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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WOLRD SERIES

May 31, 2017

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

THE MODERATOR: We want to welcome everyone back to our 3:00 p.m. coaches' press conference. Starting from my right, your left, we have head coach Beth Torina from LSU, whose team advanced to the Women's College World Series out of the Tallahassee Super Regional. LSU comes in with an overall record of 47-20 and they're making their sixth appearance here at the Women's College World Series. Next to her we have head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez from UCLA, whose team advanced to the Women's College World Series out of the LA Super Regional. They come into Oklahoma City with an overall record of 47-13. The Bruins are making their 28th appearance here at the WCWS. Next to her we have head coach Jo Evans from Texas A & M University, whose team advanced to the WCWS out of the Knoxville Super Regional. They come into the Women's College World Series with an overall record of 47-11, and they are making their eighth appearance here in Oklahoma City. And then we have coach Tim Walton from the University of Florida, whose team advanced to the Women's College World Series out of the Gainesville Super Regional, and they are making their eighth appearance here at the Women's College World Series.

BETH TORIAN: Well, we're excited to be here. Always happy to be in Oklahoma City. It's never easy, and we feel very fortunate to be here because I know it's a tough road, and all of us went down a tough road. I thought our team endured a lot the last two weekends. I'm proud of their fight. I'm proud of their effort. I think our team has talent, but I think they have something even more important, and that's fight, and they showed that in the last few weeks.

Just honored to be a part of a really strong field. I think there's a lot of parity in softball this year. I think we have eight really great teams here, and I'm honored to be on the stage with four really, really great coaches.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I feel the same. First I'd like to thank the city of Oklahoma and just what you do to be able to bring together such a tremendous event. I think we all know we set out -- it's a goal for all of us to be able to get to this point, so we celebrate being here. Also just the NCAA, I think there is a lot of parity, in the regionals and the supers, all created just kind of great drama for TV, but I think it really shows where we are in our sport. For us specifically about our program, I think the best part about it is we've got a 56-game schedule. There's a lot that happens during that schedule, and I think for us, we're always looking to try to get our teams to be where they need to be at the end, and that was our goal. There was a lot of things that happened and changes, and it's all part of the journey that allows you to get to this point to be here as a top eight. So I celebrate it. Once again, I agree, I'm fortunate to be able to be a part of just some phenomenal programs, great coaches and great athletes that represent our sport, and I just really look forward to getting after some great softball this week.

JO EVANS: Well, we're excited to be here. I've had a blast coaching our ballclub this year, and we know how to fight. We really worked hard to get here, and it's been a long time, too long, since we've been here, so it's nice to have our program back in the mix. The field we know is great, all eight teams. There is a lot of parity, and it's exciting to think that any number of teams here could win this national championship. I think that makes it really fun to be a part of.

Our team is young. Prior to this year, none of them had competed in a super regional, and now they've really grown up quickly and learned how to play the game and learned to be very resilient. So it's a fun team to coach, and excited to be up here with these four and the next four who will come in, just a lot of experience and knowledge, and the coaches I have a lot of respect for. It's going to be a fun week.

TIM WALTON: Yeah, I'd say the same thing. Just want to just thank Oklahoma City, y'all's sports association, University of Oklahoma, of course the NCAA always do a great job in this event, making this special for our student-athletes.

But about our team, I think this has been a grind of a season for us. We've had -- had been a running target for a long time this season, and don't mean to say that out of arrogance, but we've had only seven kids that have ever been to the College World Series before, so we're also bringing in a young club. To be sitting on this stage with Texas A & M and UCLA and LSU and bringing the Florida program is a very humbling experience because we've been doing this a long time, and these three programs have been what the College World Series has been for so many times and there's a gazillion national championships between the two next to me, and Beth has done a great job of getting her club here many, many times.

We're excited to be here. Just excited to see if our kids have an opportunity to step up and step their game up and really play in this moment. I think that's the intrigue of playing at the College World Series is the cameras are on, there's a lot of people watching softball, and a lot of people make a big deal about kids making mistakes on this stage, so I'm looking forward to our team competing and looking forward to all the action we have on the first day on Thursday with the four great games. I'm really excited about the growth of this sport and where we're headed. It's a great time to be a college softball coach, so thank you.

