Postgame Quotes – UCLA 7, Virginia Tech 6
UCLA 7, Virginia Tech 6
May 18, 2024
Easton Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
NCAA Los Angeles Regional
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez
opening statement
“I’m just going to say if you don’t believe in Bruin Magic – I mean we have a crazy belief. I do want to say, credit (Virginia Tech), they are clearly a solid team and just looking at the numbers here, they are pretty even across the board. There is a reason they're here. They swing a big stick. They're a very tough competitor and it came down to the last punch. I credit the girls for putting us in a position to be able to have that opportunity to get the last punch today, but I’m proud we are playing UCLA softball. We are always somebody different which makes me so proud, and I’m just saying that we’re not done yet. We got a big win which gives us the opportunity to get back into that championship where I believe UCLA softball should be, but once again, credit the coaches, credit the team, credit the ability to believe in this program of what we do postseason.”
on never being out of a game
“Oh, it’s a belief. We understand our sport, and I think this sport has a sick sense of humor. One minute you're on top, then drama happens, and it flips, but we’ve learned how to take the game and play a 180. It brought the team together, during the second or third. ‘Okay, they won the first, move on.’ We have got to continue to find ways to make adjustments, so I’m just going to say this right when you think you think you're on top, you're not. You can’t live in the past, or else, in the future, the games are done and you never made an adjustment. So, this team has the ability to wipe things clean, be able to start fresh, make adjustments and keep on throwing punches, just trying to win innings. Like I said, it’s together. There’s no pressure on one person. It was a quality call for Megan (Grant) to take that walk. She wanted to be the one, and she said it right before, so for her to be patient, hats off to her. The most important thing, though, I’m going to say it again, it is the belief that we understand the game, it is not just luck. We believe that we can make adjustments and throw another punch, and the game is not over until the end, and we know that. I think that’s a big part of why we have confidence and a big part of us winning our game.”
on the comeback
“I would say it’s finding ways to have quality bats. It was a perfect situation. This is a very offensive game, and your ability to trust your hitters to be prepared for those moments, to do those types of things, wasn't short ball. We were able to beat some of the shifts. We were able to put some of the short game down, so just quality at-bats.”
on Kaitlyn Terry and her ability to shut down Virginia Tech
“I think when she first came in, I just credited her, she has high velo [velocity]. To be young and to throw with high velo, it’s tough to be able to settle in. And we said that, their swinging, we got to stretch a little bit, you got to trust your spin. I think there was a critical timeout. Shar [Sharlize Palacios] called a timeout, and she walked out to talk to KT [Kaitlyn Terry], and KT looked at her and said, ‘I’m fine,’ and Shar looked at her and said take a breath. She’s young, she’s fiery, but she settled in. Credit to them, they can swing straight up, and KT did a great job of just countering. The defense had her back. I think the outfield made some great plays today that could have gone either way. So, it’s KT and the defense. And I credit Shar for keeping her under control. The maturity and the growth for her to be able to gauge this in her (first) year is unreal. Her career is going to be very exciting.”
on Janelle Meoño’s defense
“I can’t even tell you. They squared some balls up and she caught one at the wall and she caught one off the wall. Just the defense from the outfielders or (Palacios). I called a dropball in the dirt and (Sharlize) blocked it. You know that ball is coming at 60 miles per hour; that's a tough play. But the ability to be able to make plays, to your point, the outfield is huge on a team like this because they swing big and are hitting balls off the wall, so the outfield came to play today. Just credit the defense in general because they didn’t hit a lot of soft balls. It was kind of a bummer; the ball off the handle for the hit, it was just out of the reach of everybody. That’s the craziness of our sport. That the balls that were banged off the wall we got for outs, but that one fell in. Welcome to softball, it's just crazy.”
UCLA utility Savannah Pola
on her walk-off hit
“I think in that moment, my mindset was no fear of failure because, no matter what, my teammates were going to have my back and it takes all of us. We only need one shot, and we have proved that every single time.”
on pitchers having their backs
“I think we know that they have our back and we have theirs, always. No matter what the outcome is, we will fight with them.”
on the support of the coaching staff
“I’ve relied on Coach Lisa (Fernandez), Coach Will (Oldham), and Bubb so much and they’ve helped me. Literally in the middle of my at-bat they will (give me advice) and it’s helped me so much. And having them give me adjustments has been really good.”
UCLA infielder Jordan Woolery
on her triple in the seventh inning to tie the game
“Just knowing Megan Grant is going to get the job done for me, she’s so awesome, and we have such a strong relationship. And then I knew with Sav [Savannah Pola] behind me, we were going to get it done. I didn’t feel too much pressure on me, but I knew that it doesn’t come down to one person, but the whole team. So, it’s really cool to see it all come together in the end.”
on her mindset going into games
“As our (mental strength coach Dr. Armando Gonzalez) says, just loosening the pickle jar, it’s not on one person. I think just knowing that no matter what is going to happen, Bruin Magic never fails and just sticking to that.”
on the pitchers having their backs
“I think with them being a young staff, too, we do give them support, and they give us so much support, especially from the beginning of the season to now. We have all come a long way and to see that growth from both of us is really cool.”
