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UConn Softball HC Laura Valentino · Coaches Corner

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  Hi everybody. I'm Bob Joyce. This is the HUSKYHQ dot com, a
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  coaches Corner podcast, and it's been a while since I caught up with Yukon
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  softball coach Laura Valentino. Now in our fifth season in stores the Huskies,
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  I only have six games left in the regular season, after wrapping up a
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  non conference schedule with a win over Boston College twenty six and twenty twelve and
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  six in the Big East, one three in a row. But Laura,
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  let's go back to the beginning of the season. February wasn't exactly great for
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  your team with then March came in a trip to Hawaii and it seemed like
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  everything just started to click and it seemed like that's where the season got turned
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  around. Would that be a fair assessment, yes, by I would say
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  early on in February, we were still trying to figure out the identity of
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  our team and we're beating ourselves a little bit. And then the sunshine in
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  Hawaii came and we really exploded offensively. Things aligned for us offensively as well,
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  and you know, we have some depth on the mound this year,
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  which is really exciting for our team going into postseason. So it was a
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  really exciting, great experience for our players and they allowed that momentum to propel
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  us into conference play second in the Big East. And of the weekend series,
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  you've only lost one. You swept the pall to start the conference season
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  with the only series you lost was the Saint John's, So you're sadly in
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  second place. Still a lot to play for, a lot of positioning,
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  but a big weekend coming up with the conference leaders in Villanova. Timing pretty
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  good now with the confidence that seems like your team has coming into this weekend
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  series. Absolutely, you know, we I would say have had successful years
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  these past couple of years, winning the regular season, but I can't say
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  that we were playing our best off ball towards the end of the years,
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  and you know, with the way we played against Steen Hall, you know,
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  dealing with a little bit of adversity and learning about ourselves this year,
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  I do feel confident going into the series against Villanova US playing our best softball
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  and staying united as a unit to be able to take the series over them
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  all. Right, before we get to individuals, what about the senior leadership
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  on this team? How's it been? Yeah, so we have seven seniors,
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  which is definitely a higher number kind of back to a couple of years
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  ago I think that we had that many. But I would say the biggest
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  thing about this senior class and their leadership is their energy and their personalities are
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  contagious. When they have a fire, have a spark, it really trickles
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  down into the entire team. So when they're smiling, loose, having a
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  good time, it's really electric for our team and it really sets a spark
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  in our dugout because really, at the beginning of the year I had a
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  very honest conversation with them of the reality of all of them being on the
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  field was flint. I mean, obviously just with similar positions and other things
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  shaken out, and not all of them are on the fields right now,
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  but they're all a key component to us continuing the championship growth of this team
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  and us doing something we haven't done in twenty years. This year, you
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  mentioned you're deeper in the circle than you've been in recent years. Peyton,
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  Kenny, Megan O'Neill, they've been the steady Yetdies good Saladi r Rais.
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  Kenny got the got the win, the win over Boston College, but tell
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  me about this young lady who transferred from Memphis and Arkansas native. Yes,
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  Hallie Sims has been a great addition to our staff. From the physical piece,
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  she's probably the best compliment you can get to Meghan and Teyton, just
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  with Megan being lufty and up in his zone and Peyton being righty up in
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  his own, Hallie really commands the off seat and the down So it's just
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  it's awesome for the three of them being able to build off of each other,
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  and it makes it tougher for the Big East specifically, it's definitely an
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  offense dominated conference. We're able to keep people off balance just with switching the
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  rotation around. But what I love about Alli is her presence in the way
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  she approaches the game. She comes to practice every day with an attitude to
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  get better and just really doesn't really do anything but smile out on the mound.
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  She's a fast paced worker, and again I know that she wanted to
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  end her career with an exclamation point, so that was a huge component to
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  come to Yukon and it's really been a pleasure to coach her all right,
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  Lexi Hasting's no different than last season as far as these statistics go a little
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  better hit her last year number wise, but she's right around four hundred and
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  fifty six hits twenty five of thirty stone bases. That's one area that I
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  notice is down a little bit. But it doesn't seem like maybe you don't
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  have as much speed or maybe good base dealers you had that extra one last
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  season. Yeah, So Lettie I would say has grown mentally as a hitter
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  this year, just in her it and her ability to slow things down and
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  use your tools. I mean, it's pretty neat. You don't see players
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  that can hit flat end bunt and I've seen that more from left to this
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  year. So I'm excited to see what she does in the last six games
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  and even in the conference tournament. I think we might see even some better
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  numbers from her this year than last year. And you know, she sets
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  the tone obviously, but yeah, I think overall, the component a couple
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  of things. You know, I wouldn't say we are as quick one through
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  nine as we were last year. But the other big components to softball this
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  year is you can review leaving early on the basis and I'll just put in
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  my two cents. I'm not sure it's gonna stick around for our game.
