May 8, 2014
Alabama Head Coach Patrick Murphy
Opening Statement
I want to say thanks to South Carolina for hosting the fans tonight. We were worried when USC got beat last night but as usual the fans in the SEC come out to support and it is a lot of fun. I was really happy with Jackie; she got her 100th win in an important game against a great team in a great atmosphere and she hit a home run right on cue as the train rolled by. It could not have been a better night.
Turning point in second inning…
Auburn is a very good hitting team, they have some very good lefty hitters. I think Jackie worked her way back into a groove and after the second inning they did not score which helped us get back in the game offensively. After that it turned into a good game where she settled down and she pitched really well after the second and third inning.
On change…
I don’t think we will do anything much different. We will keep playing great defense, I think the key tonight for us was that we didn’t commit an error and played solid defense. Whoever we are going to get for the rest of the tournament will be a great team because all ten teams are going to be in the NCAA tournament.
Alabama sophomore utility player Kallie Case
On her at-bats…
It felt good, I was looking at my coach on the sideline; he was telling me to pay attention to who I had behind me, so I wasn’t trying to do anything too big. I was just trying to get a single because I knew that (Kaila) Hunt and Jadyn (Spencer) were right behind me that could get the big hit.
Alabama senior pitcher Jaclyn Traina
On pitching from behind…
As a pitcher, my mind set was to keep trusting my team behind me and to keep throwing my pitches and getting ahead. I also got the opportunity to hit tonight so anything I could do to get on base I was going to do to help the team. I have not had an at-bat in a while so it felt really good to help out my team in the box tonight.
Auburn Head Coach Clint Myers
Opening Statement
We didn’t play well enough to win; we beat ourselves on a few different fronts. We have got to play better to continue to play now. Playoffs start, we are going to be facing teams like Alabama in every game, so we have got to play better.
On the errors that cost them the lead…
You can’t give teams like Alabama extra opportunities to beat you and the scorekeeper was generous with the hits. I had us down for five miscues and, you know, countless walks. You figure there was a period of time where they had eight runs on four or five hits. Two of those were homeruns and we threw the wrong bases and it was uncharacteristic. You know, we are a well-prepared team that just didn’t execute.
On preparing for regionals…
Well, Sunday will tell us where we’re going to go and that’ll help with preparation, but preparation is basic. Our philosophy and mentality is not who is in the dugout, you’ve got to play the game. For us we’ve got to play the game one way. We kind of talked about it afterwards, we have got to play the game intelligently, aggressively and staying disciplined, getting good pitching and playing good defense.
Auburn freshman utility player Kasey Cooper
On whether or not Alabama changed their pitching strategy…
No, sir, we changed our approach. We went into panic mode after the third inning. We made some miscues and we didn’t settle down or play our game. Ultimately, I think if we would have played our game, things would have ended differently, but it didn’t.
Auburn junior outfielder Branndi Melero
On the excitement of going on to play in the regional…
We’re excited, I mean we have just got to forget about today and go back to Auburn and prepare for regionals. We’ll see where we are going to go first and then prepare. It’s all about preparation and I feel like we’re ready.
On whether or not their opponent being Alabama affected their game…
No, it doesn’t matter who is across the dugout, we’re going to come out and play Auburn softball no matter what.
