NM State Aggies vs Kentucky Wildcats Softball Game 2, 2-10-18

(And NM State Aggies vs GCU Lopes Men’s Basketball)

Continued from Game 1

At this point, two storylines which were unrelated, converged, that is, Game 2 of this softball double header and the Men’s Basketball game versus Grand Canyon University.  As much as the GCU game deserves its own entry, I wasn’t there and I can’t even fake decent coverage.  If Ron had expressed interest in the free tickets from work to the basketball game, or if I’d stayed home and watched on TV, or even if I could have given more attention to the radio call (or even been able to hear it at times), I’d do a full write-up.  Instead, I’m going to leave it as it is in my notes, mixed in with the softball recap.  Hey, I had to make a choice as to what sport I’d be watching this night.  As great as the basketball game was, I honestly don’t feel cheated.

During the intermission, we went back to Ron’s car for our jackets and to warm up a bit since it had gotten colder.  We started listening to the basketball pregame.  The Women’s team lost their game in Phoenix to GCU really badly.  They’re not a great road team and that’s not friendly place to play for visitors to begin with.  Here, the game was a sellout at the Pan-Am Center with over 12,900 in attendance.  Athletic Director Mario Moccia came on and reported that this set a new single game revenue record for the university.  Also, he was also really pleased to announce the softball win over Kentucky in Game 1.  Mario was beaming over beating an SEC opponent with an exponentially bigger athletic budget.

The crowd was thinner for Game 2, which wasn’t unexpected, but it was still a decent crowd, especially under the circumstances.  It was colder, but the wind had mostly died down.  I was still listening to the basketball game on my headphones.  Wow, I could almost tangibly feel how big the crowd was there just from hearing them.  And they were giving the Lopes a hearty Aggie welcome.   

Samaria Diaz was the Game 2 starter for the Aggies.  She got off on the right foot with a pair of strikeouts in the first.  The Kentucky starter was Larissa Spellman.  She looked pretty small out in the circle, but could whip it up there.  Larissa also looked pretty cute.  The action started in the top of the second.  Jenny Schaper (pronounced “shaper” and what a great name) started off the inning with a hit.  This started a bit of a merry-go-round. 

It looked like the Aggies might get out of it only giving up a run, but a low throw by Rachel Rodriguez pulled Fahren Glackin off first.  I had that as another error, but it was ruled a hit.  Wildcat batter, Katie Reed, ended up on second with two more runs scoring.  Another run scored before Shelby Shultes threw out Erin Rethlake (still in the lineup as a batter, though she was the Game 1 starter) at second to end the inning.  4-0 Wildcats.  Back at the Pan-Am, both teams were stuck on 12 all for several minutes at the 11-minute mark.  GCU took the lead, but a pass from AJ Harris to Eli Chuha for dunk made it 23-17 Lopes with 9 minutes left in the first half.

The third inning started with a scary moment as a groundball took a bad hop and hit Kelsey Horton in the jaw.  She was stunned for a moment and took a hard luck error.  From what I saw the next day at the autograph session, her lovely face was undamaged, which was the important thing.  Kelsey stayed in the game.  The next two Wildcat batters hit ground balls at her, likely not by accident.  She had no trouble handling them, but I suspect she was fuming afterward.  This was confirmed in the bottom of the inning.  Spellman started off giving up three straight singles.  Kelsey came up with the bases loaded and promptly hit a grand slam homer to left center.  She isn’t just beautiful when she’s angry, she’s dangerous.

Back at the basketball game, Jack Nixon thought that Zach Lofton didn’t look right shooting, even free throws.  It was definitely hurting the Aggies not having their leading scorer making baskets.  Keyon Jones got a steal and a three, but the half ended 40-34 Lopes.  Jack pronounced this the Aggies’ “worst half of the year.”  This was going on as Spellman came out of the game after giving up two more hits without getting an out for the inning.  Grace Baalman came in.  She was pretty tall and also nice looking.  Grace finished off the inning without further damage.  The score was tied 4-4 after three.

Nice sock caps were thrown to the crowd between innings.  I already have a couple, so I didn’t try to get one, but they were a nice giveaway.  Kelsey had an error to start the inning.  Once again, the Wildcats kept hitting at her, but she got the next two batters who both grounded out to her.  Sam was suddenly pulled from the inning with two outs, maybe for pitch count.  Kayla Green, Game 1 starter, was brought back in and finished off the inning.  This move made me think Coach Kathy Rodolph really thought they had a good chance to win and was going to do whatever to secure it.

The second half started in basketball.  The Aggies went down by 12 early.  However, one of the better Lope players picked up his fourth foul.  GCU Coach Dan Majerle was incensed with the officials.  Jack was unimpressed and questioned Dan’s judgment in leaving the player in to begin with and Dan’s ability to count to three.  “Did they teach him how to count where he graduated from?”  The player was more angry and immediately picked up a technical and fouled out. 

The Wildcats led off with a single to start the fifth.  A hit batter and an errant pickoff throw would snowball into two runs.  The inning ended with a running, over-the-shoulder catch by Victoria “Tori” Castro in centerfield.  The crowd really got into it at that point though the score was 6-4 Kentucky.  As often happens, a player making a great play in the field would immediately make a great play batting the next inning.  Tori led off the bottom with a deep home run to right center.  Amy Bergeson then doubled.  Shelby made up for the bad pickoff throw by singling Amy in, though she did knock down her third base coach with a foul preceding the hit.  Just like that, we’re tied.

