bleedCrimson.net: Coming off the loss to UTEP, Associate head coach Cat Heifner mentioned in last week's interview that you as a coaching staff were looking for better mental focus from pitch-to-pitch from your club. Did you see what you were hoping for in the Troy Cox tournament?
Kathy Rodolph: I feel like it has been a good start but an up and down start for us this year. We're just trying to get all the pieces put together. I feel like either the offense will come out and do really well and maybe the pitching will be up and down or the pitching will come out and we'll have some crazy defensive snafus. We're really just trying to put it all together and I don't feel like we've done that quite yet. But we're working really hard to get there.

bc.net: The doubleheader against Northern Colorado, you lose the first game 11-10, you left 14 runners on base but you came back in the next game and bounced back with a big win.
KR: I feel like in the first game, we came out and hopped on them 5-0 and then things went crazy in the circle and defensively in the second inning and it kind of rattled us and we had a hard time getting focused and not pressing. All of the sudden we went from being comfortable to a little bit of panic to "okay, let's get this under control." Even in the eighth inning when Tiare hit a laser to the second baseman and we got doubled out to end the game, I think we were in shock that we had stranded so many runners and had not come through. I just told the kids, "There are going to be games that we win that maybe we shouldn't win and there are going to be games that we lose that probably shouldn't lose and that was one of them so let's just get it together, stay together and get better and I really liked the response that I got.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the first five games of the season?
Cat Heifner: I think what we saw in the first five games was who we think we are, obviously we return the majority of a very potent offense and we have some new contributors to that. We have more a pitching staff and everybody was able to do their part. To have wins over Nebraska and Penn State is big for our program and it gave us a lot of confidence.

bc.net: The Penn State game was really a back and forth game and your pitching staff was really important in that game, Torrey Schroeder getting the strikeout with bases loaded to end the game.
CH: It was huge. It was huge for all of us and I think it was really big for Torrey because it showed that she could come in and really be clutch in a moment. She pitched a changeup with two strikes with bases loaded in the seventh and got us out of a jam and did a great job. Penn State is a team that is very aggressive and I look for them to have a pretty good season this year. Last year they had some injuries and this year they're very very srappy offensively and they're never out of a ballgame as they showed. It was good pressure for us and I thought we responded well to it and to have Torrey come in, it's been a while since we had a pitcher come in at the end of a game and was able to shut something down. That was great for our pitching staff.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly in-season interviews with Coach Rodolph as the Aggie softball team takes aim at a WAC title and their first trip to the NCAA tournament. This week we spoke with Associate Head Coach Cat Heifner. The Aggies kicked off the fall season this past weekend and recorded three resounding victories. We talked with Coach Heifner about the team's performance, what they'll continue to work on this fall as well and the return of catcher Brittany Clifton and also the performances of Ashley Maroda and Hoku Nohara.

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on your opening weekend of the fall schedule?
Cat Heifner: One of our big goals this year is to be mentally tougher than any opponent we play and to play every pitch as hard as we can regardless of what the score is. That's really challenging to do once you break the score open. I thought our kids did a really good job of that. We asked them to have certain approaches at the plate and I thought we really tried to stay true to that. Of course we expected our offense to be potent because we return seven out of the nine starters but I was really pleased with the contributions from the freshmen. I was really pleased with how hard and gritty our freshmen play and what competitors they are. I think they're going to be great additions to our team. We were really happy with our pitching staff. Pitching was an area we felt like we really needed to improve from last year. Torrey Schroeder gave up one run in six innings and she pitched in two different games. Sydney Williard who struggled with some back issues last year and didn't pitch very much is a sophomore this year and pitched six innings without giving up a run. Carissa Theis did a good job as well. We had a lot of different people contribute in the circle and that was helpful.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly in-season interviews with Coach Rodolph as the Aggie softball team takes aim at a WAC title and their first trip to the NCAA tournament. The Aggies kick off the fall season on Saturday and we spoke with Coach Rodolph about her pitching staff and the Aggies' 2010 schedule

bleedCrimson.net: You kick off your fall season this weekend what will you be looking for from your team?
Kathy Rodolph: We have not had many days of team practice so it's definitely going to be a work in progress. With the restrictions by the NCAA on how many team days we can have versus individual skill development I think we've had five or six team practice days together so we're still gonna be ironing out the kinks. But it is a reward for how hard they've worked to get to play somebody other than themselves.

bc.net: You've got a pair of transfer pitchers coming in, both from Big XII schools which really speaks volumes about how far your program has come and where it's headed.
KR: They're two outstanding young ladies. One senior transfer from the University of Texas, Torrey Schroeder, is just a lot of fun to work with, very hard working individual. Definitely a good competitor and definitely looking forward to getting some significant innings in the circle and honestly being a leader to show how to stay calm in the middle of the storm. I'm expecting good things out of Torey.

