Gallagher Addresses Media at Monday News Conference
May 13, 2002 | Softball
UW Softball Coach Karen Gallagher spoke to the media at the UW's weekly news press conference. Gallagher discussed Badgers NCAA tournament bid and game against Oregon State this Thursday in Iowa City.
A partial transcript of the news conference follows.
'Personally I'm very happy with the bid. Quite frankly I was not happy with our performance in the Big Ten Tournament. We put ourselves in a huge bubble going into this weekend. The selection committee had some tough decisions to make and we probably could have help ourselves a little more going into the Big Ten Tournament and winning a few games or even winning a game.
However, I think some of the things we've done throughout the year, such as the big wins against the top five teams and top ten teams certainly helped us. Our best season this year in the Big Ten Conference certainly helped us. We 've evolved as a program and done some good things and proved ourselves. We have another big opportunity this weekend. This is a huge weekend for a lot of reasons. It 's another chance to prove that we are a competitive team and that we can show up when it counts. I think that is our biggest team challenge this week.
We are going against great competition this week, only 48 teams across the country go out of the 245 Division I programs, and we are very proud of that. We are facing Oregon State, who is a top notch PAC 10 team, which has some of the best softball in the country. We have to prepare ourselves as well as we can against Oregon State. They are always in the top 10 or top 20. When I was at the University of California, Oregon State was always a very competitive, always played well, was well coached, and always had strong pitching and you have to in order to survive in the PAC 10 and we will have to be prepared for that as well as we possibly can. I'm excited, I think it 's a great opportunity for our kids to go into this weekend and learn what it means to be at the next level and do well for this program to continue to grow in a positive light.'
Do you find that you are defending yourself in this tournament '
'At times because I think that we've done some great things. But I think that consistency is very important and I think we've had our moment this season, and realistically we did. I was disappointed in our last week and I 'm trying not to focus on that a lot because there is a lot to be grateful for in the way we did play at certain moments. Sure we came through in a pinch the last two weeks of the Big Ten where we had to perform in order to get into the tournament and did very well. I give our kids a lot of credit. But I think when you put yourself in a situation where you didn't win a game at your tournament it is a bit questionable. I think we deserve it, I think we did some incredible things and when you beat a number one team and you consistently play very competitive ball against the top teams in the country I think you deserve a look and I know the committee certainly did look at that. We had a good three weeks of Big Ten Conference play ending that. I wanted to have a much stronger showing at the Big Ten Tournament but it didn't end up like that.'
On Andrea Kirchberg:
'After her finals, I think Andrea will be very focused, and this is when Andrea shines and I expect that type of performance from her. She is the type of athlete that when the chips are down she is going to perform for you. She gets excited about it. I think she really gets pumped up about playing the top teams in the country. I 'm trying to help her to adopt the same energy going into the Big Ten conference play or the Big Ten Tournament and we need to figure that out and why we don't perform there. Here I think Andrea will step up and really do a great job for us this weekend, she tends to shine when we play the top teams from across the country and I think she likes that challenge.'
On Kirchberg's Wrist Injury:
'She's fine. I think we keep her stabilized; it 's more of an overuse injury. She pitches a lot of innings for us and she works hard on the mound. She has to work harder against a better team and obviously that has occurred these past few weekends, and she has been a big part of that. She is a tough competitor and focused on how she can help this team win. Injuries are part of being an athlete and working to overcome that at some emotional level.'
On the Freshmen:
'The exciting thing is that they are freshmen and they are coming back. They are very much the core of our program so that is very exciting for us for the years to come. They stepped into the program and made an impact and when you have freshmen that can step into the program and do that, that's great for your program. This year we had a great mix of veterans and youth experience, and I think that really came to play throughout the course of our year and that is very much why we are continuing our season.
Boo Gillette is a great athlete, I would say her greatest strength is that she loves to play. She has a passion for the game and gets into every moment, every pitch, every at bat.
Kristin Zacher is a great athlete that is only going to get better.
I think that with the experience that we've been given these past two weekends, at the Big Ten and now the NCAA Tournament that these kids are just going to continue to grow and to become better ball players and people because of these experiences. So we are excited, it's going to give them a great experience to bring back to next year's program and next year's team. That will make us a much better program.'
Concerns going into the weekend:
'Being a little more mentally tough. That goes to having a young team and learning that intangible throughout the course of their careers and throughout the season at some point. I know we have talent. We have the athletic ability and the talent to do well. The thing we need to do is to play well together as a team. Obviously, we need to not make the defensive errors that we have made in the past that have hurt our team. That takes the wind out of your sails especially if Andrea is playing well and pitching a great game and we are getting some good hits. I think it comes down to a mental focus level that we are still learning because we are young. If we can score a few runs for Andrea early and take some of the pressure off her, we put ourselves in a good position to win that particular ball game.'
Becoming a regular NCAA Tournament team:
'Realistically I was hoping that within five years we would start post season and being consistent with that. I think we were right on with that. It was our fifth year that we earned a birth into the Big Ten Tournament. Getting the bid last year and doing what we have been doing, I think this is huge for our kids and they need to learn from these experiences. Being a young program, only seven years old, we have to look back to where we started which was with nothing. Now we are consistent competitor and contender. I think we are team that not a lot of people like playing, for a lot of reasons. One is Andrea Kirchberg, another one is that we play hard and scrappy. We have several kids who can make it happen at any given time and teams know that. In terms of being on schedule, we are very much on schedule. Once you get to postseason, you want it more the next year. As I tell our kids the more successful you are the harder you will have to work. I give our kids a lot of credit for where we are along with bringing in the right people and having the right coaching staff. It all goes together.'
