Oklahoma - 6, Florida State - 2
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Elizabeth Mason and Kathryn Sandercock.
Q. Can you just talk about forgetting this game and moving on to Game 3 and playing for a national championship?
ELIZABETH MASON: I mean, any game, win or loss, is just a rearview mirror game. You put it behind you. It doesn't affect the next game. We knew that they were going to come out swinging today. We knew they'd be a different team today. So we'll be a different team tomorrow. Be a little bit better than we were today. And just do what we can tomorrow to get the win.
KATHRYN SANDERCOCK: I mean, coming into it we knew it was going to be a dogfight. We knew they were a great team. We knew they were going to make adjustments in the box. So that's what we got. That's what we saw. And this is why it's a three-game series. You've got to beat us twice or we've got to beat them twice. So we're ready to get after it tomorrow.
Q. Kathryn, wanted to ask you, you're doing a pretty good job there of keeping OU's offense from hitting the ball in the air, forcing a few ground balls there. And I wanted to ask about the home run that Jocelyn Alo hit. Were you surprised she hit that ball? It seemed like it was in a good spot there down in the zone?
KATHRYN SANDERCOCK: Yeah, I think there was a tight strike zone. So I was trying to find the strike on the outside corner. And I couldn't at first. And so then I had to come a little bit back in on her. And I think in that situation maybe I should have thrown an inside pitch. Hindsight is 20-20. She's a great hitter. It's hard to be upset with yourself when Jocelyn Alo hits a home run off of you. So, tip your cap. It was a hard pitch to hit. And she hit it hard.
Q. You've done an amazing job in the postseason and the World Series. Is it fun for you as a pitcher to face a lineup like Oklahoma and to challenge them and get after them?
KATHRYN SANDERCOCK: It's so fun. It's what you work for all year long. It's the position that every pitcher wants to be in. Every pitcher wants to be out here fighting for a national championship. So I'm very grateful to be here. I've put in the work. It's just the whole team has to go after it and get it. It's super fun. And we're all just really happy to be here.
Q. Elizabeth, you guys have done an amazing job of passing the bat. Certainly in the last two games but throughout the World Series. What does that mean? Is that just sharing information, feeding off of momentum? What does it mean to you?
ELIZABETH MASON: Pass the bat means do the job that you can whether it's bunt, get them over, whatever it may be. And give that chance to the next batter behind you to do their job as well. And if we can continue to do that, that means we're putting hits together. That means we're getting runs across the board. So, yeah, pass the bat just means kind of like get a rally going or put some hits together.
Q. Kathryn, two questions. First of all, how is your leg? And also when you play a team like Oklahoma, do you always kind of -- you always kind of have that feeling that they've got these hitters that can completely change an inning. I guess what's that like going up against an offense like that?
KATHRYN SANDERCOCK: Yeah, my leg is fine. It's fine. I'll probably have a bruise but nothing too bad.
And going against an offense like OU, I think that you can kind of take it two ways. You can get really into the numbers and be super intimidated by them, or you could just stay within yourself, stay grounded and remember that a dropped ball is a dropped ball, no matter who you're pitching it to. The mound is still 43 feet away. It's still softball. It's still what we've been working for all year long. So just trying to focus on pitching my game rather than pitching to the Oklahoma lineup.
Q. Elizabeth, you broke through again early tonight with your home run. Then Juarez kind of settled in and limited what you were able to do in terms of stringing hits together. What was she doing that made it so hard to get on base against her?
ELIZABETH MASON: I would say, me, personally, she threw me that slow spinner away my second at-bat, but I made the adjustment my third at-bat. Their left fielder made a great play. I would say we were barrelling her up the majority of the game. I don't think we were out of the game at any point in time.
It didn't fall, but it might tomorrow. We're going to make adjustments the same way they're going to make adjustments. And she's a great pitcher. We have a great hitting staff as well. So just going to have to get after it tomorrow, get some scouting under our belts and play another game.
Q. Elizabeth, when you're playing a team for the third time, do you have to make a whole lot of adjustments to come back? Or do you think you just have to play a little bit better and continue to do what you're doing to get the win?
ELIZABETH MASON: I'd say a little bit of both. Just trying to get 1 percent better. It could be the difference between a win and a loss, but at the end of the day you do have to make adjustments. Every game both teams are collecting a lot of information. So they're going to know more about me and how I performed against their pitchers. And I'm also going to know more about their pitchers and their defense.
I think both teams are going to be making adjustments. Both of us are going to come out tomorrow with maybe slightly different game plans. And then we're going to have to make in-game adjustments as well. But not necessarily completely changing the game of softball. You don't come out tomorrow with an entirely different game plan. But you do have to come in with a little bit of a different mindset maybe than you had before.
Q. A year ago we didn't have any softball. Now there will be a Game 3. Just for that, talk about the moment and the feeling, knowing that you get a chance to play in that game and the moment to win a title.
KATHRYN SANDERCOCK: Yeah, it's really awesome. I think that it's tough coming off a loss right now. But when you look in the big picture, we're one win away from the national championship, which is just so cool. And, again, we're all just really grateful to be here. We're really happy for each other. We're playing for each other right now and that's really all you can ask for. So it feels really great to be, to get another game tomorrow. To get another game in this jersey, it means the world to us.
ELIZABETH MASON: I would say that even taking aside last year, the COVID year, there's two teams in the nation right now. I think every game we play at this point it's like a free game of softball. You get to go out there one more time, put the jersey on and play with your sisters to the left and right of you and just get after the sport you've been playing for your whole life.
I don't think anyone expected us to be here so the fact that we're here is, to me, it's just a blessing to be able to play one more pitch, one more hit, whatever, one more inning, whatever the situation may be. So it would have been great to win today but it will be great to win tomorrow too.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports