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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 1, 2015

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Florida 3 - Michigan 2

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan head coach Carol Hutchins, student-athlete Sierra Romero, student-athlete Haylie Wagner and student-athlete Abby Ramirez. Coach, general comments about the game.

COACH HUTCHINS: Great game by Florida. You know, Aleshia Ocasio I thought was brilliant tonight. I think Lauren Haeger speaks for herself. And honestly I felt that we didn't really come out to play to win until about the fifth inning. Our energy, we seemed a little tentative. Things didn't really go our way. And we just had to keep plugging away and get back to having our good energy that we're so known for. And I thought we got a lot better as the game went on. And I told our kids, you have to win two games in this tournament, this part of the tournament. Doesn't matter which two games. But just need to continue and build on what the last few innings, good Michigan softball. And we have to believe. And I thought we had a little bit of doubt maybe, maybe a little jitters but I think we're better than that. And I told our kids, we've got to plug away, move forward, put it behind us and we'll be better tomorrow night.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Hutch, could you take us through the two decisions at the end when Sierra (Romero) was on third about whether to send her or whether she was going to go?
COACH HUTCHINS: Well, that play was -- it was a rocket. And you know, it was going up the middle. And when Sierra saw that she (Kathlyn Medina) was trying to turn the double play but she hesitated obviously for a second because she doesn't want to make the out at the plate. When you hesitate you can't go. It was the right decision, because it was a quick play, bang-bang, they made a great play. Give their defense all the credit in the world. Their defense is fantastic. But when I saw them turn the double play I was yelling "go" but it was too late. She had to hesitate. And she made that decision. And that's the way it is.

Q. Abby, if you could talk to us about what was it that Sierra Lawrence told you when she had her arm around you before you went up to hit, and talk about your strategy there and coming up with that big hit?
ABBY RAMIREZ: She just gave me a little pep talk. We were putting our pinch runner in so there was some time. And she just calmed me down and said, see the ball, do what you do, you just need one base. So all I wanted to do was get it out of the infield.

Q. You were obviously cognizant of the fact that they shifted over there, that's where you were trying to hit the ball, right where you hit it?
ABBY RAMIREZ: Yeah, just taking it where it came. And it was on the outside corner, but I was able to push it up the middle. And like I said, I was just trying to get a base and trying to get it out of the infield and give us a chance to score.

Q. (auren) Haeger started Florida's last seven games before tonight. Did you guys expect her to start tonight?
COACH HUTCHINS: We did. We prepared for her. In the back of my mind I knew it was possible they wouldn't start her. But I don't coach their team. So we just had to prepare and ultimately regardless of who is pitching we just need to have good at-bats and see the ball. I thought we gave away a lot of at-bats. We swung at a lot of their pitches. Changeups in the dirt. And we needed somebody to step up and start having good at-bats, which we did later in the game. But at some point obviously I'm sure we'll see Haeger.

Q. Obviously you see Florida again tomorrow. But you've been around the game a long time. How does Haeger stack up against other softball players in history?
COACH HUTCHINS: Obviously she's a great player. I mean, what can you say about her? She's a great player on a great team. And that's all I can say about it. Huge amount of respect for her.

Q. Haylie, the last time the team lost you came back to beat Minnesota twice in a row. Could you speak towards the team's resiliency, whether you'll do that here?
HAYLIE WAGNER: We have a ton of fight. And I think we're going to be able to come out tomorrow and just come out and play with the heart and soul we've been talking about the past few days, the past few weeks. We just have to come out and play Michigan softball. We didn't do that at the beginning of the game. And we're a very resilient team and we're very relentless and we'll just go after them.

Q. Carol, Megan (Betsa) for the third straight game had some trouble at the beginning. Is she having confidence problems, and if so are you going to consider making a change tomorrow at the beginning of the game?
COACH HUTCHINS: Well, she appears to have some confidence problems, I would say. And we need our best confidence on the mound, I can tell you that. It's a long tournament, hopefully. We're here to get her confidence back. There's no reason not to have confidence at this point in the season. But it's been a tough week so far.

Q. Sierra, Hutch was talking about the energy in the last two innings. Was that the result of the confidence from seeing the pitcher more often or was something going on in the dugout where somebody got everybody pumped up?
SIERRA ROMERO: I think in the beginning of the game things weren't going our way. That happens sometimes. Once our balls started to fall, we were getting more excited. But we need that energy throughout the whole game, no matter how we're doing.

Q. Confidence is something that this team has talked a lot about as being critical to your guys' success. After tonight that does that shake that confidence at all or how are you going into tomorrow making sure you have the confidence that you're used to playing with?
SIERRA ROMERO: That doesn't affect us at all. They still have to beat us twice. So the second time is going to be even harder. We'll come out there ready to fight. And we're not going to give it to them easy.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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