Q. I'm kind of curious, there was a chance of seven SEC teams here; to see three of you make it, I'm wondering, Kelly, was there a little Pac-10 challenge amongst the coaches to try to get some Pac-12 teams here? What's it like to sort of see the mixture that's happened as the SEC continues to evolve but obviously the Pac-12 is still there and doing good things?
TIM WALTON: Well, shoot, it was a very exciting and very prideful time to see all 13 teams to make it to the SEC. I reached out to all 12 coaches and congratulated them them on making it to a regional because that's not an easy thing to do, and then to have eight teams go to the super regional I think is a tremendous accomplishment.

But let's be honest, the Big 12 and the Pac-12 and what they did in their regionals and super regionals, it was easy to see maybe just how good they were at the top, and we see that here by the field and how well it's spread out.

I can say that the SEC does a wonderful job of preparing us for what this stage is going to be like. But this is anybody's tournament, and I think that that was clear to see in watching the offensive explosions out of Utah or out of Washington and LA and Arizona. I think they're doing something very well in all the other conferences as well as the SEC.

JO EVANS: Yeah, it's fun to be in a conference where every single team goes postseason, 13 teams. Pretty phenomenal really. And going into the conference, I said that I think this is going to happen, and I don't think it surprised the SEC coaches just because we're playing those teams week in and week out and know how good they are. But I also had a lot of fun watching the Pac-12 this year, following them, and following my alma mater, Utah, and seeing how they've grown their program. Just like getting right back in the mix and just these coaches that we've seen for years in and out and how impressive that Pac-12 was this year was a lot of fun to watch.

Yeah, I think if you love softball, you don't necessarily have to hate all the other conferences. You don't have to necessarily have a rivalry. It's just kind of fun to see what teams are up and coming, and those teams that just get here year in and year out like UCLA.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I think where we are in our sport I think is exciting. If you go back in history, the Pac-12, the Pac-10 at the time was dominant because we were -- the SEC didn't exist. But when we expanded the field, I think it did a great job of allowing more opportunity across the board to expose all these programs that are just doing a phenomenal job. The SEC, the ACC, the Big 12. I can go across. There are some great programs from coast to coast. You know, I think the emergence of the SEC and the support with the facilities and the coaches and what they're actually doing is great for our sport, and for the Pac-12 in particular, I'm very proud of where we are. You know, being a product as a player and an assistant and as a head coach, yeah, we've been able to do some good things as far as representing in this opportunity. But this year in particular, there were some teams that just -- we had some great pitching in the Pac-12 this year that allowed us to compete, and several of us got out of the conference to be able to compete with other teams in other conferences and did a great job of being able to compete, better than we have in the last couple years.

And always, there's always some exciting regionals and super regionals, not being able to have all represent, but I'm very proud of what they were able to accomplish for all of us within our conference this year, not just with each other but literally from coast to coast.

But I celebrate where we are in our sport. I agree with Jo, there's no reason to separate conferences. I think it's an outstanding just -- I'm going to say celebration of just where we are that there are teams from coast to coast and conference to conference, it's not just Pac-12 and SEC and you can see that here in the tournament, this World Series.

But I think the most important thing is it's tough. It's tough getting here. You know, back in the day, it was a different road, and you really have to be able to play your game no matter who you are, what colors you wear, or if you're home or you're away, you've got to be able to step up your game if you want to get here. To be able to just play your game, it's not even do more, it's just play your game knowing that there's a lot on the line. Once again, I celebrate being in the top eight no matter where we're from. I look forward to playing because the game doesn't know where we're all from, and it's our job to just get out there and play great softball.

BETH TORINA: Like I said before, I think there's parity all over. Both leagues are good. There's a lot of good conferences right now. You know, with the growth of TV we got to see a lot of everybody this year, and I know how good they are. I know how good their league is. I've see a ton of them. They can pitch, they can swing it. They're great.

We're very proud to be from the SEC, though. I don't think our team went through that gauntlet schedule and got our butts kicked over and over to not be proud of where we came from, so we survived it, and we're proud of the 13 teams getting in. I think that's huge for our league.

