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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 3, 2019Rachel GarciaKelly Inouye-PerezBriana PerezBrianna TautalafuaKinsley WashingtonOklahoma City, Oklahoma UCLA-16, Oklahoma-3 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the UCLA Bruins. Coach, tonight there were plenty of obviously great things that happened. You won the game, 11 of the 14 teams in the Championship Series that won the first game have gone onto win the series. You were able to get Rachel Garcia out after 61 pitches, and eight of the nine starters in your lineup had at least one hit. Do any of those stand out as being more significant than the other? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: You know, I think one of the things that I like to do is I like to have them give shout-outs to things that went well. We probably went around the room two or three times. There's so many more things than just the obvious -- throwing the first punch, Rachel mixing all her pitches. I said the thing I'm most proud of, every game I throw the lineup out and I say, Let's put ourselves in a position to let everybody play. The only way you do that is you have to throw enough punches and give yourself that ability to take your starters out, have the ability to let people play. That's not something you're thinking about at the World Series at all. You're here to win, to play. Tonight, this team made history in that every single person, nobody left on the bench, that didn't play. I commend them. That is the culture of this team. They are so connected. They were telling me, they were passing the bat. They wanted opportunities for their teammates. Yes, so many epic moments. But a big part of our success is their ability to play for each other. They've been saying this the whole time. Tonight you get to see an opportunity as a coach, that's not what I'm thinking, but that's definitely their ability to take care of each other and have each other's backs. THE MODERATOR: Briana Perez, obviously one negative thing from tonight was you dropped the Jolly Rancher when you rounded third. That's disappointing. Was tonight a great example of passing the bat? BRIANA PEREZ: Yeah, I think we were actually just laughing in BP. We didn't feel best going into the game. But something clicked in the game. I mean, everyone is just so selfless. Telling stuff to each other in the dugout. Passing the bat is the goal of the entire game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Bri, how has this post-season been for you, how do you keep your mindset every time you go up to the plate thinking, I know I haven't gotten that hit yet but it's coming? BRIANNA TAUTALAFUA: I've had a pretty rough start to my season, but with the help of my teammates, they really gave me a lot of confidence. Before every single at-bat, tonight, I actually went to one of my teammates, she put her hands out, I put mine on hers, she was like, Breathe. Okay. From there on it just came. Q. Kinsley, you go 4-4 today. One of the main players to get the offense going. What was your game plan going up to the plate? KINSLEY WASHINGTON: Every at-bat, I wanted to use everything in my toolbox, my game, hitting away. Definitely try to keep the defense, like, moving in and out, just keeping them on their toes. They're a really good defensive team. Q. After Brianna hadn't gotten a hit yet in the post-season, once she hits that home run, that was the first of 11 runs in the last two innings. Did you just get really fired up seeing that moment for her? KINSLEY WASHINGTON: Yeah, I was sitting in the front of the dugout, I just filled up a water cup. I threw it all over everyone. I was so excited for her because she's been working, in and out, extra reps. All her time has gone into this. I'm happy it paid off for her. BRIANA PEREZ: Before that at-bat, she even said she barreled up all the other balls she had hit. I said, Girl, it's coming. Keep going. RACHEL GARCIA: Funny thing, I didn't physically get to watch the home run. Me and Paige and Coach Lisa were -- Coach Lisa just left the room, me and Paige were coming up with a pitch count sequence. All of a sudden we heard our song come on. Did we just score? We threw everything we had in our hands, ran out there. Next thing I know it was Bri Tis crossing the plate. I was like, Are you kidding me, I just missed that? BRIANNA TUATALAFUA: Rachel is the first person I saw when I crossed the plate. Something really great to see (laughter). Q. Briana Perez, you said you weren't feeling good in BP. What wasn't feeling good? BRIANA PEREZ: We went through our normal lineup. Coach had us come back for some more and do like everyone hitting together at the same time, one shots. I have no idea what was happening. Even coach can say she was trying to fix things, she literally made things worse. We can joke about it. I'm glad we can joke about it now (laughter). I honestly couldn't even explain. We were, like, behind the screen laughing. KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: It was horrific. BRIANA PEREZ: It was horrific. I don't know (laughter). Q. Rachel, the home run in the first inning from Aaliyah, you score a lot more runs after that. Obviously OU tied it up right after that. How much did that help you, a big offensive play in the first inning, to get things rolling? How much comfort does that give you as a pitcher? RACHEL GARCIA: I think it just gives all of us confidence, just knowing we threw the first punch was huge. Even though they got that, tied it up. I just knew after Aaliyah hit that home run, we were going to be good, we were going to be fine. So that was deciding factor on the team, we were going to play for each other in this moment. Q. Schroeder tweeted during the game, it's the friends and family section against the whole stadium. It really was. How important is it in this environment to quiet the Oklahoma fans? BRIANNA TUATALAFUA: We don't really pay much attention because we know we're strong and that's what keeps us going throughout the whole game. Knowing they have our backs the whole