Softball vs. Baylor Quotes

Oklahoma Head Coach Patty Gasso
Postgame Quotes

On if she is proud on how the team responded from last night:
“I'm proud, but I'm not surprised because this team is known for learning lessons the hard way. We learned it the hard way yesterday, but we respond and we work to make it right. That's just kind of the, I would hope you would say, the character of this program, is that we do not accept that, we know we're better than that, so everybody kind of called each other out and we had a gameplan going in that was effective, so yes, proud, but expected this.”

On if the team took a lot away from last night:
“Yeah. After you get to watch video and get to see some things, it really helped this offense tremendously, and it helped Paige (Parker), as well.”

On how Paige Parker responded from last night:
“She's really something special being able to step up as a freshman the way she has, and answering the call the second night in a row. Baylor is a good hitting team. They are a College World Series-style team. They have the experience at the World Series; they have a lot of those athletes back from last year, and they show it. They play with confidence and they work, and Paige had to work as well, and I just think she was very effective. Yesterday, she would tell you that wasn't her best, and she looked at video, and she made adjustments, and it showed tonight, and when we needed something big, I mean, she can't throw a shutout against a team like this, or every time she's out on the mound, but if she gives up two against a good team like Baylor, that's success. Our job is to help her on the other side, so she did her job really well tonight.”

On Shelby Pendley's home run in the second after the team's three-run double in the first:
“It was a big tone-setter early. We came out on fire. Not only Shelby, but Georgia (Casey's) big hit was really what opened things up. I think our style in the dugout and our better at-bats early show that we were different tonight, and I think they felt that. When we had opportunity, we broke it open early, which was good. Just wish we had a little bit more opportunity to add some later in the game, so we need to do a little bit better job of that.”

On if Lauren Chamberlain is struggling and if she has said anything to her:
“I'm not talking to her because I really don't think she's struggling. I think she has some good at-bats today. This is what's hard is everyone is waiting for Lauren to hit a home run, and if she doesn't hit something off the wall or over, she's struggling. And I'm not saying that against you, it's just the whole feeling, and I mean, that's tough. This is a tough pitcher, this is the best pitcher that we've faced all season, so I think Lauren had some quality at-bats, and if you're watching her, you're going, 'ah, she just missed.' Her timing was on, she definitely had better at-bats. I am not worried; I don't feel like I need to talk to Lauren because she understands that she is in a good place. What I need to find from Lauren is after yesterday, does she come out and have a better game plan, and she did, so that's success to us, is just having better game plans and better fights at the plate, and she did that. So I'm fine with Lauren right now.”

On Chamberlain seeing a lot of pitches:
“That's another reason why she's in the lead-off spot is because she can run counts, and we can see a variety of pitches that are going to be thrown because you can't stay in one place against Lauren. We get to see the full hand a lot of times of the pitcher in the very first at-bat of the game. And it's hard to be a lead-off sometimes, because you sometimes are the guinea pig, but Lauren knows how to handle that. She's the best bad-pitch hitter I've ever seen, so she can do some good things that way.”

Infielder Georgia Casey
Postgame Quotes

On gathering momentum leading up to her first-inning at-bat:
“Yeah, when there's runners on the momentum's up, and it's kind of easier to keep it rolling, and it just kind of works like that, but I feel like we just needed to do a better job keeping that going throughout the rest of the game.”

On what tonight's game means for tomorrow's game:
“I think it puts us in a good spot. We all know that we have to come out hard tomorrow, we know what's on the line, and we just have to come out like we did today and stay strong for the whole game.”

On how Paige Parker pitched:
“She was just hitting her spots really well, hitting the corners, and wasn't really leaving a whole lot over the plate.”