NCAA Softball Championships Dahlonega Regional Game 3 Quotes

North Georgia Head Coach Mike Davenport

On Augusta State:
"Being in the Peach Belt Conference we know anyone in the conference is going to be a tough opponent for us.  Melissa has done a great job at Augusta State.  We knew coming in that it would be a battle again.  Whoever we face tomorrow is going to be a good opponent.  When you get to this level of the season everyone is a good opponent because that is why they are here."

On the game changing third inning:
"The biggest adjustment we made from yesterday was hitting the ball on the ground a little bit and forcing Augusta's hand defensively.  Some of the ground balls for us found some holes in the defense and that led to some big hits from our kids stepping up."

On Leslie Smith's performance:
"Leslie did a great job offensively making adjustments for us.  You talk about our offense we got runners on base and base running for us today was very impressive.  We really work hard on it.  Our kids work extremely hard on every phase of the game.  Base running being one that doesn't really show up in the scorebook but today it did.  We had about three or four slides I think that either advanced us to the base or got us into a situation that we were safe instead of being out.  A couple of the balls arrived before the player did and our players made great slides."

On Laura Voyles performance:
“She goes we go.  She is the leadoff hitter and that kid is playing through some serious injury right now.  She just competes and for us just starting the game when "Loop" goes the rest of the team’s confidence goes up in the batter’s box."”

On Hilary Cox performance:
"Hilary has settled in.  We had a couple injuries behind the plate and it kind of forced her hand to be a freshman stepping into the catcher’s position this year.  The first month of the season when she was in the catcher’s role she really settled in defensively.  Her bat faltered a little bit but she continues to work.  She is a coaches dream.  She is one of those players who is another coach on the field for us as a staff.  Her bat about a month into the season really started to come alive and she is just a clutch hitter.”

On Sarah Phillips performance:
"Five strikeouts but no walks and that what is the big key for us too.  We do want to challenge hitters and with Sarah (Phillips) we do feel that we can challenge hitters.  Augusta State again is a very talented offensive team and when you challenge them they are going to make you pay.  We are going to continue to challenge hitters right now as well as Sarah (Phillips) has been throwing as of late."

On preparing for tomorrow:
"Well when you are in a tournament like this you want to get the first game because you don't want to go into the losers bracket right off the bat.  Today's game really puts you in a great position so now someone has to beat us twice.  And we could face any of these three teams.  We have to prepare and give our kids some time off right now.  Hopefully come back tomorrow and whoever the opponent and just play our game."

 

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Augusta State University Head Coach Melissa Mullins

On playing North Georgia:
"I have a lot of respect for North Georgia and Coach Davenport.  We knew playing North Georgia would be tough competition and we had to be ready both mentally and physically.  We just didn't have our defense on today and that hurt us early."

On the errors in the third inning:
"It’s what I told the girls, you know this team is going to hit well. You can't help them out with anything, with a lot of walks and certainly not errors.  We gave them a lot of opportunities to put runners on early in the game and then it’s just really hard to bounce back from that, emotionally and motivationally."

On Thornton and Camp's performance at the plate:
"Both great hitters, obviously Kasey, she is the Peach Belt Freshman of the Year so we expect her to do real well.  Jess as well, she is just real versatile, fast kid who can go out and hit."

On moving on to the next game and hopefully making it to the Championship game:
"We would love to win tonight, whomever we play.  We have played both teams, Wingate and Queens, we played them both earlier in the season.  At least we kind of have an idea of what to expect there.  And we hope to be playing two games against North Georgia tomorrow. It’s what is fun about a tournament.  You get in the losers bracket and you can’t get down about that and you just stay positive and just keep working hard.  I told the kids we are spending the night anyway so might as well play some games tomorrow."