2024 WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

May 30, 2024

Jessica Allister

NiJaree Canady

Stanford Cardinal

Postgame Press Conference

Texas 4, Stanford 0

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Stanford.

We'll start with an opening statement from Coach.

JESSICA ALLISTER: Yeah, not the result we wanted. Not necessarily the game that we wanted to play. Credit to Texas. I thought they did a really good job of stringing hits together and executing offensively. We can be better.

The good news is we get to play again tomorrow. We will be tomorrow, so... Looking forward to getting back out on the field and playing Stanford softball.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. Talk a little bit about that third inning.

JESSICA ALLISTER: I think that is one of the things that Texas is very, very, very good at. I think they have productive at-bats. I think they execute small ball. They've got really good speeds, put good pressure on the defense. I think when they can kind of get rolling in that situation, I think that's when they're dangerous. That's when they're at their best.

We knew that coming in. But credit to them. They did a good job getting the bunt down. The wild pitch fastball gets her to second, get another bunt down. Consistent pressure on the defense. That's their game. They do it well.

Q. You still have a lot of newcomers. How does that play into the part of their first game at the World Series?

JESSICA ALLISTER: I think it probably plays a little bit more than we'd like. Part of our postgame meeting, it felt like the game started, the game was over, here we sit. I think part of that could be a couple of nerves getting on this stage, a stage you've dreamed about your entire life.

Like I told the team, we're a better ballclub than that. We're happy about being able to come out and play again tomorrow.

Q. Talk briefly about the performance by Texas pitcher. She weathered a first-inning single. That was pretty much it for you guys.

JESSICA ALLISTER: Yeah, I think we went the wrong direction today offensively. I thought we came out and I thought the first maybe three innings we had really good at-bats, putting good pressure on the defense, getting good barrel to the ball, doing a pretty good job.

Instead of getting more comfortable as we got more at-bats, we got tighter and we started guessing, we got sped up. When you're facing somebody who is throwing the ball up and out of the zone, then pulling the string, when you do that, it's going to make for a long day.

Obviously Kavan threw a gem, and lots of credit to her. Instead of settling in and understanding the more pitches we see, the better we can get if we allow ourselves to, we just got really, really, really sped up.

We would have some good at-bats and throw away at-bats. We couldn't really string anything together.

Q. NiJaree, how did you feel about your stuff tonight, especially going against the lineup you faced already in the season?

NIJAREE CANADY: Yeah, this is not my best game. Too many walks, too many wild pitches. Just looking to get better tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Stanford.