NCAA Softball - Los Angeles Regional
May 21, 2006 | Softball
May 21, 2006
UCLA 7, San Diego State 0
San Diego State Quotes
Coach Kathy Van Wyk
"Congratulations to UCLA. They played a great game, and I hope they do well representing all of us in the College World Series."
"Both teams have improved since the beginning of the season. They are such a great team all the way around. They've got pitching, defense, hitting, and we didn't put it all together. I knew a big key to this game was going to be our defense. Our defense allowed them opportunities. We missed a couple runners at second, and our defense opened up the door for them in that big 6th inning. I felt we were going to get to the pitcher at some point. When you fall behind by that much, the lead just seems insurmountable, but I'm proud of our kids because they fought hard all the way through."
"We had a missed opportunity in the second, and you can chalk that up to poor coaching. There were some moves I should have made, and I'll leave it at that."
"I said to these girls on the very first day of our spring practices that I thought we had a very special group of young ladies and we could do great things. The talent was obvious; it was just a matter of what we were going to do from the neck up. These kids fought and rose to occasion all season long. It didn't matter who they were playing, they played hard. Maybe we surprised a lot of people, being so young. Deep down inside these kids are confident. They know they have the ability.
Pitcher Christina Ross "We just need to put it all together. We've been right there so many times. As we get better and improve with time, I think we'll be able to handle it a little better."
Catcher Meagan Hartung "Obviously I'm disappointed, and I wanted to go further, but I'm very proud of this team. We've overcome a lot of things this year, and it's been a good way for me to out. I really enjoyed playing this year with this team."
UCLA Quotes
Coach Sue Enquist "San Diego State was impressive today. I felt like they competed. Ross was very effective on the mound. I'm glad we had this experience today because the offensive execution had come fairly easy for us this weekend. The kids were stroking the ball really well, and we had to force ourselves to be patient for our rate of success, and I was impressed with our level of savvy in doing that. I think that was important because sometimes when you are banging the ball like we have all weekend you have a tendency to force, and they didn't do that. I was impressed with the way San Diego State played; they competed the entire time. We just had some real clutch performances. I thought Jelly (Anjelica Selden) did great. She got into a rhythm and found her spots. That was critical, we got out of pinches. To see Ashley (Herrera) come through, she's great to watch. She can play both the short game and hits for pop. Zap's (Emily Zaplatosch) play today, her leadership behind the plate, clutching up for us on the hit and run. There were a lot of positives to hang on to going into next weekend."
(on UCLA's power drought at the end of the regular season)
"Hitting comes and goes, even with a team as talented as ours. Hitting can be tricky at times, and the game will test you. The players understand that that happens, it oscillates, it comes and goes. I'm just really impressed with their ability to understand that. I think it was critical for us to come in early and do well in the first game. It reminded us that we are good. The most important thing was for us to have this kind of game where they had to work a little bit, figure things out, and get back to appreciating getting runners on. It takes a mature team to do that, and we did that today."
(on UCLA's next opponent, South Florida)
"We don't know that much about them. We don't have a lot of common opponents, but by game time, we will know a lot about them. The bottom line is that whoever gets to Super-Regionals should be respected."
Left Fielder Ashley Herrera on her grand slam
"I was just trying to stay calm. I had a tendency to get over-excited, especially going left-handed for so long and then coming up with a big opportunity to drive in some runs. I just relaxed and waited for a pitch to come in my zone, and it came. I just took a nice, easy swing and it happened to go out."
Pitcher Anjelica Selden on her last few performances
"I think I did pretty well, but I still have some things to improve on. I've missed a few spots here and there. I need to be consistent with my pitches, but overall I've been doing pretty well."
Catcher Emily Zaplatosch
"We just try to have fun. We got a little tense when we're only up a run in the fifth, but we just relaxed and kept the game fun for us. When we do that, we know everything will start coming."