Postgame Quotes: #3 Michigan 10, #7 UCLA 4
5/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 30, 2015
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Michigan Head Coach Carol Hutchins
Opening statement ... "That was a game. What a great game. Exciting. I'm so excited for my kids and I'm so proud of them. And we were down -- we weren't just down, they were going after us. And that is one heck of a hitting lineup. And I think it's the best one we've seen all year. They were just going to threaten the whole game. Haylie Wagner was as great as I've ever seen her. She didn't get to pitch in the World Series two years ago. She was injured when we got here and she didn't see a pitch. All year long, she said I didn't get to pitch in the World Series. It's driven her all year. I couldn't be prouder of her. Because she shut down a really great lineup. But all these kids sitting up here and all the kids in the locker room, we just play one pitch at a time. We didn't get ahead of ourselves. We didn't get down on ourselves. We just fought pitch after pitch. And every pitch of the game I couldn't be happier for them. And I'm really happy to have a day off."
On battling and chipping away to score runs ... "The thing is, I don't think we played seven innings. We just play one pitch at a time. You only have to play one pitch, and the kids really embrace that and they really execute it well. And we weren't worried about seven innings at any point in time. We were just worried about the next pitch. It was just really key for us to get bases -- getting bases, and we don't use the bunt a whole lot. But I think biggest for us was just finding a way to keep attacking and getting on base."
On the Wolverines continuing to surprise her ... "Every day. I never know what's going to come out of Monte's mouth. These last couple weeks it's been really enjoyable for me because our destiny is in their hands. I trust them completely. And whatever they do out here, they play their hearts out for Michigan all year. There's nothing they could do to disappoint me. This is a great team. That's all I can ask for."
U-M Senior LHP Haylie Wagner
On the Super Regional comeback against Georgia helping today ... "I just think going out there when we were at the Georgia Super Regional we played as a team and we did the exact same thing today. We were one heart, one heartbeat, and we played together and we kept chipping away afterwards. We knew they were going to come after us and we just attacked back.
"Both times I knew that Megan (Betsa) knew I had her back and I knew that she had mine every step of the way. And I think that's what's been great for us all year is that we know we have each other's backs so we could come in for each other at any time. I knew that they were attacking and I had to attack right back, and I wasn't going to let them beat me."
On pitching in the WCWS ... "Two years ago I didn't get to pitch in the World Series. And just coming out here I knew my chance was going to come. When it was coming I was going to do my best. I'm at the World Series and I'm just going to leave it all out on the field. This entire year and last year I just wanted to come out and get back here and experience this atmosphere and just work my butt off and trust my team no matter what and just coming out here and having the motivation behind me and the trust in my teammates has been great."
U-M Junior Kelsey Susalla
On the Wolverines' being comfortable in a comeback situation ... "In practice we do a drill where we actually come from behind to simulate what happened today. So it's definitely not something new to us and we, I think, executed well."
On keys to Kelly Christner's success ... "Definitely just going up there with a swagger on her and knowing that she was going to get the job done, puts good contact on the ball and puts it in play."
U-M Sophomore Lindsay Montemarano
On Sierra Lawrence's diving catch in the seventh ... "We really build off each other. We've grown close as a family and we like to focus on each other. When one of us makes a big play, all of us get excited because it wasn't just her play it was our play because we play together. So it really just fired us up and momentum is huge we just kept that momentum going."
U-M Sophomore Kelly Christner
On the Wolverines settling in at the plate ... "I think honestly we were just trying to go out there and get our cuts. We knew [Ally] Carda was going to give us something early to hit in the count. So we just wanted to attack it from the very beginning and not let any good pitches go by."
On Kelsey Susalla's play ... "She's going out there with the confidence I know she has seeing the ball really well attacking early in the count. Even if she has a bad swing or a bad pitch or bad at-bat she comes back and attacks at the very next one."
