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NCAA REGIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT: BATON ROUGE

May 19, 2018

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

UL Lafayette - 7, Houston - 2

COACH GERRY GLASCO: Really happy, proud of our team, proud of the girls, and the fact that they put up today and the effort that they gave, and really, more for me, I was just, it was really good to see them finally relax and air let out or the pressure let off of them. I think you finally saw the ball team that I've been seeing in practice for the last two to three weeks.

As I told the girls after the game, I've been going into practice telling my wife, none of our fans would ever believe how good these kids hit in batting practice when they watch them in a game.

Today they finally saw. They let out and they just played. I think it's easy to underestimate how much pressure the kids have felt trying to keep the program up at the very top level, and they take a lot of pride being a Ragin' Cajun and they take a lot of pride and are really proud of our school and the softball program. They have fought their tails off at all year to keep our program at a high level and today they let go of that and played the game the way they should play the game, just enjoy the thrill of competition. Really proud of that.

As far as the game goes, Summer, start with pitching. She was fantastic, two days in a row. I don't know what her line -- I haven't looked at it. Four hits, two runs, nine strikeouts, second day in a row in the heat and the same batters saw her yesterday. Another great effort that we have come to expect from Summer and she's done all year long.

Offensively, Kelli Martinez was phenomenal, again in the lead off role. Ever since we put her in the lead off role the last six, seven games and provide senior leadership, she has.

I thought it was a really huge moment when we're down 1-0 and Lexie come up and hit her first home run to put us right back in the game, and I think it let the kids, it kind of relaxed them. I don't know how many times we got behind 1-0 and seemed like we just can't get over it or can't move on and compete.

When she tied that up, it was like, you know, they let them loose again, and I think we ended the inning scoring two more runs, and it was young kids, our freshmen, that really supplied those last two runs and tacked on to that I think and got us out in front. I was really proud of that.

And then, when we got in, I don't remember which I think it was but Watts had made the last out and I wanted to get aerial in for her defense as quick as I could. When I realized she made the last out, I went in and told her, put Aeriyl in center field. Any time you have the lead, you want to protect the lead and Aeriyl is a phenomenal defensive center fielder. When we had her in center Kelli in left and B-Rod in right field, that's obviously our best outfield and she showed why we won, she made two great plays. Just another outstanding freshman that's really helped us all year in a role that maybe doesn't get the appreciation that it could.

And then I told Lexie the last I think, we had a four-run lead, and it was always relaxing knowing bases loaded, Grand Slam -- I said, get one more run right here for me, be aggressive, get me one more run. I wasn't thinking home run. I was thinking base hit -- or luckily a double and to see her drive the ball the way she did down the left hand line was really fun. She's been a great warrior for us all year. Worked really, really hard on her swing and getting it leveled out and making adjustments, which is really hard to do in season and she's battled and battled and battled and fought hard for us, and of course, that's at the end of catching 14 innings today, as well. So super effort on the part of Lexie.

Extremely proud of my team, proud of the girls, proud of the program and proud of the fans and the support we've had all year. I'll let it go at that.

Q. Lexie, with the way things went yesterday, not being able to get any run support for Summer and the great game she had, how much was that in y'all's mind today?
LEXIE COMEAUX: That was pretty much all we thought about. When we went to bed last night, everyone was just kind of pissed off, kind of at each other and with how things were rolling because that's not how we wanted to start the regional. This morning we got together as a team after our coaches left and got on the bus and Alissa Dalton was like: Look, we've got nothing to lose. Let's just go out there and play. I had an idea we should all write something down on a piece of paper on what we want to do today and what we want to bring to the game and put it in our back pockets and play with it all day in mind. Mine is a little messed up now but it said: Be a leader behind the lineup, be a leader behind the plate and just get the job done no matter what.

I'm just glad I came through, but not only for me, but that game is huge for my teammates. I'm so proud of my teammates because a solo home run means nothing without the rest of the team joining in and getting those runs scored. It was just amazing, amazing job.

Q. Just talk about, you and a lot of the other girls just struggling offensively and how fun it was to have the day, all the hits and all the runs, after just a season-long struggle.
LEXIE COMEAUX: It was the best. It kind of felt like a release. I swear, like every game, I'm just waiting for like the whole lineup to just break loose and breakthrough and just score all these runs, like I know we can, and it just hasn't happened. And for it to happen today on the most important day of the year, to keep our season alive, is just so awesome and it feels so good.

Q. Summer, on the other end of that, offensive run, today's got to be a lot more fun when you have a little bit of run support behind you.
SUMMER ELLYSON: Yeah, definitely. I had a little bit more wiggle room. You know, they did score two runs and I didn't have my best day, but my team just came out swinging today and I was just like, wow, like this is -- this is what we've been waiting for all year, and this is our time to shine.

Ended up just being like, exactly what we needed.

Q. Summer, talk about Aeriyl's catches, because at one point in time, she was saving four runs in the ballgame.
SUMMER ELLYSON: Yeah.

Q. And Aeriyl can comment after.
SUMMER ELLYSON: She's been great all year. Like she's made a bunch of plays like that, and I knew -- like the first one, that was like a line drive at the wall, I knew right away, oh, she's got that. I was like, there's no way that's going over. Aeriyl is going to get there.

I knew she was going to make that play. Once she dove and caught, I was like, wow, that's a really good play and I'm like so glad that she's there and has my back and that everybody was out there playing their hearts out. Like I knew she wanted the ball and I knew she wanted to like play for the team.

AERIYL MASS: I was out there ready, ready to catch every ball that was hit to me. I didn't freak out for anything. I was just like, when the ball came to me, I was like, I could catch it, and I did it. That's all it is.

Q. Before this game you were talking about wanting the offense to be more aggressive, especially in high-pressure situations. Is this what you had in mind?
COACH GERRY GLASCO: We talked before, the game plan last night was really be hot early or be aggressive on the first pitch of the at bat and how important it was to swing early in the count. Just whatever happened last night, we got off our game plan and we just didn't do it at critical moments.

I said last night, if you're not attacking the ball, the ball is attacking you. If you're not being aggressive, then you're being timid. I told them to think about it last night and read it again this morning, and they are just a great bunch of kids.

They wanted to meet for five minutes after the coaches met with them this morning, and that's the first time I knew what they did. I guess they all wrote down things they were going to bring today. They are a phenomenal bunch of kids. We're a team, a freshly-put-together team, trying to find a way to win and trying to get to know each other.

It's been, like the communication and the learning to work together as a coach and player, I know like Aeriyl, to her credit, to be a platoon player, she probably doesn't understand why I'm doing a lot of times. I'm sure she wants to be out there every minute or every out of every game and on the other side of it, Watts want object out there, too.

You have two opposite-type players, but I want to blend them all together and get as much as I can out of my roster. I feel like they really bought in here and this was really good for them to have some success and maybe try to help understand what we've been shooting for all year.

Q. You've got LSU now. We've been talking about this match up potentially since Monday. Have your thoughts changed since Monday or do you still think this is wide open?
COACH GERRY GLASCO: I think we just have to get on the field and compete. They are a really good ballclub. They are the 11-seed, really high-seeded, national seed team. They have been through the SEC grind and they have got a great coach, a great coaching staff and they have got a lot of talent. We just have to get out there and go to war, and they are going to go to war and we're going go to war and we'll see what the games turn out to be like.

Q. Summer pitch tomorrow?
COACH GERRY GLASCO: At some point.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

NCAA REGIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT: BATON ROUGE

May 19, 2018

Lexie Comeaux

Summer Ellyson

Gerry Glasco

Aeriyl Mass