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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 2, 2018

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Florida State - 7, Georgia - 2

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Florida State coach Lonni Alameda and student-athletes Zoe Casas and Meghan King. Coach, could you just talk about the performance of Meghan in the circle and how important that was for you, probably giving you options for the second game?

COACH ALAMEDA: Definitely. I first want to congratulate the University of Georgia on an amazing season. It's been kind of an up-and-down ride for them, losing an All-American pitcher. Just followed them all year long and I think they have a class program. And it was a lot of fun to compete against them, and I know some seniors who played their last game. But they did have an amazing year.

As for us, yeah, it was all about throwing punches today. We were going to be in a fight and we knew it. And we knew that King would be the one in the circle for us to get after it with the grittiness. And it was going to be a hot one, too, so the battle to get after it. You could see towards the end was feeling it a little bit.

But she gutted it out and it's always great when you have great run support, especially late run support. And proud of the program and to be able to be playing tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Meghan, what's it like from a mental standpoint to go out there in an elimination game and how do you kind of not focus on that part of it?
MEGHAN KING: I mean throughout the year, every single pitchers job is just to kind of give your chance to score first, give your chance to get ahead and win the game. And as long as you're doing that, you win every single game.

And I just feel like, especially in the heat, especially when there's amazing, amazing pitchers at the World Series, you just have to really give your team a chance to win and give your team a chance to compete.

And the heat is crazy here. But my defense is amazing. They sell out for every single pitch. And I definitely owe that to them today because it is hot and the days are long, but we're really excited to get after it to tonight.

Q. Zoe, how important was it for the team to jump out in front with a lead against a potent offense like Georgia has?
ZOE CASAS: I feel like it was very important, but our pre-game warmup in our circle, we're always just, like, it's one pitch, one swing. We don't know who it's going to be at all. Like, every game it's someone new. And we just knew, like, as long as we have energy then the hits will come, and then we'll just all file in from there.

Q. Meghan, what was your game plan knowing that Georgia, they have hitters up and down that lineup, you never know who is going to hit one out or hit for extra bases?
MEGHAN KING: I think it's just take it one pitch at a time, just the only thing you can control is releasing that pitch and making it a good pitch. And once it lands you can't control that. I just kind of slowed the game down, looked to my defense, (indiscernible) everyone up. And I knew they were behind me the whole time. So kind of just taking it in and embracing the moment, taking it one pitch at a time.

The Georgia hitters are incredible. You can't really leave anything over the plate. But I tried to spot my pitches and kind of work different counts and move up in the zone and move out of the zone. So, yeah.

Q. Coach, what does it mean for Florida State -- representing the ACC, we hear about the SEC all the time and how great the SEC is -- but what does it mean, the pride that this probably brings to your conference?
COACH ALAMEDA: Definitely. We really take ownership of the ACC and things that we're trying to make happen in softball. It's an amazing conference in a lot of other sports. And as softball, we're slowing building and climbing. And we really try to push the standard for that. And adding Clemson is going to be huge. And Duke this year had a great season.

So we enjoy having that target on our back but we also embrace the growth of it, too. And we've hired two new coaches in our conference now that we're excited about at NC State and Virginia Tech. And I know we're going to keep growing with our television next year, and we just take a lot of pride in that.

We're also in the SEC area. So we're always going to play an SEC team, so that's fun, too, because they've taken softball to another level in their conference. And we need conferences to take pride in softball to elevate it. And the SEC has.

So hats off to them for that. We do always hear about it. So sometimes you're, like, dang it, SEC, SEC. But we get the opportunity to play the best and a conference that takes pride in it. And then we get to see that and keep growing our conference. And we're proud of that, and we see such great things happening for us on the horizon.

Q. You got a quick turnaround now. What's the plan up until game time?
COACH ALAMEDA: So go back, get some food in our system, rest a little bit, put our legs on the wall, whatever our athletic tells us and our strength coach. Get some water and then just go in a knock-down, drag-out, round 4 fight. And that's what we're going to have with Oregon tonight. So, excited for it, and we're definitely excited because it's going to be nighttime so it won't be so hot. So I know our minds are ready for that.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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