I would say the one thing that really the SEC prepares you, and it especially prepares you for the super regional format with a three-game series every weekend against a team RPI 32 or better. I think you're prepared for what you're going to get in a super regional. I know our team is tough because they've battled through that all season long. I'm definitely proud to be from the SEC, but like I said, I think there's parity throughout. I think there's great teams all over the country. I've enjoyed watching them all play all season long, and I'm with Kelly, I don't think it matters where you're from. When you take the field tomorrow, it's going to be who's ready to compete in the bright lights and who shows up tomorrow.

Q. Kelly, UCLA not exactly having the performances you guys wanted last Women's College World Series, so what do you take from that, and how do you think this squad is more prepared?
KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: We actually got asked that question in regionals, and one of my players actually answered it the best, asked that exact same question, and she just said, that was 2016, and I agree with her. I admitted that I made the mistake in fall to say that we were going to pick up right where we left off. You know, we graduated two people and we were going to pick up right where we left off, and then I realized that that was last year. But I credit where we are as a program to the last two years, three years of UCLA softball because it takes a great deal of experience, also, and there's a lot of things to be able to learn to get back to this stage.

So I credit them, and I think we are a product of where we've been the last three years of the program of just grinding, figuring it out, kind of getting back to just being able to play ball. So I look forward to us getting out there. I think I wouldn't say anything more than this 2017 has figured out who we are. We're playing great ball together. Last year brought us great experience, but that's as old as dirt. We've got to show up in 2017, and I look forward to this group just getting out there and having the opportunity to play their game.

Q. Coach Evans, can you put into perspective what Trinity Harrington did for you in the super regionals just given the situation and being able to come through?
JO EVANS: Yeah, it was a sad time, a hard time for our program, and yet our team did such a great job to rally around her. It was important to us that we didn't exploit that situation, that we didn't sort of glamorize what was going on, so it was an opportunity for us. It was very intentional for us to keep it to us, and I think that that sort of gave us some strength with our numbers, and when Trin needed to go home and miss regionals, our kids were just -- they said, we just want to make sure that Trin gets to pitch again, and if she's ready to come back to supers, we're ready for her to come back. With her dad passing away on that Thursday, Sunday night she called me and she said, Coach, I'm ready to come back. You know, we fought hard all year, and we fought hard through postseason for each other, for our program, and also for Trin and her family. It's been a real growing experience, a time of growth for us, and the silver lining of learning empathy and how to be resilient, and Trin has been a great example of that. She came out in our super regional and was phenomenal. In fact, she had never the entire season pitched two days in a row, two games in a row and came out and won both Game 2 and Game 3, which was why our team was so fired up for her when it was all said and done.

Q. I think ESPN was flashing a stat that going into these supers, 82 percent of the time the team that won the first game was the one that advanced to the Women's College World Series, and yet I took at these three SEC coaches, can you all talk a little bit, encapsulate maybe your -- you were all down 1-0 in the supers. Can you give us a snapshot of how your teams were able to battle those odds?
BETH TORINA: We're always in that spot. That's how we like to do it apparently. So we're unfazed by it. But I think our team does a good job of knowing the sun is going to rise tomorrow. This is a game; this is something our kids get to do. They play it. This is a job, and yeah, we worked really hard at it and we want to win as much as anybody. But I don't think we approach it as life or death. I think we understand that the sun is going to rise, we're going to go out and give it our best, we're going to play fearless, we're going to try to play big. If we go out and play not to lose, we're going to have a problem, so we just play to win and hope for the best, and it's worked out somehow for us more often than it probably should have in those situations.

JO EVANS: Well, we were so bad on day one that we came out day two and said, this is bound to be better. We're bound to play better today.

I just was really proud of our kids. They managed it well. Like Beth said, we didn't think about losing and the fear of losing at all. We just were very eager to get back out there and prove that we belong and take care of business and play the game where we recognize who we are as a ballclub. So it was nice to come out that next day and be able to do that and then follow it up.

But I will say that the new format with the three days makes that a lot easier to just really focus on that day and not worry about being out there for 14 innings in a day.

