I never thought I’d see it.
We were standing room only at the softball complex. I thought we were full for the last game. I was mistaken. More people
could fit in as long as they weren’t picky about sitting. The Oklahoma
fans who left after their earlier game and returned may have been angry about
the arrangement, not to mention Aggie fans who just came for this game. I’d heard that people with tickets were
turned away or told to wait for an open seat at some point. Athletic
Director Mario Moccia said later that he wished he’d put some bleachers in
the outfield beforehand. He knew there was
going to be a big crowd.
This is why they shouldn’t have been selling tickets on
Friday right before the rain out. Official
attendance was over 1,200, which was great, but capacity was 1000. I think some of these people had tickets for
that event that were being honored tonight, along with everyone who had full
session passes (like me and Ron), and everyone who just showed tonight to buy
tickets. This overflow wouldn’t have
happened if they were just selling tickets for today.
This wasn’t even the only sellout on campus tonight. Blake
Shelton was at entertaining a full house at the Pan-Am across the street. (Thankfully,
his show didn’t let out at the same time.)
Not to mention, baseball’s opening night was continuing next door. Out on the field, the Aggie girls were still
loose and smiling as they did their pregame routine. The OK girls wore these shiny, glittering red
batting helmets. Who needs that matte
finish crap? I don’t think fans of the
two teams were equal in number, but it seemed like it at times.
Let’s get right to it.
The Aggies were back to being the home team for this game. Kayla
Green was in the circle starting for the Crimson. Kayla seemed to be getting squeezed early on in
the strike zone and walked the first batter.
This set the crowd off on the ump.
The next hitter singled. The next
batter, Nicole Mendes, took one on
the knee. She limped to first and came
out for a pinch runner. Nicole returned
to the game in the bottom of the frame.
But now the bases were loaded with no outs right off the bat.
Destiny Blueford
in right field made a good catch on a fly and kept the runners from
advancing. (I couldn’t actually see it
as it was by the first base foul line.) Sydney Romero next grounded out to
first, but a run scored. Kayla finished
off the inning with a strikeout looking.
This inning might have been one of her finest moments. She kept her composure under stress. A couple of hits and the Sooners might have
functionally ended the game right there.
Instead, OK was only able to move their batters station to station and
scratch out a single run. 1-0 Oklahoma.
Lefty Paige Parker
started for the Sooners. It seemed like
a bad sign that Ron and I had heard of her.
I think we’d both seen her pitch on TV.
For this game, Coach Kathy
Rodolph put Kelsey Horton at the
top of the order, instead of a power position.
The coach did this last year in the WAC
Tournament to a pretty good effect.
Kelsey ended up getting walked and the batters behind her were able to
drive her in. The team sang to her for
her at bat. Kelsey struck out
looking. The call was questionable, but
as the night wore on, that at bat set the tone.
The Aggies went down to end the inning.
About 10 people got up and left after the first. Their seats were immediately taken and people
were still standing in the aisles. I
hadn’t seen a double play all day until this second inning when I got two. One was via the radio, since I was still
listening to Aggie baseball. The other happened at about the same time as Jeanelle Medina at third caught a liner
and then doubled off a runner at first.
That great play was followed with a scary moment as Kayla
got tattooed on her leg on a really hard shot.
Everybody in the stadium heard the contact clearly. The ball was lying next to her, but Kayla
had no reaction to it, other than to turn around and not face the crowd. Knowing what a good fielder she is, she must
have been absolutely stunned in pain for that to happen. She immediately took a couple of practice
pitches with the infielders and the coach nervously looking on. Kayla finished off the inning without a
problem. Either that hit wasn’t as bad as it sounded (unlikely), or Kayla is
really tough.
There was another t-shirt toss into the crowd. A cute OK fan standing in the aisle was
nearly hit by a bundle that she wasn’t trying to catch. Watching her reaction, I’m not sure if she
was more shocked by the flying shirt or just the concept of the giveaway. (The shirt was actually non-biased towards
the teams. It just commemorated the
tournament. They should have been
selling them up front.) Catcher Nikki Butler led off the second for the
Aggies. The girls sang to her from the
dugout too. It’s good to hear their
spirit back. But Parker was simply
mowing them down to end the inning.
Kayla got in trouble again in the third. She let on Nicole Mendez with a base hit to start the inning. Once again, it took three batters to move
Nicole from base to base for Sydney
Romero to single her in. Kayla was
probably making Oklahoma work a lot harder than usual for their runs. The last batter hit a weak comebacker to
her. Kayla threw the ball with some heat
to first for the out. She was angry
about letting in another run, knowing exactly what a challenge her offense was
facing. 2-0 Sooners. Meanwhile, stadium staff were now positioned
in front of the stands watching the crowd, like at the big time sports
event. I don’t think anyone was getting
unruly, perhaps it was a precaution.
