Highlights from Press Conference Number One
All coaches when asked to talk about their journey to this year’s Women’s College World Series.
PATTY GASSO: Got a very strong group of upperclassmen who have been really great leaders, kind of leading the way for some of the younger kids. I just feel like these guys have competed for the entire season. They’ve earned it. They deserve it.
But we’re absolutely honored to be here and appreciate all the work that goes into putting this on, whether it’s ESPN giving us the coverage for us becoming one of the most exciting sports to watch, and all of those that are involved with creating an unbelievable place to play here at the Hall of Fame Stadium.
PATRICK MURPHY: I want to say thanks to everyone, too. This is the first time here in a couple years. That two-year period seems like 10 years to me. But this is awesome. The new facility is going to be incredible when it’s finally done. It’s a feather in the cap of softball.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the media that’s been here. We played Texas in a heck of a super regional, a Thursday night game, 8:00, hotter than heck in Tuscaloosa. Standing at third base, the umpire standing next to me, I said, ‘Can you believe this? Look at this.’
He said, ‘Yeah, coach, this is so cool!’
Had almost 4,000 people on a Thursday night at 8:00, on TV. Could have stayed home, lots of other things to do. People chose to come to the sport of softball. I can’t thank the media enough for helping us with that, because you make it worthwhile to the fan.
It’s an honor to be sitting next to Patty (Gasso), Tim (Walton) and Kenny (Gajewski). I’ve known them for years. Wish I wasn’t on this side of the bracket, but it is what it is. This is one of the youngest teams we’ve had here. Only three girls on our team have experience. Three of our seniors played here as freshmen, everybody else is a newbie. It’s exciting for us and the University of Alabama to be back.
Also, an honor to be up here with one of my best friends growing up. Coach Gasso gave me my first opportunity to coach softball. Coach Murphy and I played each other, a lot of respect for each other’s programs for many years. I echo the same sentiments. What USA Softball and the NCAA have done to the commitment for the student-athletes at the venue is really impressive.
TIM WALTON: Also, an honor to be up here with one of my best friends growing up. Coach Gasso gave me my first opportunity to coach softball. Coach Murphy and I played each other, a lot of respect for each other’s programs for many years. I echo the same sentiments. What USA Softball and the NCAA have done to the commitment for the student-athletes at the venue is really impressive.
I knew we made it as a sport the other day when I got on ESPN and checked the scores of Coach Murphy’s game. I usually go to the top and scroll across the top, try to search for the games. Lo and behold, the softball scores are on the main page of the scores on the ESPN app. Thankful for all ESPN has done to grow this sport, give these young women a great opportunity to showcase their talents.
Our journey has been a little different than what we’ve been accustomed to. We have a younger team. Some older players that have experience, but we have some players that we’ve been counting on this year that have never been counted on before. It showed in a lot of games.
We finally figured out a way to continue to play well and play together as a team. Really enjoy my group to be around every single day. It’s an honor to be back here. It does not ever get old. Winning is really, really hard to do, although the people around me here make it look really, really easy year in and year out. Again, appreciate the coverage. Just excited to be here.
KENNY GAJEWSKI: Obviously thank you to all of you who make all this thing go. We’re a proud program. We’re excited to be here for the first time in a lot of years.
But I’m excited to be here with this group here. I think I counted up 35 appearances between this group here. Now it’s 36 with my first one (smiling). David, Goliath.
We’re extremely excited to be here. I’ve got a lot of history with this whole group, with Coach Gasso, used to take care of her field. She was kind enough to take me along on some trips, treated me like family. I learned a lot from her.
Obviously with Tim, we go way back. A lot of people talk about our story at OU, but we go back even to our junior college days when we played on the same team. I’m proud to be just a leaf on the branches here.
Coach Murphy, I’ve got to know him through Coach Walton, coaching at Florida. Have a ton of respect for these guys.
We’re just excited. Appreciate the story that gets told about our team. I got two kids that have got some experience here, different schools. We were able to bring those kids in to help us with an already talented team. We just continued to break some barriers down that you’ve got to do to get to this point.
Extremely happy for our kids. We had to earn it. We had to go to a tough place and play, beat a team that thought they couldn’t be beat. That’s a credit to Lonni (Alameda) and her staff, the way that they play, prepare.
We’re excited. We’ve got a lot of energy and a lot of quirky stuff about us. But it’s who we are. We love this game. We love what we do. We’re excited to be here to represent OSU.
QUESTION: Coach Gasso, you’ve obviously had plenty of battles with Coach Murphy’s program. What makes that program such a tough out in this situation?
PATTY GASSO: He always has his team ready to play. For some reason we always seem to face each other. We were here a couple years ago sitting right in this same place. Coach Murphy always has his team ready to play. They always have fire. They’re fearless. They’re wellbalanced. They’ve got speed. They’ve got power. They’ve got pitching. But they’re a team that always comes out ready to play. We know we’ve got to be at our best when we face a team like Alabama
PATRICK MURPHY IN RESPONSE TO THE VERSED QUESTION: I think this year she seems to have athletes in every position, a top-notch looking athlete at every position. She’s got a lot more pop I think than normal up and down the lineup. I mean, I think I don’t know home runs you have, over a hundred, I believe, but just tremendous power. But they also have speed. It’s not like they’re plodding athletes. They can run, too. I always tell my strength coach, I want to lead the nation in home runs and stolen bases. I think one year when we played Oklahoma, they were leading in home runs, we were leading in stolen bases. They were third in stolen bases; we were the opposite. I think it wa
QUESTION: [With] The Florida connections here. Another Florida connection is Jen Rocha. Speak to the job that she’s done.
PATTY GASSO: It was hard for both of us. I lost my right-hand man who has been with me for over 20 years. My thought was trying to get someone who has been at OU before, knows the system, who understands me. I thought it would be kind of a longshot. I did talk with Tim before I talked to Jen. There’s just family connection here for her that had a lot to do with her decision. But when you have a player who has been in your program, when they come back after a long period, it’s very easy. It is an easy flow because of the familiarity – you know what I’m trying to say – we’re familiar with each other. It was easier for me, although it was very difficult to lose someone who’s been with you from day one in Melyssa Lombardi. She’s made it easier because I thought this was going to really be a tough transition. She’s calm and she’s cool and that helps me a lot. She knows her craft very well. It’s been a really good transition.
