"As I have not had much success communicating with him-" That was the nice version of 'argued with him on rooftops at night in Gotham. A lot', and Maria hoped that he theoretically appreciated her tact - "we would appreciate the assist." And it only took Superman being polite and reasonable to get SHIELD to admit that they needed help.
When he smiled right at her like that, both trusting and cheerful, the enthusiasm of a civilian with all the skills of a superpowered soldier, well, yeah, she saw where he got the really good press. "Only when we need heavy binders to use as improvised weapons," she told him.
This was good; even if he wasn't able to recruit Batman, it still spread some goodwill for SHIELD. "Do you have any questions?" she asked.