May 18, 2024
Easton Stadium (Los Angeles, Calif.)
NCAA Los Angeles Regional
The Shelly Carlin UCLA Head Softball Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez
opening statement
“I’m just going to say if you don’t believe in Bruin Magic – I mean we have a crazy belief. I do want to say, credit (Virginia Tech), they are clearly a solid team and just looking at the numbers here, they are pretty even across the board. There is a reason they're here. They swing a big stick. They're a very tough competitor and it came down to the last punch. I credit the girls for putting us in a position to be able to have that opportunity to get the last punch today, but I’m proud we are playing UCLA softball. We are always somebody different which makes me so proud, and I’m just saying that we’re not done yet. We got a big win which gives us the opportunity to get back into that championship where I believe UCLA softball should be, but once again, credit the coaches, credit the team, credit the ability to believe in this program of what we do postseason.”
on never being out of a game
“Oh, it’s a belief. We understand our sport, and I think this sport has a sick sense of humor. One minute you're on top, then drama happens, and it flips, but we’ve learned how to take the game and play a 180. It brought the team together, during the second or third. ‘Okay, they won the first, move on.’ We have got to continue to find ways to make adjustments, so I’m just going to say this right when you think you think you're on top, you're not. You can’t live in the past, or else, in the future, the games are done and you never made an adjustment. So, this team has the ability to wipe things clean, be able to start fresh, make adjustments and keep on throwing punches, just trying to win innings. Like I said, it’s together. There’s no pressure on one person. It was a quality call for Megan (Grant) to take that walk. She wanted to be the one, and she said it right before, so for her to be patient, hats off to her. The most important thing, though, I’m going to say it again, it is the belief that we understand the game, it is not just luck. We believe that we can make adjustments and throw another punch, and the game is not over until the end, and we know that. I think that’s a big part of why we have confidence and a big part of us winning our game.”
on the comeback
“I would say it’s finding ways to have quality bats. It was a perfect situation. This is a very offensive game, and your ability to trust your hitters to be prepared for those moments, to do those types of things, wasn't short ball. We were able to beat some of the shifts. We were able to put some of the short game down, so just quality at-bats.”
on Kaitlyn Terry and her ability to shut down Virginia Tech
“I think when she first came in, I just credited her, she has high velo [velocity]. To be young and to throw with high velo, it’s tough to be able to settle in. And we said that, their swinging, we got to stretch a little bit, you got to trust your spin. I think there was a critical timeout. Shar [Sharlize Palacios] called a timeout, and she walked out to talk to KT [Kaitlyn Terry], and KT looked at her and said, ‘I’m fine,’ and Shar looked at her and said take a breath. She’s young, she’s fiery, but she settled in. Credit to them, they can swing straight up, and KT did a great job of just countering. The defense had her back. I think the outfield made some great plays today that could have gone either way. So, it’s KT and the defense. And I credit Shar for keeping her under control. The maturity and the growth for her to be able to gauge this in her (first) year is unreal. Her career is going to be very exciting.”
on Janelle Meoño’s defense
“I can’t even tell you. They squared some balls up and she caught one at the wall and she caught one off the wall. Just the defense from the outfielders or (Palacios). I called a dropball in the dirt and (Sharlize) blocked it. You know that ball is coming at 60 miles per hour; that's a tough play. But the ability to be able to make plays, to your point, the outfield is huge on a team like this because they swing big and are hitting balls off the wall, so the outfield came to play today. Just credit the defense in general because they didn’t hit a lot of soft balls. It was kind of a bummer; the ball off the handle for the hit, it was just out of the reach of everybody. That’s the craziness of our sport. That the balls that were banged off the wall we got for outs, but that one fell in. Welcome to softball, it's just crazy.”
UCLA utility Savannah Pola
on her walk-off hit
“I think in that moment, my mindset was no fear of failure because, no matter what, my teammates were going to have my back and it takes all of us. We only need one shot, and we have proved that every single time.”
on pitchers having their backs
“I think we know that they have our back and we have theirs, always. No matter what the outcome is, we will fight with them.”
on the support of the coaching staff
“I’ve relied on Coach Lisa (Fernandez), Coach Will (Oldham), and Bubb so much and they’ve helped me. Literally in the middle of my at-bat they will (give me advice) and it’s helped me so much. And having them give me adjustments has been really good.”
UCLA infielder Jordan Woolery
on her triple in the seventh inning to tie the game
“Just knowing Megan Grant is going to get the job done for me, she’s so awesome, and we have such a strong relationship. And then I knew with Sav [Savannah Pola] behind me, we were going to get it done. I didn’t feel too much pressure on me, but I knew that it doesn’t come down to one person, but the whole team. So, it’s really cool to see it all come together in the end.”
on her mindset going into games
“As our (mental strength coach Dr. Armando Gonzalez) says, just loosening the pickle jar, it’s not on one person. I think just knowing that no matter what is going to happen, Bruin Magic never fails and just sticking to that.”
on the pitchers having their backs
“I think with them being a young staff, too, we do give them support, and they give us so much support, especially from the beginning of the season to now. We have all come a long way and to see that growth from both of us is really cool.”