TIM WALTON: Yeah, I think I shaved off my playoff beard, we went to a different restaurant the next morning and had a different pregame meal. So we had to kind of shake our mojo. I agree with Jo, we were just so bad, and uncharacteristically bad. We gave up three unearned runs in one inning, and it just is what it was, and we figured out a way to shake it off. But I think the key ingredient for us is we had a senior pitcher named Delanie Gourley who was fresh and ready to go and came out and pitched a really, really good game for us to be able to advance to the next day.

Q. Tim, you go back-to-back national champions and then you miss out on this tournament last year. What was that offseason like coming into this year? What was it like talking to your girls knowing that you guys had missed that opportunity to maybe three-peat?
TIM WALTON: Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a missed opportunity. We got beat, so I think that makes it a little easier to swallow. We didn't throw the ball away. We didn't do a bunch of terrible things. We just got beat by a kid who hit a home run. It was actually pretty rewarding. I think it was easy to gain a lot of perspective on how hard it is to get to the College World Series. Most people think that because you win X amount of games, because somebody seeds you to be something that whatever, that you're going to get somewhere, and I think it was clear for us to be able to take all that in, and ironically that game was one of the only complete games I had thrown most of my pitchers all season long last year. So we learned a lot about that and how we use our pitching staff.

But the offseason was very rewarding. We graduated five wonderful athletes who had great careers, and we just had to turn the page to a new chapter of Florida softball, and I think our young players embraced that, why they came to the University of Florida and what it was all about.

But for me personally, it just really put an emphasis on how hard it is to get through a super regional and get to the College World Series.

Q. Coach Evans, Sharonda McDonald was here as a senior in '07 one of the last times that A & M was here. What's kind of your fondest memories of her and what do you think she brings to your matchup with Florida tomorrow?
JO EVANS: Well, I love Sho. She's one of my favorites. Texas A & M hadn't been back to the College World Series for 20 years, two decades, and then that kid showed up on our campus and stole, I think, 75 consecutive stolen bases and just brought a light to us and was a great leader for us.

I love her as a human being. She's one of my all-time favorite people. And I know Beth was fortunate enough to have Sho in her program, and then now Tim has her in his. So I couldn't be more proud. I feel like I kind of helped raise that kid, and now just really admire her.

I think what she brings to any program is stability. She's incredibly loyal. She is not afraid of hard work. She will show up with a smile on her face and be ready to go to work. So I think she's just a really steady, steady young woman who's got a really bright future ahead.

Q. Coach Evans, with the young team that you've brought here, do you think practice today, being on the field at this stadium kind of was their we're-here moment, and what will you tell them to keep their emotions in check for tomorrow?
JO EVANS: Yeah, I'm sure we were the one team that was acting silly and ridiculous and paying attention to everything that moved just because those kids haven't been here.

For me, I said to them, listen, you haven't been to the World Series. I know this is your dream. When we get there, fine, have some fun with last night's social, have some fun when you get to media day, and enjoy yourself. You don't have to act like you've been there before because you haven't been there before. And then when we're done with that, let's go to work. Strap on the cleats, let's go. So practice for me was an opportunity for them to experience every part of that field they're going to play on, get in the bullpen, get in the outfield, get in those dugouts, sneak a peek at the locker room, stand in that batter's box, just all those things so that tomorrow when they come out, it's at least somewhat familiar.

But obviously there are going to be thousands of people out there, and it's not going to be the same thing. But we're used to playing in big venues, not, of course -- I'm not minimizing -- this is going to be more fans than they've ever had, but we're used to being in a heated atmosphere and a lot of fans and loud and raucous, and so at least we have that under our belts. Our kids are excited.

I just want them to understand they belong here. You know, even though our program hasn't been here in a while, there's no reason why our team shouldn't feel like we belong and get out there and compete because at the end of the day, it's the game, and that's what we're trying to condense it to. It's the game. But the game doesn't know you're at the World Series, it's just a game.

We're going to do our best to manage that.

