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NCAA WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIESJune 2, 2012A.J. AndrewsAllison FalconBrittany MackBeth TorinaOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA LSU – 1 THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started. From LSU we have Head Coach Beth Torina and student‑athletes A.J. Andrews, Allison Falcon, and Brittany Mack. Start with a comment from the coach. COACH TORINA: First I want to congratulate South Florida on an unbelievable season. That's a program that we pull for when we're not playing against them, and they deserve every bit of success that they had. They do things the right way. So a big congratulations go to South Florida. They definitely gave us a tough game today. Any one thing for either team was going to be the deal breaker in it. So luckily, we got the break and it fell our way, and our kids battled. I thought Brittany Mack pitched a great game and kept us in it. So we were lucky to get away with a win. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Coach, have you ever seen an RBI sack fly to shortstop before? COACH TORINA: I've been in softball for a long time, seen a lot of things. I don't remember if I've ever seen that before, but it was a pretty amazing, gutsy play by A.J., not me. Q. A.J., could you talk about it from your perspective on that play. Were you told to go or did you just do what was instinct? A.J. ANDREWS: No, I was not told to go. I think‑‑ yeah, she said tag, but I guess that doesn't mean go. But really I think, because she was facing backwards, so my instinct is just to try it. It was a really close game. So I knew that it would come down to something really close, like a close play. Q. So when you got halfway there, did you have a thought in your head like: Oh, man, if I get thrown out, I'm in big trouble here? A.J. ANDREWS: Not really. I just wanted to be safe. I hadn't thought about how I could get safe. Q. Allison, when you hit it, was there any way you thought she was going to score on that play? ALLISON FALCON: Absolutely not. I had already stopped running. I was like, dang, I popped it up. But yeah, A.J. completely bailed me out of that one. Thanks, A.J. A.J. ANDREWS: Anytime. Q. A.J., I know you're a Countryside grad. Just want to ask you whether (indiscernible) at a school you looked at or had recruited you coming out of high school last year. A.J. ANDREWS: It was actually not a school that I was recruited by. Q. Never talked to them at any point? A.J. ANDREWS: No, I've talked to them. I've seen the coaches. I've gone to USF camps from time to time, but I was not. Q. How early on had you committed to LSU? A.J. ANDREWS: I believe around my junior year. Q. A.J., can you talk about that collision that you had there in the third inning, and how did you feel? And you were down for a little while. Could you talk about how you felt after that? A.J. ANDREWS: After it? Q. Or while it was happening, after it, before it happened. A.J. ANDREWS: Well, as I was running to first, she came out of nowhere, because when I‑‑ when I run, my eyes are closed for a little while sometimes. So when I opened them, it was a pfff, and it just hurt. Knocked the wind out of me and it hurt. And afterwards it still hurt, but it didn't hurt bad enough for me not to play, so... Q. Was there ever any thought that you might not be able to come back in or were you always‑‑ A.J. ANDREWS: No, I was going to play. Q. Coach, last week on Sunday, Georgia, Tennessee, and then yourselves in the first game, Missouri, all came down to defensive mistakes costing the game. Then today you guys have that double error and get bailed out with the play at the plate, and then today South Florida has the drop ball in the centerfield. Is defense something, especially at this stage, that keeps you up at night leading into the game? Because the casual observers see strikeouts and homeruns, but we see the defense can be the difference. And how do you approach that as a coach and reminding your players or is it just execution? How does that play in? COACH TORINA: I do agree that a lot of things went our way. And I think at this point in the year, the team that gets the breaks is the team that's going to end up victorious. Defense, I think, is something that's gotten us here. I feel like the reason we're here is our pitching and our defense. We've been so solid. We have played a string of errorless games in a row. We've made a few in the past couple games. It's something we've discussed as a team. Really trying to work that out and clean it up because we understand it's something we pride ourselves in is our pitching and our defense. And like I said, I really believe that's a big reason why we're here. Q. Coach, could you talk a little bit about Brittany's performance today, especially coming off what she was able to do last weekend. COACH TORINA: I think she's just been so solid for us lately. I'm 100percent confident in her. I'm 100percent confident in both pitchers. I think this is a big thing that we have going for us also is our pitching staff. I know we get to turn around and play a second game, but we get to play it with a fresh pitcher and another one that can come back in and help us out where it's needed. So the two of them have carried us all season long, and I can't say enough about the two of them. Q. What are the next couple of hours like? Were you able to do any preparation for Arizona State before now? And what do you do for the rest of the afternoon getting ready for that? COACH TORINA: We definitely need to get ready for them. Not enough. I really try to focus one game at a time. We have some things we need to go back and take a look at. Of course we'll be more prepared for this game than we will be for the second. But at this point, hopefully our momentum can keep rolling and carry us through it. Q. Technical question. That double overthrow play happened so fast. Who got the final throw for the put‑out on that? COACH TORINA: Brittany did. Actually, just like a drill that we do where we purposely overthrow the bases and back them up, and then we get you out at home. You can give me the credit but you can give Brittany the throw. Q. She was backing up the third baseman then? COACH TORINA: Right. Q. Brittany, could you comment on your outing, if you feel there's any key moment in the outing? BRITTANY MACK:  I felt throughout the entire game, I just had a strong point with my off‑speed curve breaking a lot. And they definitely, even if they knew it was coming, it's something that moves so much, they just really had no idea. And obviously my defense is always there for me. Even though we may make some kind of error, I know we're going to get out of it no matter what. So our defense is really good. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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