GAME ONE
SOUTH CAROLINA: 2
ASU: 5
ARIZONA STATE
Opening Statement from Coach Trisha Ford:
"Obviously a great team win tonight. I thought we came out with a lot of focus right away. We came out of that box and had some great plate discipline, got on the board really early. G [Juarez] threw a heck of a game. We played our game. That's the biggest thing. When we play our game, good things happen. Just very proud, again. I keep saying that, but at this point in the season, it's their game to take. They did a great job tonight."
On how they enjoy playing in big games and in the Pac-12:
Morgan Howe: "It's awesome. You go into every game with butterflies. It's a weird feeling, but you never get that feeling ever again. This is definitely something that you're only going to experience one time and only experience here. It's awesome. It's great to be a part of something like this."
Jade Gortarez: "The reason I came here is because Coach Ford does everything right. Everything is so structured here at ASU. We're very disciplined even in our warm ups. I'm not sure if you saw our warm ups yet but it's a 1-2-3 stretch and we do everything as a line. Just the discipline and the family orientation here is what brought me to ASU."
On the approach they're taking to put runs up early:
Jade Gortarez: "At this point in the season, it's not to many mechanical things with our swings. It's little mistakes. We're just all focusing on getting a good pitch, hitting a strike and swinging hard. That's what I would say about our offense."
Morgan Howe: "Coach tells us to score early and score often. I think that when we score first, it's a good thing. It gives us momentum and it gets G [Juarez] fired up. It's awesome."
On the comfort that getting ahead early provides:
G Juarez: "It gives me a lot of breathing room and comfort. It allows me to just throw my game and focus on me knowing they're going to back me up with their offensive support."
On the fact that this game was an all-around team effort:
Coach Ford: "We executed our game plan. This team is special and they have the ability to beat teams in a multitude of ways and they showed it again tonight. They did a great job against Ole Miss and then tonight again. We laid down bunts when we needed to, we took extra bases when we needed to. They'll all tell you, those were all our cornerstones: We have got to be able to execute small game and we also have to beat a team base running. I think base running will win or lose you ball games. It's something Coach Wynn has done a tremendous job with. She spends a lot of hours and hears me complaining a lot about things. She's been tremendous. When we're on the base path, people feel our pressure."
On if they were surprised they started Dixie Raley:
Coach Ford: "Surprised? Yes. But not really. I think at this point in the season, we're prepared for whatever's thrown at us. We know we're probably going to see [Cayla Drotar] at some point in time. We did a great job, but obviously we can make some adjustments off her. I think the biggest thing is that it's less about who's in that circle when we're in the box and more about what we're doing. I think our girls did a really good job of executing when we needed to execute."
On her assessment of the defense:
Coach Ford: "The reason why [Juarez] pitched so well was because her defense backed her up. She's been phenomenal in that circle, very dominant. When they do put the ball in play, the defense is ready to go. Right now, they're feeding off each other. Mo [Morgan Howe] can't wait to make a big play for G [Juarez] and G can't wait to make a big play for Mo. Jade [Gortarez] is the same way. Once they start to figure that piece out, that's when something special happens. At the beginning of the year, we weren't all right there. Now, they're playing for each other. As a coach, that's what you want. They're setting the standard of what Sun Devil Softball will be today, tomorrow and moving forward."
On how the team is coming together in her mind:
Coach Ford: "I don't know if you guys can see how special Jade [Gortarez] is. She makes big time plays in big time situations. I want her in the box in every pressure situation. That kid lives for that. She's got confidence, she's got swag, but she also puts in the work. Joking aside, she's very humble. She works her tail off. She'll joke with me like 'I know I feel good coach,' but I know what her insides are like. She wants to compete. That's why her and I work together so well. She competes and she hates to lose more than she loves to win. I would say that's in our DNA. I would say all three of these players up here [Morgan Howe, G Juarez, Jade Gortarez] are the same way. Mo [Morgan Howe] obviously played for me prior to when I got here, so we knew what we were getting in Mo. We knew how special she was and we knew how much of a competitor she was and what a pure hitter she is. You look at her at-bats tonight and she didn't have her legs in a couple of them, but she's got great hands. She just powered that ball through the infield. To me, I recruit insides. G [Juarez] is somebody I recruited for a long time. You talk about insides? She's got great insides. I think these three in their own different ways are the backbone of ASU Softball. They've done a great job all year. We have [Marisa] Stankiewicz, another kid who's just done tremendous stepping up. We've had both Hackbarth sisters really do great. When you get Gibby who's a freshman [Danielle Gibson] who's a freshman, she's just following this lead. The reason why Gibby's done so well is A. Because of her talent and work ethic, but also because these ones are bringing her out hitting extra and 'Hey this is how you handle these situations and this is how you act. This is the standard.' I can't say enough about what these three mean to our program."