Q. Tim and Jo, Melissa Lombardi is in her 20th year at OU. Curious if you can put into some context Melissa's impact on Oklahoma and their program. And then Jo, you and Joy have been together for two plus decades, the importance of having an assistant for so long.
TIM WALTON: Yeah, I think obviously the impact that Melissa has had on Patty, any time that you hear of a big job, I'm sure Melissa's name gets thrown out there. I think most coaches are trying to get Melissa to take off and go to another school to maybe break up that dynamic a little bit because they're so good together. But she brings a lot of stability to the OU program. She's a great sounding board for the pitchers and the catchers, and her work ethic is phenomenal, her loyalty is phenomenal, her family is phenomenal. She does a really good job of being able to -- she really does the X's and O's, the preparation of pitch calling and all the things that she's gotten credit for, three national championships and X amount of consecutive Big 12 championships. But I've had Jennifer now with me, she and I have coached together for 15 years, there's a lot of things that you can potentially miss or bring to your attention, and just the little things, and not only the loyalty but being comfortable, and then when some days it's my day to get on to the players, some days it's hers, some days it's her days to pump them up and some days it's mine. So I think just having the consistency of a coaching staff or at least a coaching person next to you brings a lot more of a family-type environment and a lot more consistent environment. With consistency your players kind of know what to expect every single day, and I think that's what you get from Melissa and OU's program, and I know that's what you get from ours.

JO EVANS: I have so much respect for missy Lombardi. I am just so impressed with what she's done for so many years and her loyalty, and I think she doesn't get enough credit. I think Patty is a phenomenal coach, but always the head coach gets all the credit. What Missy does day in and day out to get that pitching staff ready to go is really just unbelievable, the consistency, and she's just steady. She never draws attention to herself ever. You just -- she almost just sort of blends back into the woodwork. But I guarantee that program would not be what it is without her, and I have a lot of respect for that program because we usually have to play them in postseason, a regional or a super regional. So they're a familiar foe for us. But Missy is a terrific coach, and I know that she could be coaching at a lot of different schools. Oklahoma, kudos to them for stepping up and taking care of her and making sure she doesn't leave their program.

For me, with Joy, I just am really grateful to have somebody in the trenches with me. She sees me at my worst, she sees me at my best. She knows me better than anybody, so she knows how to be a buffer. I think every coach is better if you have someone that can say the hard things to you, and she does. She's the one that will say, hey, listen, we haven't spent enough time on this, or you know what, you need to pay a little more attention to this player, or the other day at that super regional, she said, hey, next time our team is kicking the ball around, you need to go out there and chew them out. Go out there and take a bite out of them, where I would have said, hey, we're all right, we're going to get this. And in the Game 3 where I'd had enough, I just was at my wit's end when we started making some mistakes early, and when I went out there, I thought about what she said, and it felt good because that's really what I wanted to do in that moment. But I chewed them out pretty good, and they responded.

That's someone who has -- who's intuitive and understands, she can take a step back and actually read a situation and then help me get it right. Anybody who has an assistant as long as we have, you're just so grateful that they don't want to go somewhere else.

Q. Question for everybody: ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe has been a staple at this event for years, an advocate for the sport. Seems to have a deep connection to the players, as well. I'm wondering from your experience dealing with her, especially now as she battles through cancer, why do you think the players have such a strong connection to her, and how have you seen kind of her attitude continue to stay high through some of the personal things that she's been dealing with?
BETH TORINA: Well, because she cares. She truly cares and she's truly invested in each one of these young ladies. She doesn't just go out here and take the interview and do that. She cares about them off the field. She spends the time with all of us. She spends the time in our dugouts when we're practicing and getting to know our players, and she knows their favorite everything. She knows everything about them, and she cares, and she's truly invested, and I think that's special. I think you always want people around your program that aren't just punching a clock but are out there because they're truly invested in the success of these young women, the same reason why we all do this job is why she does hers, because she wants to see them succeed and put them in a great light, and I hope we can do the same for her. I hope we can lift her up through this battle. I know we've all tried to pray for her, sent her things, done things for her because we all want to lift her up in this and support her the same way that she's always supported us.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I agree, and I've known Holly for a long time, and when I got the news, it was pretty devastating, but then I also felt very confident because I believe in karma, and I think Holly has done an outstanding job of covering so many great stories. She looks for the great stories. She looks for the inspirational story, and I think that good karma comes around. She's actually doing treatment in LA, which I'm so happy for, because she ended up going to find one of the best that can help her, and she just came up to the field actually just -- she was covering our super, and she came up and she shared just positive news about just the past -- of what was happening because she's had that fight and she's had setbacks, but the thing about her is her attitude is so positive, and she's such a strong female that she wanted to come and be around the girls, and she wanted them to celebrate just the opportunity that they have and said that although it's not gone, it is shrunk, and I celebrate that. We went crazy.

