Nevada-Purdue Post-Game Quotes

NCAA Softball Regional at UCLA
May 16, 2008
Nevada vs. Purdue

Nevada Head Coach Michelle Gardner
"It's our first regional win ever and we're pretty excited about that."

(On the early score) "It kind of loosened us up a little bit, and we felt like we could score some runs, and that helped with the momentum of the game."

(On how to approach tomorrow's game) "We'll approach tomorrow's game the same way as this one. We have to come out and play. It doesn't matter who's on the other side of the field. We have to play our game. We have to have good pitching and play clean defense and obviously work to score runs. I feel confident that we can do that as long as we stay in our game and not try to do something more than we are capable of."

"I thought we were disciplined out there. We drew some walks and had some good things go our way. Obviously it always helps when you get the ball out of the park."

"I think for the program, it's definitely the direction we want to be headed in. It's our first regional win ever and the second time we've been at regionals. Now that we've gotten a win here, it makes things a little bit easier knowing we can win games here. It's a huge confidence boost for our group. It's exciting for the team and for the program and for everything that we've done and worked towards."

(On the heat) "It's not usually this hot in Reno until August. I thought everyone on the field looked fine."

Nevada Pitcher Katie Holverson
"I was more nervous yesterday than I was today. I felt confident when we got three runs."

Nevada Utility Player Britton Murdock
(on her home run) "I was down two strikes, and I was just thinking see ball-hit ball and swing anything in the zone. She threw a change-up, and I waited on it."

Purdue Head Coach Kim Maher
"For our first post-season game, there's always going to be jitters, and unfortunately for us, jitters got the best of us. But at the same time, it was a learning experience, and I know that our team is going to be resilient and bounce back."

(On Nevada's pitcher) "She did her job. Bottom line, she did her job. She wasn't the best pitcher we've seen this year. We've hit similar pitchers and better pitchers much better this year. But we didn't really adjust to her. We weren't being aggressive, we weren't attacking the ball the way we're capable of doing."

(On the first inning score) "I'm glad it happened in first inning because I have the confidence in this team that they can come back later in the game."

Purdue Shortstop Candace Curtis
"Like Coach Maher said, we played nervous and didn't really find our rhythm throughout the game. We didn't bounce back like we should have, and I know that we're capable of it."

(on tomorrow's game) "I think we just come out like we've got nothing to lose and something to prove. We know we're a lot better, and we can do a lot more things on the field than we were doing today."

(on Nevada's pitching) "We weren't making adjustments. We kept on going up there doing the same thing instead of learning from our previous at-bats. That's something we definitely need to do tomorrow."