On the challenges of not getting too amped up:
Morgan Howe: "Not feeding into the hype. Yeah, we're one win away, but we're still one whole win away. You have to take it pitch-by-pitch, out-by-out and inning-by-inning. Keeping it focused in that sort of frame and not getting ahead of ourselves."
Jade Gortarez: "This is the postseason, we're in Super Regionals. At this point, everyone's good and everyone's here for a reason. That's something that we're working on, and we just have to take it pitch-by-pitch tomorrow."
G Juarez: "We just have to remember that it's going to be a dog fight. At the end of the day, it's going to fall either way. We have to remember we have to fight to the last out, fight each pitch for every out. That's what we have to remember to focus on. To be gritty and grind it out. That's who we are."
SOUTH CAROLINA
Opening Statement
“Certainly that didn’t play out how I wanted it to today. I think Arizona State came out and struck early and often. For our team, I think uncharacteristically we gave up a lot of hits, and defensively gave up more runs. I certainly like our team after seeing pitchers multiple times and that is why I hope we will be here playing three games.”
On importance of late offense for moving forward
“Getting something going in the last inning was critical. We were saying, ‘first of all break up the no-hitter’ going into the seventh. Our offense is tough. We have to tip our hat to the pitcher tonight, she did a great job and offensively I think we will come back and be ready tomorrow.”
On why offense struggled
“We had some great at bats. Jana [Johns] being one of them with a 14 pitch at bat. Mackenzie Boesel lined out hard to right, right fielder made a great diving play. So I thought we did hit some balls on the nose but who knows, maybe we were pressing too much. I think there in the seventh you saw Alyssa VanDerveer take a nice relaxed swing through the ball and put it in play hard and Kennedy Clark came up with the big home run after her.”
On what made G Juarez so good
Kennedy Clark: “I think we were trying to do a little bit too much in the beginning. We were taking our normal aggressive hacks but we weren’t swinging at pitches that we could hit well. She has some good movement on her pitches.”
On experience of already battled back this postseason
“We have that never give up attitude. We trust each other a lot and know we will come through. We remember last weekend and know we can come out stronger these next two games and win the series.”
On facing G Juarez
Jana Johns: “I’d say that we knew she had a good rise ball, but we didn’t do a good job of laying off of it.”
On being in a 1-0 series deficit
“We definitely have that never-give-up attitude and are just trying to take it pitch by pitch.”
GAME TWO
ASU: 5
SOUTH CAROLINA: 2
ARIZONA STATE
Opening Statement:
Coach Trisha Ford: What a great game. I thought South Carolina came out. Hats off to them. That’s a heck of a ball team. I’m so proud of this group. Nobody thought at the beginning of the year that we would be here except for us. We put in the work. We molded at the right time. This is why I came to ASU: To get ASU back to the World Series. I said it in my interview. I’m so thankful that we have the athletes to get us there because they did the work. I always tell them that we give them to tools and it’s up to you how to use them. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. We’re going to the Series.
On what it means to get to go to the College World Series:
Marisa Stankiewicz: It means everything. Getting recruiting to come here, you know their tradition of going to the Women’s College World Series. Not being able to go for the first three years for me was tough. I knew we had such great talent. This means everything for this entire team that’s here right now because we haven’t been there yet. It’s exciting. I’m at a loss for words. It really means a lot to finally do it our senior year.
Breanna Macha: Marisa and I at the end of the game went to second base and were just reflecting. This is the last time we will play on this field. We both grew up watching this program. We’re finally living our dream out in a week in OKC. I don’t have any words.
Morgan Howe: It’s why I transferred here with Coach Ford. I knew she was going to be able to get it done with this team. We haven’t even known each other for a whole year yet and these are my best friends, my sisters. I’d go to war for them. It’s just cool. It’s just awesome. Props to Coach Ford. This is only her second year with the program and she’s going to the World Series. That’s incredible. It’s just so cool to be a part of this.
On the dynamic when South Carolina tied the game at one:
Marisa Stankiewicz: Coming back into the dugout and getting ready to hit, we knew South Carolina was going to scrap until the very end. We knew we had to out-fight them. We wanted it more. We really, really wanted it and that showed with the big huge inning right after they scored that run.
