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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESMay 30, 2015Kellsi KlossBeth TorinaAllie WalljasperOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA LSU 5 - Alabama 3 THE MODERATOR: We have LSU head coach Beth Torina, student-athlete Landry Bailey, student-athlete Kellsi Kloss and student-athlete Ally Walljasper. Coach, comments about the game. COACH TORINA: First, congratulations to Alabama on a great season. I think they just run a class program from top to bottom. It's always tough competing against them but it's also fun competing against them, too, when you truly respect your opponent. Couple of seniors ended their careers tonight over there that had great careers that we think so highly of. And we congratulate them on all they've accomplished. I thought our team came out really strong in the beginning of the game. I thought they were ready to play even with the delay from the extra-inning game before. I thought they came out ready. I thought they came out prepared. Got a good performance on the mound from Ally Walljasper, kept us in it the whole way. And I thought our offense hit balls hard throughout the game. I was happy with the performance my team had tonight. Q. Beth, when you have a game that starts this late, do you have to tell your girls anything going in, or change your preparation to make sure they're ready when it does get this late? COACH TORINA: I think these guys are used to these hours. I think they're young and they keep some later hours than I do. I think I'm the one that needed to get a pep talk before this game to stay up late. But they're so excited to be here. They're so excited to be part of this tournament. They're so excited to continue to try and achieve the goals that they set out at the beginning of this year -- which is to win a national championship -- that you could tell them they could play at any hour of the day and they would be fired up to be there and they would play their hearts out. Because they're wanting to win. Q. Kellsi, you kind of had a little bloop shot at the beginning of the game and you ended up coming all the way around to score. Could you walk me through that play from your perspective, I guess? KELLSI KLOSS: Sydney Littlejohn was throwing a lot away from righties, and I think I just got a little bit out in front of the pitch and I lifted it a little bit. I saw it was going to drop right away which is good. I knew I had an RBI. And then, I don't know, I think there were some miscues in the infield, and I read my coach well enough and I ended up getting home somehow. It was just a matter of reading the defense and reading what they were doing with the ball. It wasn't anything too special, I don't think. Q. Ally, I think there were at least three innings where the first batter, maybe the first two batters got on once, and right after that you sat them down one, two, three. Could you talk to your approach to bounce back so quickly after the lead-off batter got on in those innings? ALLY WALLJASPER: I was just trying to throw quality pitches the whole time and keep my team in it, and basically I just had to trust the process and throw quality pitches. Q. Coach, you talked about Bailey coming through in clutch spots and she did it again tonight, the two-out hit. Could you talk about how that opened the score up for you? COACH TORINA: Yeah, she was born with the clutch gene, I'm convinced of that. She just seems to come through for us when the pressure is on. The bigger the moment, the bigger she shines. She's just been so strong for us here, all season truly, but in the postseason she's been amazing. It's been 100 percent of because of how much she wants to win and how much she cares about this team, about her university. And I think she has so much respect for this university that she just wants to do anything she can. If that means she has to get a hit she gets a hit. She's definitely been clutch and she's been huge for us in the postseason. Q. Coach, because of how late it is tonight, and relatively quick turnaround for the 2:30 game tomorrow -- 1:30. Time zone is messing me up. How much of a challenge does that present to you guys and do you think it's helpful or would you that you haven't played Michigan yet or would you have liked to have gotten a look at them? What's your thoughts? COACH TORINA: We've been here before. We had rain in the regional. We played really late, Friday night, had an 11:00 a.m. start the next day. So we have been here, we've been here recently. It happened to us a couple times at the regional at our place. They dealt with the adversity really well there, and I think they will do it again here. It's tough to have the short turnaround, but like I said, if you told them to play at whatever hour of the day or night they would show up and give you everything they had, they're excited to be here. As far as playing Michigan I think we understand what a quality program. They have they're a great team. I know their on a huge roll right now, a huge win streak. It would be great to know more about them than to have the short turnaround but we'll give it our best shot and do what we can. Q. Kellsi, with Ally and Carley as freshmen, does that change your approach a little bit when you're managing them in the circle, in such, on such a big stage? KELLSI KLOSS: I mean, this is their first time here, but it's also most of our first time here. So, no, they conduct themselves really, really overly just mature for their age. You can't even tell they're freshmen, I say that all the time. You truly can't tell they're freshmen because they just conduct themselves so mature. Like I say all the time they're both a pleasure to catch, and they make me forget they're freshmen. So, no, they always hold themselves very high. Q. Beth, basically I think SEC teams eliminated other SEC teams. How tough is this league going to be going forward to win and compete in? COACH TORINA: I think it is without question the toughest league in the country. I think it's just an honor to be part of it and exciting to be part of it. And I think that's why we continue to grow, because we have such great support. We have such great facilities. But it's the place to be. I mean, it's the place where these kids want to come play. We continue to get the best players and best recruits because it's truly the place to be right now in the country. I think as long as we have that we'll continue to recruit these great kids these great athletes and just continue to grow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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