Brandi Wilke came in to pinch run for Shelby.  I ran into her somehow on social media two years ago (probably off the team Twitter feed) and couldn’t remember ever seeing her in a game.  Beyond being rather attractive, I was glad to finally see her out on the field.  Fahren would hit a bloop single to bring Brandi in, so she got to score a run too.  (I have enough trouble keeping my scorecard without trying to keep track of pinch runners in softball where players get changed in and out constantly, so sorry it’s not written down.)         

61-53 GCU with eight minutes remaining at the Pan-Am Center, but it’s 7-6 Aggies at the softball complex.  The PA played the Macarena before the sixth.  Jeanelle Medina warmed up at third by doing the dance.  The Wildcats had mild threat in the inning and there was another Aggie error, but nothing came of it.  At the basketball game, Jemerrio Jones was having a monster game.  His 27-th point brought the Aggies to within four of the Lopes.  With under five minutes left, the score was tied at 64.  Jack and the huge crowd were roaring. 

I had assumed Ron was listening to the basketball game on this earbuds, but he had to ask me what the score was when another fan asked him.  After my report, he brought out his radio to listen to the game.  With under two minutes left, a second GCU player fouled out.  Aggie big man Johnathon Wilkins followed him into a spectator role right after.  I was still watching the game in front of me.  After a leadoff double by Nikki Butler, Tori homered to deep center.  One minute left in the basketball game, the Aggies had a one-point lead.  I nudged Ron, “This is all pretty exciting!”

Caity Szczesny, who had pinch hit last inning and stayed in the game, doubled.  Meanwhile, the basketball team was up three with 24 seconds left.  At this point, I had both hands over my ears, trying to hear the end of the basketball game over the crowd cheering at softball field.  The Lopes took two three-point shots on their final possession, but came up empty.  We’re done at the Pan-Am Center.  Our final: Aggies 74, Lopes 70.  In addition to his 27 points, Jemerrio Jones also had 20 rebounds, but our player of the game is the Fans.  The fans did not give up in this game and were cheering the whole time and screaming whenever Aggies made plays.  The team definitely needed a sellout crowd supporting them to beat a determined GCU tonight.  Hopefully, Zach Lofton is okay and gets back on track next game.

Fully back at the softball field, Sarah Rainwater for the Wildcats almost had the play of the night with a diving catch of a Rachel Rodriguez Texas Leaguer in centerfield.  Almost.  Right in front of the umpire, the ball popped out of her mitt as she hit the ground.  Caity scored to make it 10-6 Aggies.  The inning ended with some hard feelings.  Fahren got plunked hard for the second time in the game.  She slammed her bat down in front of the plate before going to first.

Don’t ask me how, but the baseball team made it back to the stadium to see the end of the game.  Not that the stadium is that far from the Pan-Am, but I can’t imagine how they did it so quickly on foot in such a short period of time, especially with a huge crowd exiting with them.  They had to have stayed to the end, though I did talk to a co-worker on Monday who left early, because he couldn’t take the tension.  Thankfully, there was no tension in the seventh.  Kayla shut them down quickly.  Our final at the softball field: Aggies 10, Wildcats 6.    

This softball program has probably had bigger regular season wins in its history, but these two wins have to be right up there.  Certainly the timing couldn’t have been better with the football bowl win last year and the Men’s Basketball team’s big wins on the road (and their win tonight).  This just continues the athletics program’s roll.  Mario Moccia has to be the happiest man on campus, at least in terms of putting out a competitive product.   

I was in shock after the game.  Just from recent memory, basically every time the team played a good non-conference opponent last year, they got crushed.  Winning two in-a-row right at the beginning of the season felt unthinkable just earlier that afternoon.  Frankly, they didn’t even play that well with five errors over the two games, which Kentucky mostly capitalized on.  The Aggies covered over their mistakes by out-slugging the Wildcats, which is a play style you can’t count on working all the time.  Coach Rodolph must have heaped praised the girls afterward, but let them know that their next team meeting wasn’t going to be pleasant. 

Kayla Green again only had one earned run over her three+ innings of work for our defensive game ball.  That no-drama seventh was her best work of the day.  I can’t choose just one offensive star for this game.  Kelsey Horton went 3 for 5 with four RBI’s, which all came on one mighty swing.  Victoria Castro went 3 for 4 with three RBI’s, which came on two big home runs.  I’m all for these two competing with each other for conference Player of the Year honors.     

   

Afterward, it was a bit of the worst case scenario for leaving the university, namely both sporting events ending at about the same time.  The basketball crowd was nowhere near gone as we pulled out.  Thankfully, traffic, at least from where we started, moved pretty quickly.  (People parked next to the Pan-Am Center, not so much.)  We went to the What-a-burger on Telshor for dinner.  Though a decent distance from NMSU, it was filled with happy Aggie fans.  The one closer to the university was later reportedly mobbed.  A lot of people were using those coupons on the back of their tickets.  To their credit, both locations served everyone quickly. 

While there, a guy at asked us about the softball game.  He’d come from Alamogordo (or Los Alamos, which would have been a way longer trip) to see the basketball game, but him and his wife decided to watch the first softball game beforehand.  He’d seen us there and wanted to know how the second game turned out.  We were pleased to report another victory.  Tonight was another great night to be an Aggie fan.