May 30, 2007

2007 NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

May 30, 2007

BAYLOR HEAD COACH Glenn Moore

Opening statement:

"We, too, are excited to be here for the first time. We're happy to be one of the representatives of the Big 12. We have four seniors at Baylor that have worked very hard, as all of these kids have. We started scheduling two years ago with this week in mind. We had a vision that if it worked out it would put us here this year rather than last year. It's worked out for us so far and we are excited to be competing against some of the best teams in the country."

On the first-round matchup with Arizona (against whom Baylor won two out of three games this season):

"I have played the University of Arizona a long time and to get (that first) win out of all those games was a big day for our program and for Baylor University. We are playing a different and better team, as I think we are. That will probably motivate them a little bit as well. I think we have a great team, I think we have a lot of talent. The team chemistry has been phenomenal this year. Just a lot of hard fight and desire that started back in the summer and fall and has paid off in the spring."

BAYLOR SENIOR PITCHER/INFIELDER Ashley Monceaux

On growing up around the Arizona program:

"(I was) born and raised in Tucson, Ariz., so obviously you are a big U of A fan for all sports - basketball, football. Being a softball player, I was a softball fan. I went to many games and knew a lot of the players. It was a dream of mine, like many people, to go to U of A and do that. It didn't work out the way you would think it would. I'm okay with that. I'm still a fan of theirs but I'm at Baylor now, so that's where it stands."

ARIZONA HEAD COACH MIKE CANDREA

General comment:

"I think for everyone sitting up here this is the place to be this time of year. We are finding that it is getting tougher and tougher every year to get here, so we are very excited to be here once again. It has been an interesting year for us, a lot of drama, a lot of things going on. But truthfully I am very proud of this team. We showed a lot of resilience in the postseason to this point. And obviously we are looking forward to having a great week and for our senior class, especially this young lady next to me (Caitlin Lowe), I think we would like to go out in style. But we also know that this is the time of the year where it takes a lot of special moments to make it happen, so we're going to enjoy ourselves and go out and compete. I want to congratulate everyone up here for a great year. It has been a great year for college softball, it has been fun to watch this event grow. People always say there is parity happening around the country. I think this year you can see it and it is here and I think it will be here forever."

On facing Baylor in the opening round:

"I have a lot of respect for Glenn (Moore) and what they have done with that program. I have seen it grow and I know that they work very hard. I know their staff very well and I know their players and they are a very good opponent. I think last year we learned a lot about how sometimes you have to stumble along the way, but it is getting hot at the right time and that is what the College World Series is all about. There is one team that is going to be walking out of here feeling good about themselves. I think that it can be any of these teams but it is going to happen between the lines. We have a lot of respect for them. We know that when we played them in Waco - it was a few months ago - I know they have gotten better, I know we have gotten better. We will find out what happens here shortly."

ARIZONA SENIOR OUTFIELDER CAITLIN LOWE

On how her team balances spirit and intensity:

"Well, I don't consider our team very much of a rah-rah team. We come into the game with enough energy to get things done. We don't ever want to get too focused on cheering or anything like that. We want to come into the game with intensity and really focused energy as opposed to just energy with cheers or something like that. I think that certain players are going to approach the game differently. I am more of a quiet person. I like to have more of a focused energy and internal energy whereas some people need to be bouncing off the walls to be ready for the game."