NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Softball 4-1-17

After three endless weekends of beautiful weather, Aggie sports finally returned to action.  It was about 10 degrees colder than the previous weekends, but still pleasant.  Unfortunately on a personal level, I was getting over a cold.  (And still am as I write this.  I’m writing this in a fog.)  Since I was just going to be sitting around all day miserable anyway, I may as well be doing it at the softball complex.  Ron, extremely eager to get out as well, picked me up.  Lunch was Schlotzsky’s new barbeque brisket sandwich, which was great, of course.

The softball team was coming off a definitive double header sweep of the UTEP Miners in El Paso.  Game 2 featured a 9-run inning for the Aggie offense.  They had also won Friday night against this weekend’s opponent, the Utah Valley Wolverines.  That game was actually delayed a couple of hours for blowing dust.  I got to watch the game and an Aggie baseball game (and a win) thanks to the WAC digital network.      

The crowd filled in nicely for Game 1.  There was a table up front with crayons and poster boards for do-it-yourself rally signs.  It was a good day for Ron right off the bat.  The old man wasn’t there and the enthusiastic little girl, his favorite, was.  There was a couple, who were good-natured Utah Valley fans, in front of us.  The PA was a young woman, though I don’t think it was the same one from the baseball park.  For April Fool’s Day, she had the unfortunate duty of telling a corny joke each inning, causing the crowd to groan every time. 

I like watching team pre-game rituals.  The Aggie girls, in their black and grey uniforms, were lined up in a “U,” linked together.  One end would start a snaking motion and it would continue on through the end of the line.  As the Utah Valley starters were introduced, the first one out did a “trust” fall into the arms of a teammate.  The starters for both squads drew in the dirt as they stood on the baseline.  During the anthem, the Aggies held a “guns up” behind their backs, while the Wolverines had one finger out. 

We were cheating on the girls a little bit during the game.  The Aggie guys were playing in Seattle and their game started an hour before.  Ron and I were listening to the radio call during the softball game.  I found myself mostly watching the game in front of me and paying attention to the baseball during various lulls in the action.  The NCAA Men’s Final Four was also going on, so the fans there were checking the scores on that.  I asked about the Women’s Final Four and found out that UConn’s 111- game winning streak had ended yesterday.  Too bad that the Samuelson sisters didn’t get that championship matchup, but what a run!  (Kate Lou is a fox.  I was planning on watching the final.)   

Game 1

Samaria Diaz (Sam) started for the Aggies and was a bit nervous, hitting the first batter, giving up a single, and then a three-run homer.  She wasn’t showing her usual smile in the circle.  Sam settled in after that.  There was a dispute over the final out.  The crowd started shouting after a fly out that that was the third out.  The Wolverine fans in front piped up and said there had been an illegal pitch on a previous batter.  “Settle down Aggie fans!” the guy said.  I think my scorecard is actually right, but I totally missed seeing a batter called back to continue an at bat.  (We’ll have some more rules confusion later.)

The girls weren’t disturbed at all starting the game down 0-3.  The dugout was singing loud and enthusiastically for their batters.  They had particularly loud “3-0” chant when that count came up.  Haley Nakamura and Kelsey Horton drove in a pair of runs to make the score 2-3.  A big cloud moved across the sun and dropped the temperature 10 degrees.  Ron nudged me.  In Seattle, the guys had hit their third triple of the day.

For the second inning, free t-shirts were tossed to the crowd from outside the pressbox.  Or should I say, the crowd was bombed by free t-shirts as they came in with some heat.  Some basketball or football players were in attendance, and they got one.  I didn’t see any volleyball or women’s basketball players.  Meanwhile, I mentally congratulated myself for getting my scorecard fully filled in. 

In the third, we finally got a smile out of Sam as she snagged a hard liner back at her.  In the bottom, Rachel Rodriguez, with her swinging bunt style, got a hold of one.  The right fielder, who was playing in, had to run back, but the ball improbably continued to carry over the fence.  The Aggie dugout erupted and rushed home plate to congratulate her.  The PA announced that that was Rachel’s first home run of the season.  3-3 Tied. 

In the fourth, Sam was smiling again.  She was in a groove.  You could hear her really popping the mitt and mixing that with an offspeed.  Kawehi Kahana came in as a pinch hitter.  The PA really had trouble with her Hawaiian name during the introductions and didn’t do any better this time.  The UV fans in front were making a mess with some nut shells, but politely cleaned up after themselves when they finished the bag like a good guest.  If only Aggie fans would do the same.  A lady next to me offered me a Kleenex as my nose began to ominously drip.  In the bottom of the inning, Merina Illi hammered one out to right center.  4-3 Aggies.  Kelsey put her arm around her in congratulations and walked her back to the dugout.                    

In the fifth, Amy Bergeson got an infield hit.  I swear she crossed first before the shortstop fielded the ball.  That’s fast.  The little fan girl was up for the dance contest, but was unfairly snubbed.  The Wolverine couple earned a handful of lollipops.  In the sixth, Aggie catcher Nikki Butler, was hit by a pitch.  Or was she?  The ump called her back.  Perhaps she made an insufficient attempt to get out of the way.  She got on with a hit anyway.  There was a nifty double play on the next batter, as Wolverine Taleigh Williams caught a liner and doubled off the runner on first.  However, the UV fans started yelling at her during the play to throw to second.  She had a shot at picking off the runner there for a triple play!  Not to worry.  I’m sure I’ll get plenty more chances to write a triple play on my scorecard. 

The eighth inning finally ended in Seattle.  I think it took an hour to play out.  Back in Las Cruces, a foul ball hit the backstop net hard.  The little fan girl was too close to it and took a tumble backward.  No harm done.  Ron was amused.  After a hit by pitch to start the bottom of the seventh, Coach Kathy Rodolph put Kayla Green in.  She was the Friday starter and the Game 2 starter.  While still lean, I think she’s put on a little lean muscle over the season.  No doubt she needs it for the workload.  Amy put an exclamation mark on the game as she caught a fly out and threw out the runner on first.  The crowd was all over that.

For Game 1 stars, I give it to Amy for her usual great left field defense and, surprisingly, Brittney Vansway for the Wolverines for her first inning three-run homer.  The Aggie baseball game finished as Game 1 let out.  It was another Aggie victory.  I noticed this watching on Friday, but a got some explanation during Saturday’s game.  I kept hearing the crowd cheering more for the Aggies than the home team.  It was a small crowd in Seattle and a bunch of Aggie player families went to the game.  Unfortunately also confirmed during the broadcast, Tuesday’s game versus Texas Tech here has been moved to 2:00 in the afternoon, instead of 6:00 in the evening. I’d already asked to take off early from work to go.  I can’t go in the afternoon, and I’m sure a bunch of other people who had planned on going can’t go either.  No explanation on the move.  Sigh.

Game 2

Local girl, Alexis Maynez, came in as catcher for this game.  I like her chatter behind the plate.  At times, I could hear Kayla talking to the infield too, like a leader.  The crowd was smaller, but still okay.  I could hear the Wolverines singing during the first.  The Aggies matched it in the bottom.  They’ve even added in some complicated harmonies to their cheering songs.  Amy made another great catch in the outfield in this inning.    

I couldn’t help but notice the Wolverine catcher, Basia Query.  That’s a hard to miss name.  (Basia was one of my favorite 90’s artists.  Time and Tide was in my CD player all the time.)  I got a good look at her with her mask off and she was also very exotically pretty.  In a game sense, it probably wasn’t a good sign for the Wolverines that she was throwing harder than their Game 2 starter.  Rachel started off the bottom of the inning with a hustle double as her infield hit bounced off the third baseman’s mitt.  The new Wolverine pitcher didn’t have it any easier after that, as the Aggies batted around plus 4, scoring seven runs.  My scorecard was happily destroyed. 

There were two plays of note in that long first inning.  Hayley was apparently picked off third rounding the base on Kelsey’s RBI hit.  The home plate ump then called a meeting.  Hayley was awarded home plate for an unearned run.  The Utah Valley fans were upset as no explanation was forthcoming.  I went to my rule book at home.  I think it was a ruling of Obstruction, Interference’s lesser known cousin.  A fielder may not block the runner’s path without being in possession of the ball.  The play is dead when called and the runner is awarded the next base.  I attributed the error to the attractive catcher as the likeliest candidate, but it might have been the pitcher.  [Edit: After looking at the official box score, it was the pitcher.  Of course a catcher would have known better.]  Amy had the best at bat in the inning as she had an epic battle.  She took a close pitch, and I caught her smiling inside her helmet.  She took a base on balls and drove in a run.

I was starting to lose the battle with my nose.  It was dripping constantly.  The sun was going down and the temperature with it.  Most of the fans had anticipated this and the coats and blankets came out.  Kayla’s second inning didn’t start well either, as she surrendered three runs.  Her offspeed wasn’t coming in for strikes.  Kayla kept with it and it eventually started getting called.  The PA also started getting Kawehi Kahana’s name right, though she was announced as the pinch hitter.   She was probably the Designated Player, but I missed the lineup, running to the bathroom for paper towels for my nose.  7-3 Aggies. 

The Wolverines brought in a new pitcher for the second, not surprisingly.  The Utah Valley couple got an Aggie t-shirt in a giveaway.  The Aggie fans next to them demanded that the guy put it on.  A bunch of noisy birds orbited the outfield trees.  A couple of seniors got up to leave.  They were heckled by some other seniors, “Is it past your bedtime?”  The little girl was bundled in a blanket and sitting on her dad’s lap, keeping them both warm.  She was shouting out encouragement to the girls constantly. 

In the fourth, Kelsey had a scary at bat.  She hit a couple monster foul balls that almost hit the light poles.  I’m ready to nickname her, “The Natural.”  Then she hit one off her foot.  Kelsey had to walk it off for a couple of minutes and finally popped up.  In the fifth, the music started calling out dance directions and the crowd (including myself) start spontaneously stomping along.  There was a hard foul ball that went straight into the Aggie dugout netting, nearly taking out half the team.  The Utah Valley couple was actually from Las Vegas.  They had an interesting conversation with a couple next to them about Las Vegas sports.  Yes, there wasn’t not much going on in the game.  Local girl, Brandy Hernandez, came in as a pinch runner in the fifth.  I thought Caity Szczesny was small, but Brandy definitely has her beat.  And what happened to Caity?  She came out after the first inning and we didn’t see her again.

In the sixth, they were throwing gold coins into the crowd.  I missed it having to run to the bathroom again.  That’s what I get.  Kayla started off the inning with a strikeout.  Alexis almost nailed Fahren Glackin at first to start throwing it around the horn.  Honestly, this game wasn’t a highlight reel for Alexis.  The team settled on freshman Nikki Butler after a few series, since she could hit well.  I should also warn Coach Rodolph that the Wolverine fans had figured out the pitching signs and were calling them out to the players.  You can bet the players figured it out before that.  The highlight of the inning was the playing of 80’s favorite Jenny 867-5309 between innings.  At last, music that I like.

Kayla hit the first batter of the seventh.  The ricochet hit Alexis on the helmet too.  Ouch.  “Don’t listen to him, Kayla.  He’s cross eyed!”  There was a steady, but relatively gentle, ribbing of the umps all during both games.  She managed to close out the inning anyway.  7-3 Aggies was our final.  My stars of the game are Makayla Shadle, the Wolverines’ relief pitcher, who blanked the Aggies in five innings of work, and Rachel Rodriguez, who went 2 for 4 with two RBI’s. 

A fan left a giveaway Aggie Softball shirt on the courtesy table.  Ron picked it up and gave it to me.  I didn’t need another shirt and didn’t want to deprive anybody, but I admit, it was kind of nice.  We had What-a-Burgers after the game, which I did not need either.  My cold had ruined my appetite.  I’d like to think that going to the games didn’t make my condition worse, but I would have hated missing a couple of Aggie victories.