Everything Tennessee Softball’s Weekly, Morrison, and Nuwer said in the postgame presser of the 3-1 win over Northern Kentucky
Opening Statement
Karen Weekly: “It’s a win, and in postseason, that’s all that matters. Survive and advance. We’re just super grateful to be playing this time of year, that we get to be together, that we get to be at home. The stadium is absolutely beautiful. The field’s beautiful. Everybody here puts so much time and effort and energy into putting on a great tournament, and it’s just super proud to be a Tennessee Volunteer when you see that out there tonight. So, really proud of our team for staying tough and figuring out a way to win, because that’s all that matters.”
Q. Karen, it felt like there were opportunities early in the game to break it open offensively. Left the bases loaded in the second, couple on in the third. What were you seeing offensively tonight, and what do you want to see better tomorrow?
Weekly: “We struggled to get leadoff runners on early, and then we struggled to have good at-bats with runners in scoring position. What I saw was I felt like we were being a little too hesitant in our swings. We knew what our plan was, but instead of being in a yes, yes mindset and then holding up, it felt like we were, ‘Is it a strike? Oh yeah, it is.’ And then when we swung, we were getting a lot of weak contact because we were a little bit behind.”
Q. Elsa, what was the mentality you had going up to the plate in the sixth inning before that homer?
Elsa Morrison: “The mentality was kind of just to have a good bounce-back for my team, have their backs after the top of the inning that we didn’t really want. Just an attack mindset and being that leadoff runner that Coach Karen was talking about.”
Q. Elsa, how do you avoid being hesitant with the swing, and how did you avoid being hesitant on that 3-1 pitch?
Morrison: “We talk a lot about playing with our eyes and trusting ourselves when we’re in big moments, when we’re just doing the little things. So in that whole at-bat, it was just I was playing with my eyes, trusting the pitches, got into a 3-0 count, and then got my pitch to drive with 3-1.”
Q. Erin, you had the ball rolling tonight. What gave you the most confidence and what was really working for you?
Erin Nuwer: “The drop ball was definitely working a lot. Just throwing it hard. I focused a lot on the rise ball this whole year, and kind of just switching it up I thought was really helpful.”
Q. Elsa, I’m sure growing up you kind of dream of a moment like that as a Knoxville kid. What does that swing mean to you?
Morrison: “It means a lot just being able to be there for my team, get to bounce back on a 1-1 game. And like Coach said, any success, any win, any runs scored more than the other team is going to be a success in postseason.”
Q. Karen, to see Elsa crush that in the sixth gave you guys an immediate response to them tying the game. How big was that, especially for a freshman playing such a big role for you guys?
Weekly: “It was huge. Watching Elsa navigate this whole year, she just gets better and better. The maturity, the composure has been there all year long. You watched what she did tonight behind the plate. Erin can trust her on her drop because she knows Elsa’s going to block it up. And Elsa was having really good at-bats leading up to that. Her first at-bat she roped one, second one she hit it hard, just didn’t get through the infield. So, you just knew she was in a good spot when she was up to the plate, and we had a chance to do something good.”
Q. You had a conversation with the team heading into that frame. What was the message that allowed them to play a little bit more loose, and then to the maturity of Elsa to give the spark to the team in that inning?
Weekly: “Just move on. Flush that. It happened. So let’s move forward and, okay, how do we need to attack this pitcher a little bit better and get your mind right to go up there and have some good at-bats.”
Q. Speaking of sending a message, you sent a message to Gabby right before her RBI double. What were you communicating to her in that spot?
Weekly: “Just to slow herself down. I kind of can tell when she gets a little sped up, and just trust her eyes. I think she was just trying to maybe force some things and try to force something to happen instead of just trusting her awesome abilities and play with her eyes.”
Q. When you shifted Ella Dodge over to first and put Madi in at third, what was the mindset or hope of making that adjustment?
Weekly: “Madi’s been at third pretty much all year and has played great defense for us. We had a lead, it was late innings. I wanted to get our four probably most quickest fielders we had out there. And Madi had, like I said, that’s her comfort zone is third. She just rushed herself on that ball and charged a little bit too hard.”
Q. Karen, I’m sure you would have liked to get Erin in the SEC Tournament. Did that play a factor in her starting today? What gave you the confidence to start her today? And Erin, what does that confidence that Karen has for you mean that you got to be the one to start everything off in the tournament?
Weekly: “Every day I have confidence in Erin. What gave me the confidence in Erin was what I saw when I recruited her, what I’ve seen since she’s been here. You just look at what she’s done for us this year. And when you have a staff as deep as we do, I think sometimes people can get overlooked a little bit, but they don’t inside of our circle. We all know that we’ve got three aces, and what a luxury it is for us that we can throw one of those three aces out there tonight, and you still have two aces that haven’t thrown a pitch yet.
“And I love the way Erin minimized her pitch count tonight. I think it was 84 pitches. We also knew that they’re a team that was going to put the ball in play, not a big power team. Erin’s a phenomenal fielder. As you saw tonight, she had five assists. We’ll play our corners back and let Erin take the bunts. She’s that good. So I just trust Erin because she’s super competitive, and I know she’s going to go in there and attack and play for her team.”
Nuwer: “Anybody wants to play postseason softball, so just getting that start tonight means the world, and just knowing that your coaches have a lot of faith in you is really important. And then also trusting that whatever does happen, Sage and Karlyn are right there to have my back.”
Q. Erin, what did you have more confidence in moving towards the drop ball today and kind of moving around the rise ball?
Nuwer: “Just like I said, throwing it by them was really important. And our defense has been really good all year, so just trusting that they are going to put the ball in play and just having great defense behind us is going to be really important, so letting them put it in play on the ground and then just getting those easy outs.”
Q. Karen, you talked about adversity the other day. How impactful do you think having a sixth inning like you did today this early in the tournament will be for the rest of this weekend and next week?
Weekly: “Oh, for sure. What I love is the bounce back. Because it’s what do you do when you get in those adverse situations? Do you tighten up? Do you crumble? Or do you just say, ‘All right, move on’? And I love the way we moved on tonight.”
Q. Coach Weekly, Charles Mays. Can you speak on Sophia Knight and what she brings to the team? She has the best on-base percentage on the team. Speak to what she does to keep getting it done for you all.
Weekly: “You kind of saw it tonight. She had a great bunt for a base hit. I love that she pulled the bunt out at that point in time, got the bases loaded for a really good hitter behind her in Gabby. She hit a ball hard, hit a ball up the middle for a base hit. She pulled a ball that, a foot to the right of that first baseman, and that’s in right field, and we score right there. So she’s just so versatile in what she can do. She’s really calm. I think that’s what our team notices the most about her is you get the same Sophia every day, and she’s just Steady Eddy.”
