bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the series against Fresno State, it's a team that for whatever reason has just had your number in recent games.
Kathy Rodolph: I was extremely proud of the girls. We turned five or six double plays, we had five or six home runs and we definitely played well enough to win. We just came up a little bit short. We definitely played them tough and just one or two plays that didn't go our way or one or two breaks that didn't. I was very proud of how we played.

bc.net: The second game of the series you lose 7-6, but you're down 4-0 in the first inning and that's a game that had a chance to get out of hand but the girls battled all the way back and had the potential winning run on base in the seventh inning.
KR: All three games we battled really really hard. Our record doesn't indicate it right now but we're actually playing very well and we're playing very hard and very determined. I feel like it's just a matter of catching a break, one or two breaks to go our way to make a big difference. This is probably the best we've been playing all year long. I feel like if we'd been playing like this early we probably wouldn't be in the hole we're in now.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the win versus New Mexico on Tuesday?
Kathy Rodolph: It was good to go up and play UNM tough on the road. I felt like we started off good, got a little bit shaky, held and then really dominated after that. I was really proud of the effort.

bc.net: The game against UNM last night and the final game of the series against Nevada it really seems like your offense has gotten its confidence and its swagger back.
KR: We're definitely swinging well and we're getting Kylie and KJ on and then Tiare, Angie, Hoku and Ashley are definitely coming back and swinging with a lot of confidence and they understand that in order for us to win games we're going to have to score runs.

bc.net: Starting with the game against UT-Arlington and continuing through last night, Alex Newman has pitched 15 inning and has only given up two runs. Has there been any discussion or thought about moving her to a starting role for your team or is it a case that she's more comfortable coming into a game when the team is in trouble?
KR: We talked about it and she and I talked about giving her the start on Saturday against Nevada but she is doing a phenomenal, phenomenal job of coming in and being steady and being able to hold down the fort until our offense can get its wheels under us. That's kind of the role that we have established for her this year and she's done very well in it. I'm not saying I wouldn't start her but she definitely performs well in that reliever role.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the Louisiana Tech series? You were about to get your first conference win and the two losses were games that could have gone either way.
Kathy Rodolph: We know that we're not playing as well as we believe that we have the talent too and we have really tried to take a step back and try to figure out why that is and why we are putting so much pressure on ourselves. We're going to give everything that we have and try to stay positive and work on the mindset. This weekend at Louisiana Tech, Meghan Krieg is an outstanding pitcher and I tip my hat to her, we had opportunities to score and were not able to capitalize and come through. The bright spot on the weekend was that we played great defense and our pitchers gave up less runs and that's something to look forward to. We had some kids that did play very well in the series. We're back, working hard and ready to get after another series this weekend.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: The first game of the Hawai'i series you lost 9-8 and it was one of those games that you just couldn't quite get to the lead. Do you feel like if you had been able to get to the lead and win that game that it would have changed the complexion of the series?
Kathy Rodolph: I tip my hat to Hawai'i because I think they're an outstanding team and they're No. 25 in the country. They have a solid offense and they're playing very well behind Steph Ricketts and the new Australian National Team pitcher [Kaia Parnaby]. I feel like we did have opportunities in that first game to win but I felt like we have just been in a slump and a little tentative.

bc.net: At the end of that first game you were down to two outs and Teresa Conrad came to the plate and drew a two out walk. How proud of her were you for her to be able to draw that walk and not press and not try to do anything that's maybe outside her ability?
KR: The interesting statistic about Teresa Conrad is she is in the Top 30 in the country for on base percentage as a freshman. That's quite an accomplishment. If you were to look just at her batting average I don't think you see everything that she brings. And as a freshman she definitely does a great job of getting on base. In the nine hole that's really what you're hoping to have happen and to be able to turn over the lineup and get back to the top of the order and have a great presence in the box.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the weekend series against Boise State?
Kathy Rodoph: Boise was playing with a lot of confidence and they did a really good job and for whatever reason we were a little out of sync and out of sorts and just kind of struggled. We've come back home and are trying to get it together and see the things we do well and try to put all our energy on looking ahead. Boise just played very aggressive and we just struggled.

bc.net: In each of the games of the series you had opportunities to score but left seven on base in the first game, five in the second and then seven again in the final game. What was causing your hitters problems driving in runs?
KR: To be perfectly honest I'm not sure. We know we're a very strong offensive team but we were just kind of out of sync and could not seem to get in a groove and we stranded way too many runners.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: At the midway point of the season what are your thoughts on where your ballclub is right now?
Cat Heifner: I think if you look at last year and this year in terms of the point right before where we started conference and we're discussing this with our team as well, we're actually right where we were last year, after playing a much more difficult pre-conference schedule this year. I think we're positioned at a point where we're at a good point. I think we have more energy than we did last year, I think we're mentally in a little bit better position to enter conference. Obviously we've been working through getting our pitching some experience and we've done that so it has felt a little bit up and down but it's been mostly up. The NCAA statistics came out today and we're fourth nationally in batting average and slugging percentage and runs scored per game, we're averaging about seven runs per game. We've got a lot of things that we can still get better at but I really feel like we're in the driver's seat. What we do with it is now up to us.  Continue Reading This Post >>

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 >>