Morgan Howe: I think it’s a pride thing too. This is our field. This is our stadium. We knew South Carolina was going to be a good team. I was watching last night’s game and one of the commentators said that both of our teams were picked to finished last in our conferences and we both finished third. They got something going, we have something going and we know what we have here. It’s a pride thing.
Breanna Macha: Hats off the them because they did battle until the very last out. Coach Ford talked in the beginning that we were going to have to be the ones to win that battle in the end. We’re going to have to fight harder and scrap everything out even harder. It shows the grittiness of this team and what we’re made of.
On the strength of the Pac-12 in softball:
Coach Ford: It’s a great conference. All year, we’ve been beating each other up and battling. There’s not another conference out there that preps you like the Pac-12. We’ve faced it all. We have confidence going in there that we’ve been there. We’ve faced three of the eight teams. The Pac is back. It’s been on it all year long. You’ve got UCLA, Washington, Oregon, us. Arizona had a great year. Every day, you have to go out and give it your all one through nine. You cannot take a break. There’s no other conference that prepares you more for this right here.
On how they’re preparing to face Oregon this time around:
Coach Ford: Both games this year were very close. There were just a couple things that didn't go our way. We just have to go out and play our game. Both G [Juarez] and Bre [Macha] will be ready to go. We know them and they know us. We’ll go to work. Our fans tonight were electric. Our stands were fantastic. We’ll worry about who we have to face tomorrow.
On what is prompting their offense to come out at the perfect time:
Marisa Stankiewicz: Top to bottom one through nine, it’s a little less stressful because we’re all doing so well. We’re all seeing pitches really well. If things don’t go your way, I know Mo [Morgan Howe] is going to have my back. She’s going to do my job for me. That’s something really special to have one through nine, not just one through three or four. We’re seeing the ball really well right now. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen in OKC.
Coach Ford: Our short game has been great.
Morgan Howe: We all trust each other. One through nine, everyone’s going to get it done. This conference is hard. One through nine, we’re all prepared. We’ve played the hardest opponents and we’re prepared. It makes these games I don’t want to say easier, but you know what to expect. You know it’s going to be hard. It’s awesome. It’s great to know that each hitter has each other’s backs and we can pass the bat down and know that we have each other’s backs.
SOUTH CAROLINA: 2
ASU: 5
ARIZONA STATE
Opening Statement from Coach Trisha Ford:
"Obviously a great team win tonight. I thought we came out with a lot of focus right away. We came out of that box and had some great plate discipline, got on the board really early. G [Juarez] threw a heck of a game. We played our game. That's the biggest thing. When we play our game, good things happen. Just very proud, again. I keep saying that, but at this point in the season, it's their game to take. They did a great job tonight."
On how they enjoy playing in big games and in the Pac-12:
Morgan Howe: "It's awesome. You go into every game with butterflies. It's a weird feeling, but you never get that feeling ever again. This is definitely something that you're only going to experience one time and only experience here. It's awesome. It's great to be a part of something like this."
Jade Gortarez: "The reason I came here is because Coach Ford does everything right. Everything is so structured here at ASU. We're very disciplined even in our warm ups. I'm not sure if you saw our warm ups yet but it's a 1-2-3 stretch and we do everything as a line. Just the discipline and the family orientation here is what brought me to ASU."
On the approach they're taking to put runs up early:
Jade Gortarez: "At this point in the season, it's not to many mechanical things with our swings. It's little mistakes. We're just all focusing on getting a good pitch, hitting a strike and swinging hard. That's what I would say about our offense."
Morgan Howe: "Coach tells us to score early and score often. I think that when we score first, it's a good thing. It gives us momentum and it gets G [Juarez] fired up. It's awesome."
On the comfort that getting ahead early provides:
G Juarez: "It gives me a lot of breathing room and comfort. It allows me to just throw my game and focus on me knowing they're going to back me up with their offensive support."
On the fact that this game was an all-around team effort:
Coach Ford: "We executed our game plan. This team is special and they have the ability to beat teams in a multitude of ways and they showed it again tonight. They did a great job against Ole Miss and then tonight again. We laid down bunts when we needed to, we took extra bases when we needed to. They'll all tell you, those were all our cornerstones: We have got to be able to execute small game and we also have to beat a team base running. I think base running will win or lose you ball games. It's something Coach Wynn has done a tremendous job with. She spends a lot of hours and hears me complaining a lot about things. She's been tremendous. When we're on the base path, people feel our pressure."
