Friday, February 23, 2018

NM State vs Oklahoma Sooners Softball 2-17-18


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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