time is incredible. We trust in our Bruin Bubble, the coaching staff, everybody behind us. RACHEL GARCIA: Yeah, I feel like our Bruin Bubble is so strong. I think the alumni is what just helped shape who we are. I mean, they give so much to us. They created everything for us. I mean, for me, when I'm out there on the field, to be honest, I hear only them. I block out all noise other than that. BRIANA PEREZ: I think just to be able to look above the dugout and see them, it makes things a little easy to block out the rest of the crowd. KINSLEY WASHINGTON: Seeing that little blue square above our dugout in a sea of red is really comforting. They've been here all season supporting us. We're just trying to block out the noise. Q. Tomorrow you have a chance to close out the series, close out Oklahoma. What is going to be the most important thing or mindset this team has to have? KINSLEY WASHINGTON: I think the most important thing is knowing that tomorrow is a completely different game. This past game we just played has nothing to do with tomorrow's game. Just keeping that mindset strong. BRIANA PEREZ: I think just keep playing loose and fun, like we had the same mindset that we had going into today. RACHEL GARCIA: I'd say not doing anything more, not doing anything less. Just sticking to a plan, having each other's backs and playing for each other. BRIANNA TUATALAFUA: Just to trust within each other, play for each other, just have confidence within each other just to go out and have fun. Q. Kinsley, obviously in a 16-3 game, you can't pinpoint one thing as the reason you won. You were in the middle of some of the miscues they made in the third inning. When you're on the bases, you see the competition making those mistakes, what are you thinking and feeling? KINSLEY WASHINGTON: I think Oklahoma is a great defensive team. Just me being able to capitalize on those mistakes, because there's not many that go around, being able to jump on them and execute my plan and the team's plan to just keep us going. Q. Rachel, you haven't looked fatigued, but how are you feeling physically? What was it like to get a couple innings off? RACHEL GARCIA: Actually, I feel really good. Just taking care of my body this entire week. Getting ice baths, treatment, massages, whatever I need to keep sure that I'm being the best that I can be, making sure I'm staying in a good position to help my team out in any way. Just being able to share this moment with Megan and Holly, getting out there tonight, amazing to share that moment with them. I pulled Megan aside right before she went out and I said, You got this, we're going to do this together. Same thing with Holly. We're doing this together. You're going to have this entire team's back. We're going to help each other out here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Congratulations. You are excused. We'll continue with questions for coach, please. Q. How important was it to get Rachel out of the circle after only 61 pitches tonight? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: First and foremost, should have started -- I have so much respect for Oklahoma. They are a solid team. We know this. Being able to have the ability to score the runs and not have Rachel be in the whole game was an ideal plan, right? We talk about that. Let's score as many runs, have the ability, you always have Plan A that you're going to get after a game, you have Plan B. Plan A is to be able to score as many runs as you can, make those changes. Plan B is Rachel, bear down, whatever it takes to beat this team. It's huge. Her pitch count has been down this entire season. She has put herself in a position -- like I said, they pitch as a unit. For super regionals she only had to pitch one game. There are things that are lining up that have allowed her to be at her best right now. I believe she's in better shape than she was last year. I know she is. She's more experienced, more efficient. I think Lisa did a great job of calling pitches, so the pitch count was down. A lot of things came together tonight, which is what you script as a game plan. When things come together like that, it's huge, especially against a very good offensive team like Oklahoma. Q. Coach, during the stretch in the third inning when they had three consecutive errors, sort of a surreal scene, before the bats got going, did that turn momentum into your favor? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Honestly, you never think you're going to club up a pitcher like Giselle. One of the things that we had talked about was we were going to put pressure on the defense. I know they are solid defensively. But that's the challenge. We know the game. We've got to be able to play catch. You have to be able to swing at strikes, timely hits, the pitchers have to pound the zone. I told them specifically we wanted to put pressure on the defense, and their ability to put the ball on the ground. We didn't want to get a lot of fly balls. They executed the plan. For whatever reason, the miscues happened. But that's part of the game. Our offense has been that. We have added speed to our game this year. You got a chance to see a big part of that. You saw power, you saw speed. We're at our best when you see that. It paid out. I'm really proud of our ability to do the little things like run things out. We were looking to take those extra bags. Yeah, miscues happened, our job is to take advantage of them. Q. What happened in BP there? