Feb. 10, 2014
Amanda Lehotak, Penn State head coach
Opening Statement
We opened up [the season] this past weekend. We were down in Phoenix at the Kajikawa Classic, which is one of the best opening tournaments in the country. I was very happy with how we played. I thought we played with a lot of heart and enthusiasm. Personally, it was a great time for my staff and I. It was really fun to get out there and represent Penn State and it kind of released some pressure for us, finally getting out there and showing our style of play.
Q: Looking forward, what do you think you guys need to improve on for next weekend's game in Louisiana?
A: [There are] a couple things. We need to improve on finishing the play a little bit, in stressful situations I would like to see us finish stronger. Also, I think that when we score offensively, we need to do a better job of having a shutdown inning the next inning and of stopping their momentum and not letting them in. I am very disappointed in how many runs we gave up when we were on defense with two outs.
Q: From the pitching side, what does Marlaina Laubach add to the rotation there, picking up two wins this weekend?
A: For Marlaina to come out and, as a freshman, get two wins it relieves a lot of pressure and stress from our returners. Whenever you have an arm and different looks that you can provide to an offense, especially when we enter the conference tournament, it's an advantage. The biggest thing when you see her play, she's just a spark plug. She's all over the mound, she has a great routine, she's confident, she's an attacker, she goes right at hitters and she's not afraid. She is very different from our other pitchers, which is exactly what we need, especially right now with offenses booming across the country. Some of the scores this weekend were pretty amazing so if we can throw two or three pitchers a game, we think advantage Penn State.
Q: Going forward with the season pitching wise, is the plan to use her and Macy or to mix it up beyond that?
A: I feel like pitching, especially in softball, can kind of get streaky. They can have a great weekend, then kind of be off and then have another great weekend. We will use all of our pitchers. Marissa Diescher is actually coming back from a shoulder surgery so she had a few innings but she's on a pitch count right now. She was pitching a great game against Bradley and you could hear the crowd asking why she was being pulled but she's on a pitch count so she had to get out of there. Between her, Macy, Christy [VonPusch] is going to see some innings, and then Marlaina, especially in preseason going into conference, they're all going to see a lot of innings. We do a lot of matchups based on our scouting that will determine who starts the game.
On the rigorous travel schedule:
From my point of view, we don't hide anything. When we are recruiting and with the team we have to travel, we have to travel south and we make no excuses. Our mentality is that we're just going to be tougher than you. We got back at 5:30 a.m. and we are taking today off but we're going to have a great practice tomorrow. [We are going to have the] same enthusiasm, same focus and we're not going to make any excuses. If we're tired, that's nobody's business but ours. We all signed up for this, so we're all right. We have to compete. A lot of great schools do it every year across the country so travel will never be an excuse. It's the same game, we have to run 60 feet, turn left and try to score more runs than they do.
Q: Do you feel settled in now or are you still getting used to things?
A: I have not fully unpacked so home is not settled but coming to work at Penn State, we feel completely settled. I feel at home. I love coming to work every day and I have not had a bad day yet. So, work wise, I feel like I've been here for a while and that, to me, is what's most important.
Alyssa Sovereign, senior 2B
Q: Do you think the team played well together? Did you mesh well?
A: Absolutely. I think, especially for the first weekend out, that we really meshed well together and I think we had a lot of fun, which showed in the results. We put a lot of runs up on the board and that's really the name of the game, we just need to allow less.
Q: Before Purdue in late March, you've got pretty rigorous travel. What types of things do you hope to see out of the team from now until that point? It's not easy, I'm sure, going to class throughout the week and then going on these trips and getting back early in the morning, so talk about that.
A: Traveling is always difficult but we make sure that we take our school work with us. We are very good about doing our work and keeping in touch with our professors. We have study hall hours and we help each other out when we can. As far as playing, we are just trying to have fun. I think, especially for me since it's my last season, I don't have anything to lose. As a team we don't have anything to lose right now. We're just here to beat everyone if we can. I think that our energy is contagious and I think that people are really going to enjoy watching us this year.
On offensive output:
We are just trying to get good swings on good pitches. That's the name of the game - don't swing at pitches out of the zone because that's how pitchers get you out. That's why our walk counts are up. That's our main goal. We want to get as many runners on base as possible because more runners on base means more can cross home plate and we want to win.
Lexi Knief, sophomore CF
Q: What do you think was best, the offense or the pitching?
A: I think that offense was very good this weekend. We put a lot of runs up - we scored 20 in the first two games which is really good. We just need to learn how to finish games and we will get a lot more wins.
On offensive output this year vs. last season:
I feel like we are a lot more confident up at the plate this year. We have really been working on just staying calm and staying in sequence. It has definitely shown in our offense because our offense is really hot right now.
Q: What have you learned the most from Coach Lehotak?
A: Confidence is key. She makes us walk with are shoulders up, eye contact, handshakes and I feel like we are definitely a lot more confident in every aspect of the ball game.