People were now filling in the space behind the home plate
wall next to the Aggie dugout, standing there watching the game. The Sooners started off the fourth with a
runner at first for the fourth inning in a row.
Jeanelle made another good defensive play on a bunt. With the ball right in front of the plate,
she threw out the runner at first to Kelsey covering. In the circle, Kayla’s offspeed was starting
to get ooh’s and ahh’s from the crowd.
And it had to happen.
The university fire department showed up. They started controlling entry into the
stadium. People in the stands were then
moved around a bit to clear the aisles.
At least they didn’t shut everything down. Now that the sun had gone down, I noticed in
the lighted pressbox that there was a broadcaster in there for Oklahoma. I wonder what he was saying about Las Cruces
and the Aggies. I’ll bet the broadcast
was on the Internet. Ron didn’t want to
bother trying to find it. (We were still
listening to Aggie baseball.) In the
bottom of the fourth, the Aggies finally got their first hit in the form of a
double by Rachel Rodriguez. She made it to third, but was stranded. The dugout was still singing for their
batters.
There were OK fans around me. One Sooner lady liked Kayla and thought she
was doing a great job. Rachel made the
season highlight reel in the fifth.
Kayla deflected a soft liner into the air. Rachel made a diving catch of it behind
second base. The whole crowd applauded
her, even the Sooner fans. It was her
inning as she also made a great play deep in the hole at short to throw a
runner to end the frame. The girls sang
for Fahren Glackin for her at bat in
the bottom. She hit a deep foul that
momentarily jazzed the crowd, but ended up striking out. The crowd also disputed a call on Amy Bergeson by the ump. I recorded her getting thrown out at first,
but I think the home plate ump ruled her out for hitting out of the box.
Kelsey had an error that let on the first OK batter in the
sixth. No problem. Jeanelle threw her out at second after
catching a liner at her by the next batter.
It was her second double play of the game. During one at bat, a bouncer hit Nikki behind
the plate hard. The ump walked a ball
out to Kayla to give Nikki time to shake it off. He said something to Kayla that made her
laugh.
Kennedy Johnson
came in to pinch hit to start the bottom of the sixth. She gave it a ride, but fouled out deep. Shelby
Shultes came up as a pinch hitter next.
Kelsey put her arm around her in the on deck and gave her some last
minute advice, but Shelby struck out looking.
Kelsey’s own at bat featured a great diving catch by Nicole Pendley in centerfield.
It’s the Jeanelle Show out in the field. After a double and a walk with one out,
Jeanelle caught a grounder, stepped on third, and threw to first for her third
double play, which ended the inning.
Rachel collected the second Aggie hit of the game with a single. Victoria
Castro hit a long out to right field.
The girls were still singing in the dugout, but Nikki grounded into a
double play to end the game. I guess
that was coming after all those Aggie DP’s.
Our final: Sooners 2, Aggies 0. The Sooner team came over the stands and led
their fans in a quick cheer, which their fans returned. The PA again thanked the Oklahoma fans for
coming out. Aggie fans were reportedly
getting autographs from the Sooners as they were getting on their bus at the
main entrance.
Paige Parker was
pretty awesome here for Oklahoma. Like Aeshia Miles in the last game, the
Aggie offense ran into some great pitching.
Rachel Rodriguez, 2 for 3
against her, must have gone back to the clubhouse and said, “What was wrong
with you guys? She was hittable.” (Just kidding. She’s too sweet for that.) Rachel also got two stars on the scorecard
for her great defensive play in the fifth.
Kayla Green took
a hard loss with a great effort. I
presume OK hasn’t been winning championships just on great pitching. She really showed some grit out there and
never buckled under the pressure (even getting hit on a liner). The Sooners had really had to earn both of
their runs. The Aggie defense shined in
this game, particularly Jeanelle Medina. Her three double plays just kept killing the
Sooner’s rallies.
Except for last year’s tournament win, I don’t think I’ve
been prouder of the team. I hope Coach
Kathy felt the same way and told her players.
They played so much better tonight than in their two wins over Kentucky. This sport isn’t fair at all, but has a way
of evening out. In truth, I felt better
about these two losses than I did about the Aggie Basesball win earlier (and
certainly better than their loss later in the evening). I don’t think they’ll face better pitching
this season, so the bats should come back around. If they can keep up this kind of pitching and
defensive intensity, the Aggies will be tough to beat the rest of the season.
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