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NCAA SOFTABLL CHAMPIONSHIP REGIONALS: BATON ROUGE

May 19, 2017

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LSU - 2, Fairfield - 1

THE MODERATOR: We have Destinee Pallotto and also Tori Reed and Head Coach Julie Brzezinski. We're going to open it up with an opening statement by the head coach and then followed by questions towards the players.
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: You know, it was a little bittersweet. I think we came out with a lot of intensity. I thought we hung with our pitching. We drive the ball when we needed to drive the ball. Destinee did an amazing job on the mound, and we hung.
We played a great game, yeah, but we would have liked to have that win. That would have been great.

Q. Coach, did the team kind of exceed your expectations today? I mean, especially the way they played late in that game, really showing a lot of fight and kind of proving that they could hang with LSU throughout.
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: Oh, we've been fighting for a while. We've had some difficulties throughout the season with injuries and everything. So we really have been fighting for a while. So, no, that part did not exceed my expectations.
But I did think Des did an amazing job with their batters, and Tori calling the game behind the plate. We've been doing that all year. I don't call the pitches. She calls the pitches. She's been doing a great job, and we think that's a big part of the game, and that's what keeps it fun for the kids to be able to do that stuff. I think these two need a lot of credit.

Q. Tori, just talk about the seventh. It got a little interesting there. What were your thoughts, I guess as you scratch across the run and you're still in this thing?
TORI REED: Right. So it's going in the seventh, and it's your last chance to strike. We're down two. The last thoughts going through your head as a batter, we just need base runners right now. We don't need to do anything too extravagant. We just need some runners on and keep hoping the rest of the lineup will do the work.
You just stay in there with a clear head and just go for it, really.

Q. Destinee, is this one of those deals, if they're going to let us stay around here in a tight ball game, we're going to take every opportunity we have to get even?
DESTINEE PALLOTTO: Yeah, I thought we did what it took. We played a great game against a great team. Towards the end, we definitely started to -- we hit it hard all throughout the game, and I was very impressed with our offense. I was willing to do my job, and I know they were doing their job. So it's give and take.

Q. Destinee and Tori, what was the key to approaching LSU's hitters? Did you all have kind of a strategy? You mentioned that Tori calls pitches. What was kind of, I guess, the tactic to kind of slowing them down and forcing weak contact?
TORI REED: I think Des and I just play our game. We've been together for three years now. I know her very well. She knows me very well. We just kind of rely on each other, and you see the batters, you look at their swing, and you go from there. I mean, there's not much more you can do. You just kind of go off that, go off scouting reports, and drill 'em.

Q. How's the weather for you guys, the humidity and stuff?
DESTINEE PALLOTTO: It's hot.
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, we just came off of our championship where we had jackets on. So it's a lot different. But I think we got used to it. The 5:30 game time was better than -- tomorrow will probably be tough with a 2:30 game time.
But once you get into it, you don't really think about it anymore. You just play the game.

Q. Coach, you talked about getting into it. I saw a lot of your fans with the "Geaux Stags" shirt. How cool is that for them to travel and get a little local flavor too?
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: It's great. One of our coaches is from New Orleans. She and her family made up those shirts knowing we want to show respect to the area that we're at but also root for the Stags.

Q. Coach, I don't know if you talked to your right fielder about the play in the first. Did the sun factor into that at all, do you know, or was that just a missed play?
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: It could have been a little sun, a little wind, a little nerves. Who knows? That's part of the game, and we move on. We still fought the rest of the game after that ball, and we picked her up as best we can, and that's part of the game. That's what happens.

Q. Coach, going back to Destinee's performance in the circle, did you feel like you had a good scout on LSU's hitters? You did a really nice job of limiting their big bats from really hurting you that much. How is that possible?
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: You know, I think we tried to feed more off of Des' strengths as opposed to their weaknesses all the time, if that makes sense. So we went more with that, and like I said, Des has been throwing really well. So we just wanted to keep her rolling, and she did. She threw a great game.

Q. Julie, I'll turn your attention to McNeese. I guess, what did you observe from that game earlier? I know they were no hit obviously, but potent lineup at the top.
JULIE BRZEZINSKI: Yeah, they have a real strong lineup. They have a lot of speed. Something that we do have to keep them off the bases because, if they do get on the bases, they're going to try and run a lot.
We have to attack. We have to attack offensively, and we have to attack defensively pitching as well. We're not playing not to lose. We're playing to win every game. So that's our mindset.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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