves out of a couple of innings and that was hard for us to take. If we're going to go down we don't want to lose that way."
On moving on to the next game:
"Our girls are hurting right now and they feel very disappointed because they know how important that first game was. Now we are just kind of in the gutter and we're just fighting to work our way out of it. These players have a lot of heart and they won't quit and you'll see a team ready to play on Saturday. Last year we were out in two and it's something (our players) still talk about with frustration. We're going to give it everything we have."
OKLAHOMA SOPHOMORE Kami Keiter
On the top of the seventh inning:
"I felt like I could have done a better job with the two batters before (Oleson's hit). I didn't want it to come down to putting the pressure on my teammates to make the third out."
OKLAHOMA SENIOR Jennifer Stump
On her home run:
"I was the leadoff batter that time so I was just trying to find a way to get on base. I had a 1-2 count so I knew I had to battle. No matter where the ball was pitched, if it was close enough to where it was a strike I was going to swing. And I happened to hit it."
On where the team goes from here:
"We're not giving up. It's just one loss and it takes two losses to get knocked out of the tournament so we have plenty of games left."
