WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: BATON ROUGE REGIONAL

May 15, 2026

Becky Clark

Ryley Harrison

Presley Lively

Tiger Park

South Alabama Jaguars

Postgame Press Conference

Virginia Tech 6, South Alabama 0

BECKY CLARK: As always, we're proud of the team at the University of South Alabama. I thought we started off the tournament in a day where we were good, but not great. I thought we did not play incredibly well. I think there's still more in the tank for us.

The good thing about this team is we're ready to dig in and that toughness. For us, we've got to find that mentality and come back in tomorrow and ready to get the job done.

Q. This question is for Ryley. What generally did you think of how you pitched today, and how do you think Virginia Tech adjusted as the game went on?

RYLEY HARRISON: Throughout the game, I think we just started throwing different things at them to keep them off balance with rise drop, curve change. As they started to adjust to the drop ball, that's when we started to (indiscernible) and had a little more success in that area.

Q. My question is to Presley. What did you see there in the box against the Virginia Tech pitchers today?

PRESLEY LIVELY: I think it was just really slowing it down and keeping my eyes on the ball. Coach talked a lot about getting on top of the ball. And especially for me being a (indiscernible) and just seeing the top half of the ball and getting inside of it.

I think I just saw the inside part of the ball and saw it early because she was getting ahead and throwing a lot of strikes early in the count. So getting ahead of the pitch and just slowing it down.

Q. Ryley, you pitched so well in the tournament. Anything different about today with those home run balls?

RYLEY HARRISON: I think Virginia Tech is a good offensive team, and when I made a mistake, they capitalized on that mistake. So I think that was the biggest thing.

Going into tomorrow, it's how do I locate better in order to get hitters out and feed it into our defense.

Q. I'll ask you the same question that I asked Ryley. What do you think of her general performance in the circle today?

BECKY CLARK: I think kind of what she said. I think they capitalized on her mistakes. I think other than that she pitched a really good game.

The third was kind of a tough inning. I think the walk and the error on the ground ball didn't help us. But I thought she had her beat. With the grand slam, I thought she had her beat until she didn't.

They're good hitters, and they know what to do. I thought we missed a little bit, but I think Ryley's grinding and digging. Like she said, I think she did some things that they made adjustments to get her off balance.

Q. Without going into all the specific details, are you proud of the team effort? What was the attitude? What did you share with them to get ready? Understanding the immediacy of the tournament, but what was it like talking to the team, and what was it like with them talking to you?

BECKY CLARK: I think the exact words were make a decision what we want to buy into. Do we want to buy into defeat or to dig in? You never want to lose the first one. If you do, you've got your work cut out for you.

The thing about this group is their grit and their toughness, and they will dig in. I get they didn't play very well today. That's bad for today, but it's good for tomorrow because we can take a step forward. I think that's what we've got to do tomorrow.

We did not play today the way we played last week, and we've got to go back and find that intensity.

Q. Coach, were you expecting Bree Carrico in the circle? And if so, what went into preparing to see her?

BECKY CLARK: We were expecting either one. We prepared for both. We prepared all week for both. And the freshman. The freshman has done a good job as well. I think we were ready for whoever they threw at us. We were not dead set on it being one arm.

Q. What was different about -- obviously you were playing so well at the Sun Belt tournament. What was so different about how you played today?

BECKY CLARK: That's a great question. I think that we started out, I thought, being aggressive at the plate. The first two innings, I thought we won those two innings. The third inning, I thought we kind of started taking some pitches and kind of lost that aggressiveness.

And then when they made the pitching change (indiscernible), and as a whole, didn't adjust to her. I don't think we were playing really sharp. I think the effort is there were 100 percent. We want to win that game, and we're doing everything we can to win that game, but I don't think we were incredibly sharp. We've got to figure that out before tomorrow.