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I set reps. You're always -- the object of BP is to get your players to feel good. I always set a game plan of what the pitcher is doing. We look at video, set up plans. Some are individual. Then I always get a feel for people go through and I kick people out and bring people back. The whole goal is for everyone to feel good. We were not really as sharp as we wanted to be, so I brought everyone back. Sometimes we do this. We compete. My pitching coach had thrown some bullets, he was kind of gassed. It was ball one, ball two. He threw six balls in a row at one time. I was looking at the clock. I want everyone to feel good, right? Now we're not getting strikes, they're fishing for pitches. Everybody now wants that one extra one. They just started swinging, walking away. This is great, this is the championship game, and they're just not feeling what we needed to. Like I said, when I brought them back, that's as a coach where you say, I'm going to fix this, I'm going to get them to all have a good hard shot, we're going to get out there, we're visitors, we are going to go first, and it completely backfired. I brought them together right before the game, had a moment to be able to make sure that I reminded them of how many times. There's so many times that people did not feel great during BP, to not add up. Sometimes one plus one doesn't equal two. Your ability to trust that you are prepared. I had them all visually kind of get back to what the game plan was. We were going to visualize it since we didn't get to execute it in BP. Quiet, calm, took a lot of deep breaths. We're visitors. Our job is to throw the first punch. Q. Obviously G went out of the game early. What was your plan of attack to go after her, almost get everything you wanted? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: She's a quality pitcher. We've had a chance to see her last year, this year. I think Aaliyah Jordan is just in a really good place as a hitter. I think we got to see Bubba right off the bat. We knew, if she was kind of in the strike zone, she's going to bring strikes. That's what her MO is. Our game plan was to be able to swing at strikes, put a good cut on the ball, put pressure on the defense. We kind of know what the pattern was going to be. There was a great attention to detail on the pitches we thought we would see, the ones we were hunting. Giselle got some of our hitters. I think their defense also played into some of the miscues. Not that we got to club up Giselle, but we definitely took advantage of every opportunity. We know one thing, tomorrow is a new day, we're going to kind of get after it. The one thing that is unique is we got to see that she's different than she was last year in the Pac. It verifies what we've been seeing on film. She's just a really good pitcher. We have to wipe the slate clean, get after it tomorrow. Q. Kinsley Washington had a career night tonight. Talk about her versatility to get on base with her slap-and-bunt game, then hit a double. KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: I think the best thing for me as a coach, it's such a journey to go through a season. Kinsley is somebody who was such a fighter. I think I shared this before with the media, the short version is she had some real challenges during the year. She was squaring up balls and everything was caught. She hit a low. Feeling like she needed to do more. That's what hitters do, you try to do more. Trying to get her to stay within herself was a challenge because she was very defeated, frustrated. Turned into something she completely wasn't. I'm going to say she hit rock bottom. Until you let go of the outcome, this will continue to happen. It's not easy, our sport is dictated by stats, outcomes and hits. She was squaring balls up, couldn't get an outcome. It was probably this last third of Pac, that flipped her mentality, changed her routine, hustling things out, said, Coach, my best is coming. I trust the process. Her and Aaliyah Jordan both. To be able to have them have this outcome, I sat next to her, You're a sophomore, you have to be clear about what you did to turn this around, you're going to send a message to the freshmen last year. When you're struggling, the game knows. The game changed for her in the last third. A big part of it is she's just playing the game, she's not getting caught up in what she wants to or needs to. We have no control. No control they're going to make errors or whatever is going to happen. She's now balling, the way Kinsley can, instead of getting frustrated that she's not 3-for-3 on the day. Q. What do you need to see from your team tomorrow? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Broken record. They have to be able to play our game. We got to play our game tonight. We know one thing. It's this time of the year, quality opponent. Tomorrow is a brand new day. You are going to see a loose team. That's not taking it lightly. It's putting ourselves in a position too play our game. There's no reason for us to change it up, get serious, locked on. We have a game plan, we're prepared. Our job is to execute it against a quality opponent. Our ability to do that, not get ahead of ourselves, thinking we have just one game. I got to be a part of history where we did win Game 1, didn't get to get after Game 2, went after Game 3, didn't get to close it out. I can share my experience. For right now, this is about this team. This is about now. They are playing UCLA softball. You heard them, they're committed to each other. We're going to get out here and understand we got a game to play tomorrow. I tell them that constantly. It's not about one game, two games, championships, World Series, this is about you get to play together and this may be your last opportunity. Let's enjoy and take advantage of it. That's my goal. Q. What did Aaliyah's home run in the top of the first do for your offense? KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Huge, huge, huge. The goal always is to punch first. That's the biggest part of it. Also the way Bubba went down in the first at-bat, that's tough. We talk about before the game started, that someone may go down, you got to trust that the next person is going to pick you up. Like I said, Bubba went down in a strike-out. That can instantly get to you. To have Aaliyah punch back says we're here to play. It was a big thing. It's not always even the home run, but a quality at-bat. To get on the board first, big-time, especially Game 1 of Championship Monday. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. KELLY INOUYE-PEREZ: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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