Weekly Q&A: Head Coach Carol Hutchins
5/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
on the upcoming weekend vs. Northwestern "You could not ask for a better Big Ten finish than to get to play for the championship on your own field against the team you have to beat to win the title. They are as good a team as we have played since we played Arizona and in my mind they are probably better than Arizona, player for player, particularly their hitters. The thing that scares me the most about Northwestern is they are such an emotional team and you know they will be on a high coming in to that game. Emotional roller coasters are often a bad thing, but this weekend I expect Northwestern to be jacked when they get here."
On U-M's recent games vs. Northwestern "I think they get fired up to play Michigan and over the last few years, they have played us really well. Exciting is not even the word for the games our teams have played the last three or four years. They have been crazy games that were one big back and forth battle. I'm excited to see Northwestern because they are as capable as we are of getting all the way to the series (WCWS). The thing about this matchup is that it's like playing in a super regional since you'll have to beat a team of this caliber twice to move on, so this is great experience for us. Northwestern is indicative of the teams we will be seeing from here on out in the NCAA Tournament."
On the sweep of Michigan State last Sunday "The best part of the whole weekend is that we were ready and the kids were ready for their opportunity and they knew they had some life. The fact MSU beat Northwestern gave us life and the fact we had not played in a while contributed to us being ready. The kids are done with finals and done with school, so there was no reason for them to be anything but focused. I was pleased because we had such a great home crowd and you always hope that works in your favor because I suspect another good crowd this weekend."
On her teams' focus heading into the weekend "We have a pretty veteran group that has been through this before and had to win a game to win the Big Ten championship. We had to beat Michigan State and Northwestern in the last weekend last season and it was difficult, but we persevered and a lot of those kids are back."
On the goals for the rest of the season "I like the experience we have on this team, but I am a little concerned that we want the Big Ten a little too much. Whether we win it or not this weekend, every goal we have is still in front of us. This is a team that aspired to deeper into the NCAA Tournament than we ever have, so showing up to play and playing well this weekend vs. Northwestern is probably more important to me than whether or not we actually win the championship."
On Jennie Ritter "Her focus has been exceptional and she is going to need to maintain that in order for her to be the caliber of pitcher we need her to be right now. For us to achieve our goals we need a pitcher on the mound who is in control of the game and in control of the other team and she is certainly capable of that. She has shown it time after time. We talk about how big the Northwestern games will be, but our most important games of the season were against Michigan State because we had to win those just to get in this position and she responded."
On the rest of the rotation "There is no doubt Lorilyn is going to end up in the games this weekend and in the NCAA Tournament. She is going to have to come up big for us at some point and in order to do that she needs to regain her confidence. It sounds weird for a player who is 20-2 to not have confidence, but she is not the same player in that area that she was earlier in the season."
On Tiffany Haas "She just comes to play and she is consistent. She does not carry any baggage and by that I mean she does not worry about what she is supposed to do as leadoff hitter or I'm an All-American I need to do this. She just plays. She sets her goals, one of which is to get two hits a game, but she understands her role and does the best job of anybody on our team of keeping a clear mind and doing the best she can. She is simple minded and I say that in a positive way because she does not make things any more complicated than they already are. She has great pop for a leadoff hitter and is somebody that could really hit in the No. 3 spot next year. I can't say enough about Tiffany because she shows up everyday with a smile on her face and plays her game."
