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NCAA REGIONAL SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT: BATON ROUGEMay 20, 2018Carley HooverSydney SpringfieldBeth TorinaAllie WalljasperBaton Rouge, Louisiana LSU - 3, UL Laffayette - 1 COACH TORINA: What a tough team. Quality program. Year in, year out they just bring great athletes. I thought everyone in this tournament was a very tough opponent and did an excellent job. Our team showed the resiliency it's shown over the past four years here today. You know, I think that they just continue to fight. They continue to play down to the last out and there's no quit in them. So I'm really proud of the type of teams we continue to put on the field. I'm proud of the senior class and all they've accomplished here. And I think it's amazing what they have done with this program and just continuing to push the bar. This being their fourth Super Regional and their time here is a pretty amazing accomplishment and I'm just really proud of what this team has done. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Allie, to come into the situation you were in, that first game, go the entire second game, how do you feel at this point and everything you kind you went through? ALLIE WALLJASPER: Our defense worked great behind us, and they just really were super gritty behind me and Carley, too. It was a really fun outing. We're called the Fighting Tigers for a reason and we fight until the very last out we possibly can get. We just fought until the very last out. And so that's the result. Q. Sydney, was that your first at-bat of the whole Regional and what were you thinking? SYDNEY SPRINGFIELD: Yes, honestly, I wasn't really thinking about anything. Like I didn't even go through with [inaudible] shield. I just went up there and said I just need to go hit. The moment was just so cool just because of Amber Serrett. She works her butt off just for every single moment she gets. She works so hard. And it was so easy for me to come in there because of what she did and everyone in the dugout just pouring their hearts out. So it was a cool moment. Q. Carley, first of all, deja vu, obviously, and then talk about your first, your first start in, I guess, what, two and a half, three weeks? And how you felt out there as the game went on? CARLEY HOOVER: I think overall just -- overall the support of, like, my coaches and teammates, everything, struggling with an injury the past couple of weeks I felt personally confident going into that game. Obviously I kept postseason last year in the back of my mind, too, stepping on the mound. And the energy that my teammates bring to the field, every time we step out there, just like keeps you going no matter what. I'm sure Allie can say the same thing. It's just a really freakin' awesome moment to finish in Tiger Park like that. Q. How did you feel physically, maybe you changed up some of your motions? CARLEY HOOVER: Maybe my body awareness isn't like super great right now because I haven't pitched in a while but I didn't purposely change anything. Maybe it's for the better. (Laughter). Q. Do you think college softball and the NCAA Tournament should have instant replay? COACH TORINA: I honestly like the human element of the game. I think it's huge. I think there's some plays that could be benefited by instant replay, but I think it's part of it. I think that it's what it's always been and I'm a really big traditionalist so I like the human element. Q. Beth, knowing the way this team has won so much this year with the pitching and the defense and everything, is this just one of these two games against UL where it's like your strong suit is these close, down-to-the-wire games and everything you've accomplished at this point in the season really helped y'all in the end, do you think that? COACH TORINA: Yeah, I think our kids understand how to win a lot of different ways. They understand how to win in a lot of different situations. And this team, ever since these guys that are seniors got here, they have this weird knack for continuing to play no matter if their back's against the wall or no matter what the situation, I think there's crazy elimination stats about this team and what they've accomplished but they're fearless. They're the Fighting Tigers; they don't back down, and they just continue to play and play big no matter what situation it is. Q. It appeared you had a very attack mode against Summer Ellyson maybe early on in the count, was that the game plan? COACH TORINA: I think hitting her early, we had seen some other teams have some success hitting her early. I think we tried about everything you could possibly try in all the innings today. I think we had a lot of different thoughts as the game went on and tried a lot of different things. She did a great job. She's really talented. We watched film. It was hard to see her find spots where she was even giving up runs. She had a great year. She had a great season for her team. So what she did today really should be commended. She had a great day and did a great thing for her team. Q. Long day, long weekend, what kind of emotional regional win like this for the team going forward? COACH TORINA: That's what they told me, they wanted some extra live at-bats today to get them ready for the weekend. I thought that was a great response. I think just continuing to give them confidence in themselves and what they can accomplish, I think, playing the extra game maybe in the long run keeps them confident, helps them understand they can fight and fight through a lot of different situations. Q. Just in terms of LSU/UL, what do you think a series, another series like this does for the two teams and how exhilarating is it knowing kind of when these two teams get together what happens? COACH TORINA: Yeah, there's a moment where Shemiah looked at me and said: I've never seen the fans like this, because it was such a cool atmosphere today. And our fans were awesome. They all came out and they were great, really helped support the team. So I think it's nice seeing how strong softball is in the state of Louisiana. I think it's great for the fans. I think it's a lot of fun as long as we keep hosting it here in Tiger Park, I'm good with it. Q. Moving forward, it's obviously really exciting, but what are your thoughts looking forward to next weekend? COACH TORINA: Yeah, you know Florida State is a really good team. I don't know much about them. I have not followed them that closely this year. Obviously I know some of the ins and outs. I know they have two really good pitchers, Kylee Hanson and Meghan King, I know they'll do a lot of things well. They'll be well coached. The one thing going back it's a place you're familiar with. So we've been there before. We know the places we like to eat. We know the field and where we're going to warm up. So all that stuff, a little bit of familiarity I guess I can say that's maybe the one thing I like about going to the same place. And they're always tough. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of emotion in this matchup since it's the same thing over again. Q. Did you talk to Aliyah at all about the play in the first game? Was it just lost footing? COACH TORINA: She fell and there's nothing you can do about it. It's just the worst luck you can have. And then the kid is so fast, she almost gets up and still catches the ball. It's pretty amazing. She's very down about it. Very upset about it. She takes things to heart. She's an unbelievable human being and just really took it to heart. So the only thing I think we were all saying to her both Lindsay and Howard and myself, were just really trying to pick her up, keep her going, keep her confident, letting her know how important she is to us. That that one thing is not her value to the team, she's got to help us in a lot of different ways. We were just trying to keep her up because she was really upset about it. Q. What kind of guts did it take to send Sanchez home there coming from first, and how many people on this team do you think would have gotten waved in that situation for that close play? COACH TORINA: I think a lot of them. I think when it's a tie score, it's easier to be aggressive right there. If we were down, it's probably a different decision. But when it's a tie score, I think you get to be a little bit more aggressive and you get to try to force them to make that throw and force them to throw us out. I'm glad it worked in our favor. Q. How did Carley look today, kind of extended experience? COACH TORINA: I know she didn't get the result she wanted, but the innings that she threw were really valuable to us. We're not continuing to play here if she didn't give us all those innings. I think what she did was really, really great. Both of those guys have been heroic for us here in this postseason and there four years. She was really good, solid performance. I think she'll be able to build on this for next week which I love. I like she was able to get out there and show us that she's in good shape and ready to go and I think it was really important for her moving forward. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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