But I tell her, I think the biggest part of it beyond just this, there's so many things that she has done for our sport. She'll take the girls aside and talk to them about how to be successful, about how to market themselves, about how to deal with adversity, about how to be a great mom. She's a single mom, and she has been a great role model in all of that.

I think she's so strong, and she literally will say, I don't really have time for this cancer so I'll deal with it when I have to, and then I've got to get back to work because I love just being around this energy.

So I love it. She brings great energy. She's very positive. She's a strong female. I believe she will win this battle because she's such a fighter. But she's also just a great example of us being able to celebrate just every day, and I love that she's around all of us because she's a great inspiration for all the girls and the coaches and everybody that she's around.

JO EVANS: I've known Holly for quite a while because she's a Ute, so we have that in common that we both graduated from Utah and we grew up in Utah. Holly Rowe was an inspiration long before she got cancer. She's always been that. She's just real. She's the most real, genuine, authentic person you'll ever meet, and it doesn't change whether she's going through treatment or whether she never had cancer, and she's that steady. She's your go-to. She's the one you always know what you're going to get from her, and she has great passion for what she does. She wants to be great at what she does, and she is. And she can get anybody to warm up and lighten up and be themselves, and that's what every reporter is trying to make happen. She does it because she's real and genuine.

Our sport is lucky to have Holly Rowe, and we're all -- she has so many people pulling for her, it's just a tribute to who she is.

TIM WALTON: Yeah, we've grown very fond of Holly and her fashion tips and all the other things that she brings to not only our dugout but in Gainesville when she visits and comes by the field and meets with our team and talks to them about not only, as we've mentioned before, not only how to handle themselves, how to handle their fashion, their makeup, their marketing, their brand, everything that she's done, and she's done a wonderful job of that. But I'll echo the same thing that Kelly mentioned, too, the mom quality that Holly Rowe has, she just brings something to our women that I just haven't seen somebody in her position do. It's a very trusting, it's a very genuine approach to how to be a strong female, be yourself, have your own identity, but the trust that she brings and gives, it's really empowering, and she's been so fun to watch and see her not only on our sidelines but covering the women's games when she does the play-by-play, and just her insight is really fun to see, and really we've been rooting for her for obviously a long time but now more than ever.

Q. Coach Walton, obviously Kelly Barnhill has been great, but your No. 2 pitcher has been almost as great statistically. How much confidence does that give you going into a situation where you'll have to win multiple games when you have a second pitcher of that quality?
TIM WALTON: Yeah, we have a third pitcher who plays third base and right field, too, that I really like, as well. But you know what, when we're talking about Delanie Gourley, she's probably one of the more special individuals you could have a chance to be around. Good student, good player, good pitcher. She's won a national championship game for us. But the best part about Delanie Gourley is Delanie Gourley the person. She is by far one of the single greatest players I've ever had an opportunity to coach because of her personality, her demeanor, her unselfishness. She dumped Gatorade on Kelly Barnhill at the super regional. Without Kelly Barnhill, Delanie Gourley is pitching that game, and I think I just have a rot of respect for her and the person that she is, and just the person that she's going to grow up to be. She's a rock. She's somebody that I just can't tell you how special of an individual -- I know we all have special players, and I've had special players, but none like Delanie Gourley before.

