This was Pete's Comments to the Press After the Game Today:

**Cagle got tougher as the game went on. She is an All American type pitcher – she’s a World Series type pitcher. You have to take advantage of opportunities when you get them and we didn’t do so today.

**We elevated the ball in February and we didn’t do that today. She got a lot of ground balls and they’re pretty good defensively. She throws over 70 miles per hour with a good sinker, so trying to elevate that pitch is really hard to do. She got a lot of groundballs and they’re a good defense. She didn’t blow it by us today – only 7 strikeouts. We just didn’t get the ball in the air.

On the Clemson Squeeze play:

**I’ve watched a lot of softball in my years and I can’t remember a time where the ball gets down (on the ground) and being able to get the out at home plate. Your never see it. It had to be good play by Cam. She maybe rushed it, but it's not on her. Just executed well on their end. It’s really hard to get the runner at home in that situation. Brooks Robinson can be playing third and the runner will still be safe at home if it’s a well executed bunt. The only time you can get that runner at home if the catcher can field it and get the runner themselves.

**Cam is doing a good job at third.

**I’m looking forward to the NCAA tournament. This last weekend felt like Regionals. I thought our kids performed better this weekend than they did in Lexington (NCAA Regional in 2019) - It’s the same kind of environment. I always preach that if we have Keely on the mound, we have a chance to win against anybody. We had a chance to win today – we just didn’t come through.

**I like the state of where our program is. I’m proud of our kids. We’ll put the work in and be ready next weekend.

**I thought the freshmen performed well this weekend. Cameron had a couple of good at bats and made some big plays. Ritter had a couple good at bats. She looked like a freshman at times, but so did Addy. It’s good to get those kids some tougher skin.

**My term is “saucer eyes.” If you see kids in a big time, pressure situation and their eyes get big – “saucer eyes.” And we saw it a lot in Kentucky two years ago. I didn’t see it from our returners this weekend. I saw it a little bit by kids that hadn’t seen this type of environment before, but I didn’t see it by the end of the game today. That’s good for next weekend. It’s the progression of the program. Kids come in and they figure it out.

**Keely was average today. She would tell you she was average. Four hits – and it’s debatable whether it was four. Five walks is a little high for her. Clemson can hit – they’re is a good team and are coached well. Four hits and two runs is pretty good – it gives us a chance to win. We’ve got to get her some more runs.