Thursday, March 24, 2016

NMSU Aggies vs Missouri Tigers Softball 3-19-16 Game 2


During the double header intermission, the large crowd rushed out en mass while I was writing down the final score.  They weren’t at the food trailer, which was mostly deserted.  I hope I didn’t see some of the Tiger girls using the public restroom.  Surely there are facilities in the Visitor’s clubhouse.  I also saw the two fire trucks that firemen had arrived in parked out front.

The hot dog from the trailer was questionable-looking and nuclear hot in the wrapper to the point that I almost dropped it.  It tasted okay, as did the popcorn (I’m not touching the nachos again).  I would have paid $50 for the Coke Zero, which could not have hit the spot more precisely for my thirst.  Out on the field, the grounds crew was redrawing the area around home plate with a template and dragging the infield with a tractor.  Some the Aggie girls were out on the grass in front of the dugout, having a snack and a chat.   

Intermission felt like 20 minutes, if not less.  I hadn’t finished my meal and didn’t even go to the bathroom.  Holding my piss would turn out to be the least of my physical troubles in watching Game Two.  The wind shifted and was blowing in, not a lot, but it was cold.  I put on my jacket, which left my rear on the cold, hard metal bleachers, which did not make me any warmer.  I think the temperature ended up dropping about 30 degrees when I finally surrendered Stalingrad to the Russians at the end of the game.  The Aggies have a cute trainer who was in really short shorts for Game One.  I hope she covered up at some point. 
  
Much of the crowd didn’t return for the second game.  As the score ended up getting out of hand and the weather got colder, the fans whittled down even further.  Hey, even the Missouri fans complaining about the cold.  I couldn't believe that some of the Tiger fans didn’t even come back for the second game.  Where were they going?  In the first inning, some of the firemen left in a hurry, talking on their walkie-talkies.  In the second, the rest left, also in a hurry.  At least those guys had an excuse. 

As the temperature turned colder and the score became more lopsided, the crowd deserted.  The row where I was sitting had several hard core senior Aggie fans.  In particular, there was one older gentlemen who was indefatigable in his cheering.  God bless this fellow, but he was getting way too into the game.  Even I was getting uncomfortable.  As the game dragged on and the Aggies got buried deeper, the remaining crowd began turning on the home plate umpire with a vengeance.  He hadn’t been helping himself with his strike zone during the game, but was now getting it on every pitch.  I was getting nervous sitting near the hecklers.  I didn’t want to be ejected. The old man did get in a couple of good digs, such as “You want our opinion or not?”  There was a couple that came in with a guide dog, when they left, the old man shouted, “You’re in trouble ump.  Your dog just left.”






















There wasn’t a lot of drama in this game, so I’ll give you the score up front, 14-3 Tigers.  I broke down and looked at the official scorecard on the website (or alternately, I remembered that I could get the official scorecard off the website).  There was one bottom line for this game: Missouri scored 12 unearned runs.  While the Tigers certainly had their hitting shoes on for this game, the Aggies pretty much self-destructed.      

#14 Paige Lowary for the Tigers and #11 Makayla McAdams for the Aggies started the game.  Yes, they were the ones who finished Game One.  Over the three games, both teams only used four pitchers each.  Makayla would even end up being re-inserted at the end to finish this game.  I still don’t understand the substitution rules for college softball.  Several times, pitchers on both teams were pulled out of the game in the middle of at-bats.  Given how stressful the pitching motion looks (and sounds), I can’t believe the workload isn’t blowing everyone’s arms out.  Maybe it’s not as bad as it looks.  I did notice #21 Karysta Donisthrope didn’t come back out for Game Two, after a short appearance in Game One.  I think she was being held to start the Sunday game.     

During the game, there were a couple of items that I found interesting.  In the fourth, #22 Fahren Glackin came into the game for the Aggies with lots of encouragement from the crowd.  Once again, she had a very distinctive pitching motion, starting with a Johnny Cueto-like twist and a submarine-ish delivery that finished with a shout.  In the sixth, #2 Emily Crane of the Tigers hit an inside the park home run, in spite of what my scorecard says (I got out of order).  Given the dimensions of the diamond, any bobble in the outfield will be extra bases.  I didn’t hear the Missouri dugout until the seventh inning when the game got completely out of hand.  It might have been the acoustics of the stadium that kept me from hearing them before, or that the crowd had mostly cleared out.  The Aggie dugout never stopped cheering for the team for the whole game. 

My players of the game for the Tigers would be #7 Natalie Fleming for her two home runs, and again #14 Paige Lowary for dominating Aggie batting.  For the Aggies, #23 Fiana Finau had another good game with another pair doubles.  Overall though, the Aggies made too many mistakes against a good team and paid for it. 
    
After the game, the girls on both teams lined up to shake hands.  The Aggie girls then all gathered on the mound and in one voice said, “Thank you!”  The moment was so precious, I wished I could bottle it.  Overall, it was five-plus hours at the ballpark.  I could have wished for a win or two, or perhaps at least thinking to bring a heavier jacket.  However, I more than enjoyed myself watching the girls (not as much as that old man was though).  Undaunted, I’ll be back for Sunday’s game.

                                 

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