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  I think it's really blowing things down, and games are being decided based off
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  of when you come off of a base. It seems very minute, so
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  I think that shows in our numbers a little bit. But we'll see what
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  happens with the game and how it evolves and if that's going to continue to
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  be a thing. All right, you have the twins from California, a
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  great story as far as you're recruiting them, and Grace and Hope Jenkins.
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  Grace has become the steady rock behind the plate, but Hope, I guess
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  has accepted her roll pretty well d H. And she sees some time in
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  the circle. Yes, I'm proud of Hope. You know. Obviously last
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  year she threw the majority of our innings, which in the recruiting process,
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  I can't say that I thought it was going to be how it was last
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  year. I thought more how it was how it is this year with her
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  being a big bat in the middle of our lineup and her ability to come
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  in and throw an inning or two or get us out of a jam to
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  keep people off balance. That's what Hope does well. So she's not a
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  thinker she's a doer, and that's when we keep reminding her to go into
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  the batter sox and attack a good pitch early. And she's she's a hitter
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  that definitely can make some great contact even on bad pitches. So I'm really
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  proud of her coming into her own identity as a player this year. And
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  then you know her sister too, is you know, dynamic at the top
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  of the lineup. She hits her power, She's pushing the doubles for our
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  team this year and definitely a nice compliment to Lexie at the top. Yeah,
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  how about behind the plate how she helped with the pitching. I would
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  definitely say Grace is a huge part of our pitching staff being successful, just
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  in that she's their personal hype woman. I mean, she goes out there
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  every day to be selfless, to make them look good, to make them
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  feel good. And I would say specifically with Hallie, just given the amount
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  of innings and the way that she throws the ball down in the zone,
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  I mean, it's really impressive of seeing how she blocks the ball. I
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  can't tell you off the top of my head how many strikeouts with drop their
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  strikes that she's had. But Grace makes it look easy. I mean,
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  just speaking from catcher experience, Callie's drop ball dropped almost nine to ten inches,
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  So it's pretty neat that Grace is able to handle that pitch very very
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  well with ease, and she really is just a servant in her leadership for
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  the pitching staff. A couple more minutes with Laura Valentino, head softball coach
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  at Yukon, how about pleasant surprises this season that maybe players from last season
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  have taken a pretty good jump for you. I'm really proud of Lauren Benson,
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  who is somebody that has accepted her role, you know, stayed on
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  board, on board with me since I set the job at Yukon. You
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  know her and and Peyton, and she's still here and it's finally definitely love
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  to see them in their best softball and they're in their last year. And
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  Lawren Zatten in the two hole for us. She's a tough out at the
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  play, she works account she's a pest in terms of being able to put
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  a bunt down or hit a double in the gap that won the game for
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  us last night. So I'm just excited for Lawrence finish Agner's career on a
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  high note. She leads our team by example and also is a heart of
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  the team as well. She's a heavy influencer on the younger players, and
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  I'm just excited to see the growth that she's had and how she's going to
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  finish. All right, Finally, we touched the point a little bit of
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  the Villanova series. Traditionally, if I remember right there, they can hit
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  the long ball pretty well. They're they're a power type team. Is that
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  still exists with them? Yes, absolutely. I mean they're a well rounded
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  offensive team that's pretty typical of Villanova. So I think it's going to be
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  a really awesome matchup, just given I think our pitching staff is at the
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  top of the com prints going against the best offense in the conference. So
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  I think if we continue to pitch well and get a couple of key hits
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  and play the defense that we have been playing over the past three weekends,
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  you know, I think we've really continue to improve defensively. I think we
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  are going to surprise them. I think they're going to come in here and
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  maybe think that they're gonna hit all of our pitchers. But I do think
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  that people don't know what they're going to get until they're facing Hallie and Peyton
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  and Meg until they're in the box. So I'm excited to see our kids
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  compete and have some chip on their shoulder this weekend. Yeah, lots of
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  you con Villanova on both sides of Calhoun Way game Friday at three for Laura
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  Valentino's teams, Saturday at six, and then Senior Day believe it or not,
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  it's already here two o'clock on Sunday, and then they wrap up the
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  regular season at Georgetown next weekend. Hey Laura, thanks for a few minutes.
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  Best of luck this weekend and hopefully we'll talk to you around the Big
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  East Tournament time. Awesome, thanks so much. Bob. Excited to for
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  Big East Tournament and hopefully everybody can catch us on Fox on Saturday night at
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  a big TV game, So looking forward to that and hope to see the
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  stands past this weekend. So thanks so much,