On if they were surprised they started Dixie Raley:
Coach Ford: "Surprised? Yes. But not really. I think at this point in the season, we're prepared for whatever's thrown at us. We know we're probably going to see [Cayla Drotar] at some point in time. We did a great job, but obviously we can make some adjustments off her. I think the biggest thing is that it's less about who's in that circle when we're in the box and more about what we're doing. I think our girls did a really good job of executing when we needed to execute."
On her assessment of the defense:
Coach Ford: "The reason why [Juarez] pitched so well was because her defense backed her up. She's been phenomenal in that circle, very dominant. When they do put the ball in play, the defense is ready to go. Right now, they're feeding off each other. Mo [Morgan Howe] can't wait to make a big play for G [Juarez] and G can't wait to make a big play for Mo. Jade [Gortarez] is the same way. Once they start to figure that piece out, that's when something special happens. At the beginning of the year, we weren't all right there. Now, they're playing for each other. As a coach, that's what you want. They're setting the standard of what Sun Devil Softball will be today, tomorrow and moving forward."
On how the team is coming together in her mind:
Coach Ford: "I don't know if you guys can see how special Jade [Gortarez] is. She makes big time plays in big time situations. I want her in the box in every pressure situation. That kid lives for that. She's got confidence, she's got swag, but she also puts in the work. Joking aside, she's very humble. She works her tail off. She'll joke with me like 'I know I feel good coach,' but I know what her insides are like. She wants to compete. That's why her and I work together so well. She competes and she hates to lose more than she loves to win. I would say that's in our DNA. I would say all three of these players up here [Morgan Howe, G Juarez, Jade Gortarez] are the same way. Mo [Morgan Howe] obviously played for me prior to when I got here, so we knew what we were getting in Mo. We knew how special she was and we knew how much of a competitor she was and what a pure hitter she is. You look at her at-bats tonight and she didn't have her legs in a couple of them, but she's got great hands. She just powered that ball through the infield. To me, I recruit insides. G [Juarez] is somebody I recruited for a long time. You talk about insides? She's got great insides. I think these three in their own different ways are the backbone of ASU Softball. They've done a great job all year. We have [Marisa] Stankiewicz, another kid who's just done tremendous stepping up. We've had both Hackbarth sisters really do great. When you get Gibby who's a freshman [Danielle Gibson] who's a freshman, she's just following this lead. The reason why Gibby's done so well is A. Because of her talent and work ethic, but also because these ones are bringing her out hitting extra and 'Hey this is how you handle these situations and this is how you act. This is the standard.' I can't say enough about what these three mean to our program."
On the challenges of not getting too amped up:
Morgan Howe: "Not feeding into the hype. Yeah, we're one win away, but we're still one whole win away. You have to take it pitch-by-pitch, out-by-out and inning-by-inning. Keeping it focused in that sort of frame and not getting ahead of ourselves."
Jade Gortarez: "This is the postseason, we're in Super Regionals. At this point, everyone's good and everyone's here for a reason. That's something that we're working on, and we just have to take it pitch-by-pitch tomorrow."
G Juarez: "We just have to remember that it's going to be a dog fight. At the end of the day, it's going to fall either way. We have to remember we have to fight to the last out, fight each pitch for every out. That's what we have to remember to focus on. To be gritty and grind it out. That's who we are."
SOUTH CAROLINA
Opening Statement
“Certainly that didn’t play out how I wanted it to today. I think Arizona State came out and struck early and often. For our team, I think uncharacteristically we gave up a lot of hits, and defensively gave up more runs. I certainly like our team after seeing pitchers multiple times and that is why I hope we will be here playing three games.”
On importance of late offense for moving forward
“Getting something going in the last inning was critical. We were saying, ‘first of all break up the no-hitter’ going into the seventh. Our offense is tough. We have to tip our hat to the pitcher tonight, she did a great job and offensively I think we will come back and be ready tomorrow.”
On why offense struggled
“We had some great at bats. Jana [Johns] being one of them with a 14 pitch at bat. Mackenzie Boesel lined out hard to right, right fielder made a great diving play. So I thought we did hit some balls on the nose but who knows, maybe we were pressing too much. I think there in the seventh you saw Alyssa VanDerveer take a nice relaxed swing through the ball and put it in play hard and Kennedy Clark came up with the big home run after her.”
On what made G Juarez so good
Kennedy Clark: “I think we were trying to do a little bit too much in the beginning. We were taking our normal aggressive hacks but we weren’t swinging at pitches that we could hit well. She has some good movement on her pitches.”
