Preseason Softball Press Conference Quotes

Note-For audio coverage of today's press conference, please click here.

Head Coach Rhonda Revelle

On the temperatures outside not feeling like softball weather

“It does (feel like softball weather) in Honolulu. It’s 80 degrees ? some of our parents are already there and they said it feels like summer.”

 

On being able to get outside and play

“We’re just really excited to get going. I think after three weeks indoors, you’re ready to be out on the dirt and we’re excited for our practice on Wednesday (in Hawaii), just knowing that we’re going to be out against the nice blue sky and being on the dirt.

 

“It’s funny, we leave very early in the morning and we had practice this morning and we had our team say ?Can we spend the night in our clubhouse?’ because we pack up and leave at 4:45 in the morning.”

 

On the challenges of preseason practices

“It’s always a grind, that part of the season. It’s something that we’re so acclimated to that we get ready for it. It’s an endurance test. It’s a marathon at that time. It’s so much a part of the softball and baseball culture that it’s just something you do ? you don’t really talk about it, you just do it. You keep your nutrition and your hydration and try to sleep as much as you can in between trying to study and play ball.”

 

On senior right-handed pitcher Ashley DeBuhr

“Ashley’s had tremendous growth every year. She’s had good numbers a lot of those years, but even talking to her now, what she sees in the game, what she can do when she reads a hitter, we just have all the confidence in the world not only in her pitches and her physical ability, but her ability to make decisions on where she’s looking to locate the ball and with how much movement. She’s just really astute to the game, and it’s going to be a fun year for her.”

 

On DeBuhr receiving more at bats this season

“I think she would have gotten more swings last year, but she was fighting her shin splints issue. Opening day, you’ll see here not only on the mound, but you’ll see her hitting for us. She’s strong, she makes good contact, she’s very competitive and she’s very clutch. We put her in pinch-hit situations this fall and she came through, she delivered. I look for Ashley really to be a producer for us offensively and on the mound this year.”

 

On the senior battery of DeBuhr and catcher Jamie Waldecker

“They very much complement one another and they have so much trust in each other. Part of Ashley’s success is in her ability to change speeds and a lot of times when you change speeds, you’ve put the ball in the dirt, some by design. Jamie stops it, even if it’s a swinging third strike in the dirt, she’s going to pick it up and throw someone out at first. In our game, you may only have about two and a half seconds to do that. I think they really have a great trust in each and are a very great tandem.”

 

On sophomore right-handed pitcher Molly Hill

“Molly has greatly improved this year. She had a great record last year, but I think if Molly were to sit here and talk to you, she would say that there were a lot of times last year that she was uncomfortable to the point where it affected her performance. Not only are her pitches crisper this year, she is just much more comfortable in her own skin as a pitcher. She knows what’s in front of her, she knows what kind of hitters she’s going to face. I think one of the biggest challenges that a great high school pitcher has to get accustomed to is that people are putting the ball in play against them. She’s made that transition.”

 

On the importance of the win-loss record in early-season tournaments

“It’s critical, especially this weekend. We’re just in a five-team tournament, but two of our opponents will have been in postseason last year and DePaul wasn’t in postseason last year, but they perennially are. We have an opportunity to not only get some great victories against ranked opponents, but great victories against very strong opponents from other regions. If we’re going to get into a Super Regional, the best thing we can do for our self is to be a No. 1 seed because it lessens the load when you go into a regional. That’s really a goal of our team this year is to get a No. 1 seed going into postseason.”

 

On the Big 12 Conference

“It’s always a goal to win the Big 12. This year it is wide open. Arguably, one of the best players to ever play this sport graduated out of our conference last year. I feel like our pitching staff is second to none. I feel like - there are a lot of good teams, don’t get me wrong ? one through three, we could put any one of our pitchers on the mound and win a Big 12 game with any of those pitchers. This game really does start with pitching and often times, the teams that make it the furthest are the ones that have great pitching.

 

“We’ve got a good defense around (the pitching). The team is really becoming a great unit. I think we’re going to play great team defense. I’ve been really pleased as we’ve gone through this preseason with the way we’ve communicated. Our field is small ? I think one of the main differences between baseball and softball is everything is in very close quarters. If we’re not communicating and working together, it doesn’t happen. That’s one of the areas I think we’ve really honed in on in the last three weeks.”

 

On replacing 1-2 hitters Lizzy Aumua and Jess Yoachim

“They were great for us and Anne Steffan before that. The look of Nebraska softball and the top of the order is going to look a little different with Devin (Porter) in the leadoff spot. The thing that Devin can do, that those others couldn’t do, is that she can lead off with a double. She can take the ball yard occasionally. We have a situation where she has a high on-base percentage. Once she gets on, she’s not going to be as much of a steal threat, but if she comes up the second time with runners in scoring position, she’s going to be a better RBI producer than the last two that have come before her. It’s going to look different, but I’m excited about the opportunity that we maybe have a few more RBI producers throughout the lineup.”