Hey, I finally got their name thanks to seeing it on the
back of a cap worn by one of their fans.
The Gila Monsters are also the only softball team I’ve seen that plays
with their pant legs down. Everybody
else plays with the high socks. This
exhibition double-header was delayed by the nearby soccer match. They were afraid of foul balls going into the
soccer grandstand. I haven’t seen any
fouls have that kind of distance, but it allows fans the opportunity to see all
of both events. I was delayed coming
over, since I was getting player autographs and then took the poster back to my
truck. Hopefully, the softball girls
understood. (I’m still waiting for an
opportunity to get softball player autographs at a game.) A nice breeze had picked up to cool things
off.
The Aggies’ lineup featured Samaria Diaz pitching (the girls in the dugout called her “Ria,”
why not “Sam?”), Nikki Butler at
first, Kelsey Horton at second, Jeanelle Medina at third (I heard her
called “Nellie” from the dugout), Rachel
Rodriguez at short, Brandy Hernandez
in left (her way too accurate nickname is “Little B”), Victoria Castro (“Tori”) in center, and Caity Szczesny in right. I
think the DP was Merina Illi. She wasn’t wearing a jersey with a
number. Our catcher was number #32, who
I identified as having nice hair last time. There isn’t a #32 on last years’ roster, so I
don’t know who it is.
Lastly, I kept looking for Kayla Green in the dugout.
As the tallest player on the team, she’s not hard to spot. It wasn’t until after the game, I saw her out
of uniform at the scorers’ table.
Hopefully she’s not injured from running into an opposing player in the
last game. Alternately, she might be in Coach Kathy Rodolph’s doghouse for running
into that player. I’m sure Kayla will be
playing next year.
From crowd chatter, I figured I arrived in the second inning
of a scoreless game. (The scoreboard
wasn’t on for this exhibition.) I
decided I’d just note interesting plays and scoring plays. That came quick. With runners on second and third, Caity hit a
pop up right behind second base. It
dropped in between three players. Two
runs scored (2-0 Aggies) and Caity
took second. Even having seen it, I
still don’t know how it happened.
Seriously, the ball dropped right behind second base.
In the third, Brandy came up to bat. Being a local girl, she had several fans in
the stands. Behind me, there were a
couple of guys, who may have been scoring the game for the Gila Monsters. I wasn’t there for the first, but the Aggies
seemed quiet. The Arizona team was
pretty vocal by comparison. They also
had an older guy in the dugout, who was one of the coaches, who worked up a
steady chatter of encouragement for the girls.
The team had several fans in the grandstand.
In the fourth, Kelsey hit the light pole on a foul during
her at bat. I’d seen her almost do that
before, which is why I’ve called her “The Natural.” (Well, that and her great playing
ability.) She still looks a little
tender when she’s sprinting, but moved well otherwise. Caity scored on an error this inning, 3-0 Aggies. The girls finally started singing a bit in
the fifth. A pinch-runner (unidentified)
on third took home on a wild pitch, 4-0. Tori drove in Brandy to make it 5-0.
A new Aggie pitcher came in for the sixth. She was a blonde lefty and wore a facemask
when pitching. A new catcher also came
in. She also had great hair, but it was
so long, it covered her number. I don’t
know who it was. The Aggies had their defensive
play of the game as Caity made a catch in right field and then threw out a
runner at home, who was tagging up from third.
Again, I’m not sure how this happened, but it was a great play.
It was Caity’s day for unlikely plays until the bottom of
the inning. The Gila Monsters had their
best play on a comebacker to the pitcher with Caity on third and Kelsey on
second. Caity was caught in a rundown,
trying to take home. Kelsey was then
caught in a rundown, trying to take third.
The Arizona fans cheered the double play. Merina, the batter, did reach and was driven
in by Nikki, 5-0 Aggies, which was
the final score.
Events were much less contentious today than last time. Between innings, one of the umpires briefly
danced in the circle, before dusting the rubber. The home plate umpire talked to some Aggie
fans in the grandstand, “Are we having fun?”
For the seventh, I noted that the new Aggie pitcher could really whip it
up there. You can tell by the sound of
the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt.
They did play out the unnecessary bottom of the seventh before taking a
break between games.
While it was reasonably nice out and the first game went
pretty quick, I’d been outside for quite awhile already with the soccer
match. I was also hungry, so I went
ahead and left. I did catch up with Aggie
fan Danny from the soccer match, who was also at the softball and about to
leave. We had both invited new soccer
fan Marty to see the softball (which she probably would have liked), but she’d
had to leave. This was the last
exhibition for the girls for the year, so we were going to have to look forward
to next season to see the softball girls again.
They looked good from what I saw.
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