Q. Jo, this is your first appearance as the SEC coach, and I just want to ask, you made that transition from Big 12 to the SEC; what were the challenges that you faced and what made this year so successful for you?
JO EVANS: Well, the challenges -- initially going from the conference we were in to the SEC is just how good from top to bottom. I had not experienced that as a coach in a lot of -- I've been coaching a long time, so the day in -- every single weekend just knowing you're going to be in the fight of your life, and so for us, it really has taken some time for us to wrap our brain around that and to really learn how to fight for something. And also to be resilient, to know that you can get beat down and you're still good. I think that's been a big thing that we've finally gotten to the point where we understand that we're good and that we can beat anybody, and so being in the SEC has really taught us that, that coaching in the SEC has made me a better coach. I am amongst an elite group, and I don't want to be the weak link. I want to be in the mix. I don't want them to go, hey, listen, Evans, step it up, make our conference look bad. So it's been highly motivating for me. It's really been a shot in the arm to want to make sure I represent the SEC and my program represents the SEC and a great competitor and a great program.

Q. Jo, you mentioned everything that A & M has done and now the stadium you guys are getting, I think it's something like 30 million and Kelly sits next to you and keeps winning. Could you each talk about what this increased commitment to facilities has meant to the sport? Does it put pressure on a program like UCLA which despite all the tradition doesn't have a $30 million facility and I know LSU's is 10 years old and Tim's has been improved, but can you speak to what it does for you with your facilities and the commitment to the sport?
JO EVANS: Sure. This started when -- we've kind of felt like we needed an upgrade for a long time, so this has been a long time coming for us.

Across the street, they redid our baseball stadium, and it's absolutely gorgeous, and so for the last several years, I've been looking at that stadium. But when they did that, I was really fired up and people said, doesn't that bother you that baseball has this and your stadium looks like this, and I said, no, because Texas A & M knows how to build a stadium.

So when we get this thing done, they have to do it right. They will do it right. They've shown us what a ballpark looks like.

I hung my hat on that.

I think of that, and then I also think of -- I put it in the bigger perspective of all the other programs in the country who are, like me, thinking we need them to do something with our stadium. So to be someplace where -- when we moved to the SEC, we instantly became like the worst stadium in the conference, and it motivated our people to get it together and get the stadium done, and now I think it's highly likely this might be the best stadium in the country, and I'm excited about that. I'm excited about what that's going to do for UCLA, for other programs that are fighting the fight that I've been fighting for a long time.

I'm happy about that. I want all the other softball programs in the country to upgrade their stadiums or to build a new stadium. That's great for our sport. Our student-athletes deserve that, and I'm excited that I think this bar is going to be raised without question, and I think that's going to help make other programs' stadiums better.

KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I congratulated her because I just went to her place, and I saw the baseball stadium and thought, wow, this is going to be big league, and then I went to her field and said, Jo Evans, what she's done in this sport, I was shocked. Where that being said, you can come right back to my stadium, what UCLA has done, and I celebrate that and I congratulate you. I think the best part about where we are in our sport is the SEC has done an outstanding job of being able to support their programs, their coaches, their facilities, and it is putting pressure on everyone across the country. I think it's great.

You know, for us, we've always -- I've been able to be a part of being a part of the first and cutting a ribbon and seeing all that as a student athlete, and we've had constant upgrades, yet we've always had the I'll say excuse that we have a small footprint. We're up on a hill. We don't have a lot of open land to be able to try to just build. But we are now getting very creative with moving down the hill and doing some different things, so we have blueprints in motion, we have support. The funds are coming, and I think that part of it is exciting, and I do credit where we are in the sport because there was no reason for us to be able to build the types of facilities that are out there across the country.

I think it's a great thing. I think it celebrates where we are in our sport. There's great growth. There's great support. I think it's going to become a mandatory thing to be able to have equitable facilities, and I think I love the direction that we're going in our sport, so I welcome it, and trust me, I'm doing all I can to make sure that we can continue to build as great a facility as what's needed. I also feel there's a great deal of, I'll just say, love for where we are and what we have. It's not about the biggest and the shiniest, but it's about really what you create within that, and there's a lot of history and culture within our program. We chose instead of being able to really upgrade a building, we went and spent a lot of money fundraising to be able to document the history of our program with the wall of fame, and a lot of people come because that's something that the fans can come and celebrate and experience.

But there is definitely in recruiting a need to take care of them, to have the facilities and get and reach that highest point and have the ability to be able to have those great facilities. So definitely, pressure is a word that I think you've got to back up by actions, but there's some great things happening across the country that I think are going to allow us to be able to reap the benefits, as well.

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