The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Texas v. ECU Postgame Quotes
05.21.2010 | Softball
May 21, 2010
POST-GAME QUOTES
East Carolina
Head coach Tracey Kee
Opening Statement:
On saving Toni Paisley for the game against Texas: We knew when we ran Faith Sutton out against Iona that that was a game that was like rolling the dice. If it works, it puts us in a great position for this game, and if it didn't it totally backfires. But I had a lot of confidence in Faith and our team knew our game plan.
Leftfielder Marina Gusman-Brown
On the deciding homerun: It was surreal and unbelievable. Blaire Luna is very good and we knew that she was going to come at us. I zoned on one pitch and there it was.
Pitcher Toni Paisley
On keeping the Texas hitters off balance: We knew they were great hitters going into the game and Coach Kee and I knew that we had to keep the hitters off balance. I felt like I had great command today and was really able to keep them off balance. I also had to be really careful in certain counts because I knew that at any moment they could take one out of the park.
Texas Head coach Connie Clark
Opening statement: It's tough to be done. We're not ready to be done at this point. I thought it was the tale of two games today. I think we got the performance in our defense and pitching in game two, and we got the offensive performance in game one. We just weren't able to hit on all cylinders. It's painful, to be honest. I think we have a great ball club, but we've got to tip our caps to East Carolina. (Toni) Paisley did a great job with us, and we tried to make some adjustments. But we just have to tip our caps to BYU and East Carolina. They both played really well today.
On the performance by the underclassmen: It's tough when you have young athletes. When our newcomers come in - we call them newcomers versus freshmen, we don't like to use the 'f' word - we talk a lot about how we don't call them freshmen for a reason. We expect them to be veterans as quick as they can.
On the performance by pitcher Blaire Luna: We rode Blaire this year. She was tremendous for us. We're really proud of the season she had, and she grew up a lot during the season. That's the conversation we had between games. Blaire and I talked between games, and I know (Amy) Hooks was in her ear. We just talked about the things we needed to adjust and how to come back in game two. We needed her to be a veteran and step up for us. I think she was nails for us coming into the second game, and that's going to bode really well for our future.
On Texas' season-ending loss: I'm shocked. Somber and shocked. It's tough. I think we have all of the pieces, and that's what makes it tough. Whether it's the pitching in the circle, the offense - that's the best we've ever been. We have awesome versatility, and the other piece we have is the chemistry and some great leadership. We had all of the components, and that's why it stings so much. This group is not ready to be done. We're going to have to pinch ourselves in the morning.
Catcher Amy Hooks
On East Carolina's performance: East Carolina played really good. We talked in between games about resetting from the game we just had, and we had conversations within our group saying we had to get back and stir up some things.