May 24, 2008
Stanford Head Coach John Rittman
Opening Statement...
"I'm a little disappointed about tonight but give a lot of credit to Texas A&M for coming out and really jumping on us early. I felt Missy (Penna) had a lot of adrenaline flowing and was just over-throwing in that first inning and her ball flattened out and the Texas A&M hitters took advantage of it. We tried to fight our way back in against a very good pitcher and just came up short the rest of the way. But we will live for tomorrow and come out tomorrow ready to play."
On Penna's pitching performance in the first inning...
"When you get in big games it happens to all pitchers. Some times you just get a little bit out of control and you start throwing the ball too hard or trying to do too much. I think that was evident. We could see it in the dugout that her ball was flat. I think that after that she settled down a little bit. I think tomorrow you will see a different Missy come out and pitch."
Sophomore center fielder Alissa Haber
On Megan Gibson's pitching performance...
"I think the two things that made her effective were she spotted really well and she hit her spots. She hit her spots on the corners really well. The screwball on the outside corner for lefties was a little bit tough and the righties with the curveball but also her use of her off-speed kept us from scoring. We weren't able to see it but now we have a better idea of what to expect. We are going to make the adjustments and I have all the confidence in the world that we'll come out tomorrow fighting."