Tennessee 2, Texas Tech 1 (9)
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Tech. We'll start with an open be statement from head coach.
GERRY GLASCO: Phenomenal, phenomenal crowd. Phenomenal atmosphere. I thought it was a really good softball game. Tip your hat to Tennessee, they won. They shut our offense down the way that I don't think we've been shut down like that in the post-season. I thought their defense made several really nice plays, especially in big situations. I thought their defense came up big for them.
We left eight runners on. In nine innings we need to have more than five hits. I thought we gave away some important at-bats, especially leading off the innings. When we got runners in scoring position, I don't think we valued the at-bats as much as we should on the offensive side.
We had five walks and five hits. That leads to 10 left on base.
I thought the pitchers were phenomenal. I thought Kay Kay [phonetic] and NiJa combined give us every opportunity to win that game. I don't know how many times we had chances, but I felt like we had the bases loaded in maybe second and third.
There were several times we had that opportunity, we had runners on third, we had one out and struck out with that. Then we got a fly ball to tie it. We could have been up 2-1 right there.
It just wasn't our day. Give credit to Tennessee for playing a really great defensive game on the other side of the field.
I thought Vic Valdez was absolutely outstanding. When she came in, she gave us great leadership. I love watching her catch. I thought the throw to throw out the runner on second base was a big moment. I thought Taylor did a great job of not just getting a hit, but base running. It was really extraordinary. It was so easy to leave early. She left exactly on time.
Mia had a great hit in a big moment. We just didn't get the win. I give Tennessee credit and their coaching staff and players for playing nine great innings of softball.
THE MODERATOR: We'll go to questions for the players.
Q. Taylor, being at Tennessee, were you able to go into today and maybe give your teammates some insight on what they may see with Karlyn Pickens and Sage?
TAYLOR PANNELL: I think we went in and we watched film, and we went in and had a game plan. I had a little help from my previous team, but I wasn't getting wrapped up, it was my previous school. Just taking it like another ballgame.
Q. Taylor, what did Karen say to you in the handshake line after the game?
TAYLOR PANNELL: We were walking through the line just saying 'good game', and she said that I made a mistake instead of saying 'good game', which is kind of crazy. Like celebrate with your team. I just think it's funny she's still thinking about it. It's old news. Whatever.
Q. Can you describe the challenges from going with Pickens' hard stuff to Mardjetko's change-up and adjustments going through that?
MIA WILLIAMS: I think they complement each other really well. Obviously Karlyn is throwing 76. You go into Sage who is throwing a 40-mile-an-hour change-up. They complement each other really well, and they just showed that in this game.
Q. Taylor, can you take us through the steal. Was that all you, or was that a call by Coach?
TAYLOR PANNELL: I think he was thinking about it. It's funny because sometimes you make eye contact. I know he's thinking about doing it. I think he had it on the pitch before, and they still said stayed there, so I was just going to go.
Q. How do you balance emotions knowing your season isn't over yet, but this was an emotional game?
TAYLOR PANNELL: I think emotions were very high this game. We just have to take and it and learn from it for the following game. Obviously we're not done yet. Coach is known for winning series and not losing back to back. We're going to take that mentality with every out we have and play with it. Today we came back in the top of the seventh. With every out we have, we're just going to fight.
MIA WILLIAMS: Obviously was a very emotional game. I think just keeping the highs that we had this game and taking it into the next game and just fighting and being dogs on the field.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, players. We'll continue with questions for Coach.
Q. (No microphone.)
GERRY GLASCO: I thought she'd make it to centerfield or charged it really hard, was running really fast. Usually when you're running that fast, the odds of making an accurate throw are low. She made a perfect throw.
I've got Mia, my second fastest runner at a position. I thought they would walk Jackie Lis. If I held her, in the mindset they were going to walk her, then you just don't know. You got a double play situation set up.
I wanted to take my shot while we had the shot. That's what I do. That's our first base runner threw out at home in the post-season out of 60-something runs. That was a great throw. I'd do it again. Centerfielder made a great, great throw. Catcher made a great catch. I didn't see the replay. I felt like it was really close.
Q. Considering the maturity of your team, do you lean on player leadership or do you have anything in your head you would like to talk to them about in between games?
GERRY GLASCO: I've already talked. We went in the locker room and talked about value and how important every opportunity in a game like that is. I felt like we didn't value the leadoff opportunity. We had situations that we ignored signals. We didn't value every aspect of the game that you have to value in a one-to-one, nine-inning game against a great team like that. I think we can learn from it as a ballclub.
There's a lot to learn from that game. That's a game that we'll be using next season to learn from.
Q. Obviously Taylor a little emotional there. Did you sense any of her trying to press against her former team there? Did you have a talk with her?
GERRY GLASCO: I thought everything was normal. I went through the handshake line, nothing. It happened behind me. So I don't know exactly what happened.
But I thought Taylor was good today. I got to give Pickens credit. I got to take some blame on this as an offensive coach. Obviously I didn't have my team ready to come out and face Karlyn Pickens. She was really good. We kept getting on top of the ball instead of inside the ball on the drop ball. We didn't make that adjustment.
That's on me. It was across the board. All the right-handed hitters, we just weren't ready for what she was doing, so...
I thought Taylor was great today.
Q. When you say you put it on you for not having them ready for Pickens, how do you prepare for her?
GERRY GLASCO: We hit yesterday morning. We hit yesterday evening. We hit this morning. We had three batting sessions to get ready to hit against Pickens. We were hitting too many groundballs. We weren't getting the ball where we wanted it. We were hitting it in the air. Weren't hitting it as hard as we wanted to hit.
Q. I know you just come off this game, but you have another one tomorrow. What do you know about UCLA and what is the early look at what you get?
GERRY GLASCO: I know they're a great hitting team, a great offensive team. I know they've got a great pitcher that's throwing a lot for them. I know they're well-coached. I know they got a lot of momentum.
I watched the game last night with Arkansas. That was a great offensive performance and great all-around performance by UCLA. They have momentum. When the game starts, it's going to be very important, the first couple innings are going to be really important.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports