10:00 am was not a great time for me on a Saturday for
softball. I was a little skeptical of
going, mostly because of Aggie football later in the evening and also because
of the warm, sunny weather. However,
this was a free exhibition double header.
Also, Coach Kathy Rodolph was on the Aggie Coaches’ Show earlier in the week. She was excited about a couple of new
freshmen pitchers. They would also free
up, now junior pitcher, Kayla Green,
to play the field a bit and bat. Well, I
had to see Kayla bat.
In not so great news, Kat
Heifner, Coach Rodolph’s assistant coach, has left the program for a head
coaching job. Rodolph considered Kat her
“co-coach,” so that’s big loss for her.
Also, “The Natural” Kelsey Horton
was reported to have a bad ankle. I
wonder if that was what was causing her to limp late in the season. That’s bad if it’s still bothering her.
Wow, it’s not even 10:00 am and the football parking lot
already has a bunch of RV’s parked there for tailgating. It’s another “Stuff the Stadium” promotion
with discount tickets and the team’s first home game (and they beat the rival
Lobos last week). There should be a good
crowd. I couldn’t get a hold of Ron,
even though I could have gotten free tickets, so I wouldn’t be there. More practically for me, all this meant that
my usual path to the softball complex was blocked off. Thankfully, I found a quick way around it to
get there.
There was a decent crowd there, surprisingly. A bunch of them turned out to be travelling
with Western New Mexico (Silver
City?). The regular senior crowd was
there. The old man’s cheering was
amusing to the Mustangs fans, I think. I
noticed Gia Pack from the women’s
basketball team came in. Some guys from
either the basketball team or the football team were also there. There was a person lounging in the
centerfield perch for reasons unknown. Everyone
was desperate for some shade, of which there wasn’t any, unless you brought an
umbrella (which I did). One fan reported
it was 78 degrees. It was not that on
those shiny metal stands. It was a lot
hotter and maybe a bit humid. I was
sweating immediately. After an hour, my
notebook was hot to the touch and possibly melting, along with the ink from my
pen.
From where I was sitting, I could see a TV truck parked at
the press box at the football stadium, the soccer team practicing next door,
the baseball team training across from us, and I could hear the band practicing
somewhere in the area. Driving in, I think
I was some tennis team matches going on.
(Ah, that’s where the courts are.
I wonder if Eli Arnaudova was
there. I may have made the wrong choice
in sports attendance.) It was a busy day
for NM State Athletics.
The girls looked like they were wearing different uniforms
than their usual ones, like a practice uniform.
(I was wearing my Chihuahuas’ shirt and hat, hoping to give them some
luck tonight, rather than my Aggie gear.
The Mustangs were wearing rather sharp gameday uniforms.) Some of the Aggie uniforms didn’t have a
number on them. A couple of other girls,
like Kelsey, were wearing different colors, white instead of the crimson. I think that meant they weren’t playing, at
least for Game 1. Both teams had their
happy, giggling pre-game rituals. The
Aggies did their in-line wiggle and bump.
The Mustangs made an interesting “Whooping” sound in theirs.
Here’s most of what I could figure out of the lineup. I had a program from last year with me and
was not bothering to fill out a scorecard for this game. Kayla
Green was pitching and may have been the Designated Player too. Shelby
Shultes was catching. Amy Bergeson was in left. Rachel
Rodriguez was at shortstop. Caity Szczesny (how I missed that name)
was at second. Victoria Castro was in center.
Nikki Butler was at first
(and caused a bit of confusion among fans, thinking it was Kelsey at first
glance). Right field was a mystery. A girl wearing Jeanelle Medina’s number was at third, but I’m not sure that was
her (I’m not that familiar with her, and I thought I heard the girls calling
her by another name).
The top of the first went well for the Aggies with a double
play ending the inning. The bottom of
the first was more eventful. Victoria
led off with an inside-the-park home run.
What a way to begin, 1-0 Aggies. The
girls were in a really good and enthusiastic voice when they serenaded Rachel
for her at bat. Nikki slugged a two-run
homer for a 3-0 lead. One of the Aggie
girls went behind the fence to retrieve the ball. Kayla did indeed take an at bat. She hit one down the line that went of the
third baseman’s glove. Kayla made it to
second. She looked comfortable out there
running the bases. Four more runs scored
in the inning, including Shelby driving in two and Amy singling in one, 7-0
after one inning.
What happened next was more than surprising. Coach Rodolph walked over to the Mustang’s
dugout and called the team to her. I
couldn’t quite hear what she was saying, but she seemed to be reminding them
that this was just an exhibition. Kathy
may have been encouraging them a bit.
Kayla stood in the circle with her mitt on top of her head waiting to
start. Her next at bat in the bottom of
the second was an adventure. She
seemingly hit a double, but the ump called her back. Then she sent a hard foul right into the
Mustang dugout. The ump went over and
checked on them. Then she fouled one
high into the stands and into the crowd.
Finally, Kayla worked a walk. No
runs scored. Kathy’s pep talk must have
worked for the moment.
In the top of the third, Kayla called for time and had all
infielders join her in the circle, no coaches were involved. In the bottom, Shelby hit a solo home run,
8-0. Rachel then hit an infield
single. The Western New Mexico fans let
the ump have it. More importantly,
Rachel came out of the game limping. It
seemed like her Achilles. Hopefully,
it’s nothing serious. Brandy Hernandez came in for her and to
play her position. Caity singled in a
run, 9-0. She also stole second. The team seemed to be stealing a lot, though
I wasn’t recording it. Nikki pounded a
foul out of the park. The old man
insisted it was fair. The opposing fans
heckled him. Victoria sac’d one in,
10-0. Kayla fouled one off her
foot. She was in some obvious
discomfort. The ump gave her whatever
time she wanted and dusted off home plate twice. Nobody warned her about that happening during
an at bat. (Just kidding.) She finally flied out.
Kayla didn’t go back out to pitch in the fourth, but I think
she was still standing in the dugout, so I’ll say she wasn’t injured. One of the new freshman pitchers came in
(name unknown for now). Kathy called for
a timeout after two pitches, though she didn’t seem to be doing that bad a
job. In the bottom, Shelby tried to take
second on a bobbled ball in the infield, but was thrown out at second. The next batter (again unidentified) did
actually take second on a ball that didn’t leave the infield. Amy doubled in a run, Caity drove in two,
Nikki tripled in a run, and then scored on a wild pitch. It’s 15-0.
One of the senior fans got up to leave, “I’m gonna chase
girls and watch football.” A couple of
other seniors had a chat about the Women’s Basketball team. They were excited about the upcoming
season. By the fifth, the Aggie infield
had been changed out. Shelby threw out a
runner at second with Brandy on the receiving end. The Mustangs led off the sixth with a
hit. I could hear the girls in the
dugout go crazy. Next up got an infield
hit. Then a triple scored two runs,
15-2. There was a lot of applause. I think half of the crowd was there for
Western New Mexico. They just about went
nuts over a strike call right after that.
In the bottom of the sixth, Merina Illi came up and jacked a three-run homer. Then there was a two-run homer by an
unidentified player. At 20-2, the
Mustang’s starting pitcher finally came out.
God bless her. In the top of the
seventh, the new Aggie freshman pitcher finished off the game with a couple of
strikeouts. I have her at four for her
outing, but I wasn’t really keeping track.
20-2 Aggies, Game 1 over. Game 2
to start in 20 minutes.
At this point, I took stock.
I was boiling like lobster. I’d
finished off the water bottle I’d brought with me (mentally congratulating
myself for bringing water with me to begin with). I hadn’t paid anything to get in and these
games don’t count for anything. I’d seen
Kayla hit. I saw one of the new
pitchers. I had the feeling Kelsey
wasn’t going to be playing today. I
doubted they’d invite fans down to the field to chat with the girls afterward,
so I could ask Kelsey about her baseball cards.
I bailed. I’m not
tough like these girls. Clouds and wind
kept flirting with cooling things off in the afternoon, but never did, so I
didn’t feel too bad about it. I did get
bad heartburn from my otherwise delicious lunch at Schlotzsky’s as
punishment. The dates and times for the
next exhibition games seem a bit ambiguous in their press release. The next one, next week, would be finishing
right before the Aggie/Miner football game, which will be a traffic mess. I’ll have to skip that one, and I’m not sure
about the rest. Hopefully, this will be
enough to tide me over until next year if necessary.
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