On experience of already battled back this postseason
“We have that never give up attitude. We trust each other a lot and know we will come through. We remember last weekend and know we can come out stronger these next two games and win the series.”
On facing G Juarez
Jana Johns: “I’d say that we knew she had a good rise ball, but we didn’t do a good job of laying off of it.”
On being in a 1-0 series deficit
“We definitely have that never-give-up attitude and are just trying to take it pitch by pitch.”
GAME TWO
ASU: 5
SOUTH CAROLINA: 2
ARIZONA STATE
Opening Statement:
Coach Trisha Ford: What a great game. I thought South Carolina came out. Hats off to them. That’s a heck of a ball team. I’m so proud of this group. Nobody thought at the beginning of the year that we would be here except for us. We put in the work. We molded at the right time. This is why I came to ASU: To get ASU back to the World Series. I said it in my interview. I’m so thankful that we have the athletes to get us there because they did the work. I always tell them that we give them to tools and it’s up to you how to use them. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. We’re going to the Series.
On what it means to get to go to the College World Series:
Marisa Stankiewicz: It means everything. Getting recruiting to come here, you know their tradition of going to the Women’s College World Series. Not being able to go for the first three years for me was tough. I knew we had such great talent. This means everything for this entire team that’s here right now because we haven’t been there yet. It’s exciting. I’m at a loss for words. It really means a lot to finally do it our senior year.
Breanna Macha: Marisa and I at the end of the game went to second base and were just reflecting. This is the last time we will play on this field. We both grew up watching this program. We’re finally living our dream out in a week in OKC. I don’t have any words.
Morgan Howe: It’s why I transferred here with Coach Ford. I knew she was going to be able to get it done with this team. We haven’t even known each other for a whole year yet and these are my best friends, my sisters. I’d go to war for them. It’s just cool. It’s just awesome. Props to Coach Ford. This is only her second year with the program and she’s going to the World Series. That’s incredible. It’s just so cool to be a part of this.
On the dynamic when South Carolina tied the game at one:
Marisa Stankiewicz: Coming back into the dugout and getting ready to hit, we knew South Carolina was going to scrap until the very end. We knew we had to out-fight them. We wanted it more. We really, really wanted it and that showed with the big huge inning right after they scored that run.
Morgan Howe: I think it’s a pride thing too. This is our field. This is our stadium. We knew South Carolina was going to be a good team. I was watching last night’s game and one of the commentators said that both of our teams were picked to finished last in our conferences and we both finished third. They got something going, we have something going and we know what we have here. It’s a pride thing.
Breanna Macha: Hats off the them because they did battle until the very last out. Coach Ford talked in the beginning that we were going to have to be the ones to win that battle in the end. We’re going to have to fight harder and scrap everything out even harder. It shows the grittiness of this team and what we’re made of.
On the strength of the Pac-12 in softball:
Coach Ford: It’s a great conference. All year, we’ve been beating each other up and battling. There’s not another conference out there that preps you like the Pac-12. We’ve faced it all. We have confidence going in there that we’ve been there. We’ve faced three of the eight teams. The Pac is back. It’s been on it all year long. You’ve got UCLA, Washington, Oregon, us. Arizona had a great year. Every day, you have to go out and give it your all one through nine. You cannot take a break. There’s no other conference that prepares you more for this right here.
On how they’re preparing to face Oregon this time around:
Coach Ford: Both games this year were very close. There were just a couple things that didn't go our way. We just have to go out and play our game. Both G [Juarez] and Bre [Macha] will be ready to go. We know them and they know us. We’ll go to work. Our fans tonight were electric. Our stands were fantastic. We’ll worry about who we have to face tomorrow.
On what is prompting their offense to come out at the perfect time:
Marisa Stankiewicz: Top to bottom one through nine, it’s a little less stressful because we’re all doing so well. We’re all seeing pitches really well. If things don’t go your way, I know Mo [Morgan Howe] is going to have my back. She’s going to do my job for me. That’s something really special to have one through nine, not just one through three or four. We’re seeing the ball really well right now. I’m excited to see what’s going to happen in OKC.
Coach Ford: Our short game has been great.
Morgan Howe: We all trust each other. One through nine, everyone’s going to get it done. This conference is hard. One through nine, we’re all prepared. We’ve played the hardest opponents and we’re prepared. It makes these games I don’t want to say easier, but you know what to expect. You know it’s going to be hard. It’s awesome. It’s great to know that each hitter has each other’s backs and we can pass the bat down and know that we have each other’s backs.