Alex Villalobos is a junior transfer out of Oklahoma State. She played at Central Arizona Junior College her freshman year and then transferred to Oklahoma State. Alex is a really hard worker as well. We're looking for her to come in and give us a lot of depth and innings in the circle and just bring in that competitive fire. Both of those kids really like to work hard and I'm real excited about them.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the season, freshman Tiare Jennings, the six incoming players and next year's schedule.

bleedCrimson.net: Kim Watson had a very gutty performance in the final game of the tournament against Nevada.
Kathy Rodolph: Kim has been somebody that we've counted on all year long and I feel like she definitely left it on the field and gave us all she had.

bc.net: Your thoughts on the season overall.
KR: You know first of all, I'm very proud of the kids and to accomplish 33 wins just shows that we continue to get better. I'm excited that we have the majority of the team coming back. We graduate four kids that have meant a lot to the program but we're also bringing back a ton of quality athletes with a ton of experience. We hope to continue to grow and add to them. All in all I feel like it was a very positive season, I'm just disappointed that it looks like we peaked a little early and ended up cutting the season a little short. I feel like with the potential of the team, we should have continued to play a little better than we did.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the win over UNM, the series against Louisiana Tech, the four seniors Kim Watson, Stacey Lien, Rishelle Gastellum and Kristi Randall, and the upcoming WAC tournament.

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on last week's games including the win over UNM?
Kathy Rodolph: Coming off a nine day road trip we were pretty exhausted by the time we got to Albuquerque. I felt good by the energy that the kids brought to the UNM game and I felt like they rallied together and it was nice to have it go our way.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the series sweep of San Jose State, Ashley Maroda, Kim Watson, Angie Ortega and the upcoming stretch of six games in five days against Boise State and Utah State.

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on series against San Jose State?
Kathy Rodolph:: I was excited how the kids responded after not playing in a couple weeks. They were a little bit anxious at the beginning but they were able to stay the course and attack and I was pleased with the effort.

bc.net: In game one, they scored the first run in the top of the first inning but then you come back and score 11 runs in the first and second innings and in the first inning Ashley Maroda hit her first home run in 17 games.
KR: Ashley had been on the verge of really breaking out and I felt like it was just a matter of time until she got back into a flow. She had been really having some great approaches in practice and it was nice to see all that hard work pay off for her. In the first game I felt like we came out and really tried to dictate the tempo early and were able to do that offensively.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the unexpected/expected weekend off, the series at home this weekend against San Jose State and scheduling.

bleedCrimson.net: You've had the weekend off because of bad weather, when you get an off weekend when you're supposed to play, what do you do with the team to keep a routine going?
Kathy Rodolph: The big thing that we try to do is try to get back in a regular schedule in the weight room and get back on our kettle bells and try to get in a little better playing shape and be able to fine tune some things that maybe without the practice time you couldn't do.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the series with Fresno State, Sydney Williard, how Arizona, Nevada and Fresno State compare with each other, the Utah State series this weekend and the WAC Tournament in 2010.

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the Fresno series overall?
Kathy Rodolph: Overall I was real proud of us coming out and playing strong against a great opponent with a lot of history and tradition. I felt like our kids prepared well and battled hard.

bc.net: In game one, Kim threw a two hitter, you got eight hits and three runs against Morgan Melloh and left seven on so you could have scored more. Your hitters were getting their bats on the ball pretty consistently all night.
KR: I felt like they had great approaches. Kim probably throw one of her best games of the year. She was really keeping the ball moving and really keeping them guessing and because she was able to hold strong, I think that freed up our bats to swing a little more aggressively.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie women's softball head coach Kathy Rodolph throughout the 2009 season as the Aggies take aim at the WAC title. In this week's interview Coach Rodolph talks about the win over New Mexico, the losses at Nevada and hosting Arizona. We also talk about the upcoming series this weekend against Fresno State and facing All-American pitcher Morgan Melloh.

bleedCrimson.net: Thoughts on last night's game, what do you take away from a game like that, you had a 7-2 lead, UNM tied at 7, but Tiare Jennings shows how clutch she is gets the walk-off home run.
Kathy Rodolph: I was extremely impressed. New Mexico had their top pitcher quit two weeks into the season and then had another pitcher leave the team so we knew their pitching was going to struggle against our offense. I tip my hat to New Mexico, those kids played hard, they played well and were going to give themselves a chance to beat us. If we were going to beat them we were going to have to take them down. They definitely weren't going to quit. I would have liked to have seen us handle the pressure a little bit better in the circle late but when I knew that I had Tiare and Hoku as two of my shots to win the game for us in the bottom of the seventh, I welcomed that opportunity.  Continue Reading This Post >>