[Sorry. This is a
day later than I meant to post this.
I’ve been distracted the last couple of days as Comet TV just started showing Babylon
5 in the afternoon and began with the two-hour pilot movie. Between this show and Space:1999 on the weekends, they’re actually showing some
interesting stuff.]
After watching an Aggie Volleyball victory and having lunch, I was ready for some
exhibition softball. I could have
skipped having lunch out and gone back home to see some baseball, but I didn’t
want to have to come back right afterward for the Aggie games. This was sort of an unofficial regional
invitational with the Aggies, Lobos, and Miners here. The first game featured
the two visiting teams, which I came in the middle of. When the Aggies posted their games, I sort of
guessed the Lobos and Miners would be playing at this time and the Miners’
website confirmed it.
UTEP Miners vs UNM Lobos
After looking over my notes for half-a-game, I decided this
didn’t merit a separate post. It was hot and sunny at the Softball Complex,
but there was a little breeze, so it wasn’t terrible. Next door, the Aggie Baseball team was practicing.
The Aggie Softball team would
arrive before the end would hang out around the outfield fence to watch the
game. Aggie fans would also trickle in
as this game ran over the announced start time of the next game.
Unlike the other softball exhibitions I’ve been too,
there was a good, partisan crowd here. (I
have to admit that the UTEP fan gear looked pretty good.) Both dugouts were fully into the game and
making lots of noise. The scoreboard was
on and they were even playing music between innings. (A couple of guys in UTEP shirts were running
things in the pressbox.) There weren’t
any programs to tell who was who. In the
case of the Lobos, it wouldn’t have mattered, as they were wearing what looked
like warmup jerseys that didn’t have numbers on them.
The first thing I noticed on the field was the pretty
Lobo first baseman. From looking at the
roster online later, I think she was #32 Lauren
Wilmert. She’d change positions to catcher
in the next game, so she must be pretty talented as well. On the field for UTEP later, I noticed their
third baseman wearing face mask like a pitcher.
I figure there’s always a bad story behind players wearing one of those.
Wait a minute.
There by the Miner dugout.
Gasp! It’s the WAC Girl! Yes, it was that young woman I’d waxed poetic
about from the WAC Softball Tournament (Game 8, 5-11-18). She appeared to
be here working for UTEP in some sort of staff capacity. Unfortunately, that’s all I saw of her. When the Aggies played the Miners later, she
was in the visitor’s dugout and I couldn’t see her. What a cruel tease.
The scoreboard said it was the fourth inning and 4-2
Miners when I arrived. While the players
and fans were taking the game seriously, I did see a Lobo coach chatting amicably
with first base ump during play, something that likely wouldn’t happen if the
game counted. In the sixth, UTEP scored
a run on an error, and followed that up with a three-run homer by #21 Cortney Smith to make it 8-2
Miners.
My only scouting observation was that UTEP pitcher #27
(a number I can’t find on their online roster, so much for my scouting) has a great
offspeed pitch. The Lobo batters were
fairly befuddled. In the seventh, the Lobo
centerfielder (sorry no jersey numbers) made a great over-the-shoulder running
catch. UTEP ended the game on a double
play. The third baseman caught a liner
and threw out a runner at first. 8-2 UTEP final. The Miners looked pretty good here.
NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos
Oh, my notes are complete mess here, since I couldn’t
identify the new Aggie players either. A
senior fan nearby had a printed roster and would read off their names, but it
was still confusing. Between two Kaylas,
one Keala, two Kennedys, and three similar-looking (with their gear on) blonde catchers and a
bunch of other players I wasn’t familiar with, I was scratching out and
scribbling over everything I wrote.
Here’s the opening lineup, I think. The fabulous Kelsey Horton was back playing at first base this year. Coach
Kathy Rodolph had mentioned this in an interview on the Aggie Coaches Show. (And she sounded so happy and upbeat,
too. That was good to hear.) Kelsey had some rough moments playing second,
but really improved the more she played there.
I think that time there will actually help her play first better. She’s also gone back to dark hair. I can’t explain that change, because she
looks better blonde.
Sure-handed Jeanelle
Medina was moved from third to second.
As good as she was at third and as much action as she saw there, I don’t
think I would have moved her. Perhaps
her presence at second will deter teams from trying to hit up the middle. A pair of freshman was on the other
side. #23 Kayla Bowen (KB) was at short, and #30 Mya Felder (pronounced “Maya”) was at third.
5’0” Brandy
Hernandez was in left field. The
Coach gushed about her play in El Paso last week at an exhibition versus UTEP,
calling her a “Gnat at a picnic,” because they couldn’t get her out. The diminutive local girl is also a
fan-favorite. Veteran Victoria Castro (Tori) was in center
with Kennedy Johnson (KJ), who’d
pretty much just pinch hit last year was in right field.
Nikki
Butler was at catcher.
Thumper that she is, she’s the reason opposing pitchers have to pitch
Kelsey. Senior Kayla Green started the game.
It seems like just yesterday she was a freshman (2-14-16) at the
first softball game I attended. She’s
still striking out there in the circle.
Okay, that was an unintentional pun.
Take two. It’s still fascinating
to watch her pitch. From seeing her
working for the volleyball team at the Pan-Am, Kayla looks stronger than I’ve
seen her before.
A senior from last year, Amy Bergeson was working at the scorer’s table for the team and to
finish her degree. Another former
player, Misty Hoohuli, was sitting
nearby me and I’m kicking myself that I couldn’t identify her at the time. I only had posters with her up at home and at
work for a year. I certainly noticed her,
because she looked absolutely gorgeous.
(I do actually have a thing for Hawaiian girls because of a beautiful
babysitter I had as a kid.) She said
“Hello” to several of the senior fans and sat with some vocal Aggie fans. The fans asked her about playing and about the
sign calling from the dugout. Misty was
there with a little girl (sister? niece?).
She took her down to see the dugout and meet the players between games.
In the first, Kayla had her offspeed working, which was
good to see. In the bottom, Mya made a
great first impression on Aggie fans, as she mashed a homer on to the roof of
the field house beyond left field with Kelsey on. That was a heck of a shot. 2-0 Aggies.
Some of the girls from Aggie
Volleyball came in after the game started.
These girls have busy lives.
In the third, Kayla got a strikeout on a fastball. I think she’s throwing harder than before. Mya came up again in the bottom and pounded a
very hard line out to the opposite field.
She’s got some power. I already
knew about Nikki’s power, but had it demonstrated again as she also hit the
field house roof with a solo shot. 3-0
Aggies.
In the fourth, the Aggies showed off their defense. Jeanelle made a good stab, stop, and throw to
first for an out. I am unsurprised that
she’s good playing second base. For the
final out, Brandy made a diving catch and the crowd erupted for her. In the bottom, KJ got a hit. The cute freshman girl that I’d seen working
at the volleyball, Keala Brown, came
in to pinch run. After an “excuse me” swing
from Kelsey, an error on a play at the plate brought in a run. Mya drove in another run on a sacrifice to
make it 5-0.
Analise
de la Roca came in to pitch in the fifth. I think she was also the DP up to that
point. She’s multi-talented. They’ve also posted her doing interviews with
some other Aggie athletes, like Brooke
Salas. Shelby Shultes came in to catch her. Keala went to right field. I think Kennedi
Sorenson was the DP (I’m glad I wasn’t trying to figure this out on a
scorecard) and got an RBI on a fielder’s choice. 6-0 Aggies.
In the sixth, there was a Lobo home run to right. The ball seemed to catch a jetstream and just
kept carrying. 6-1 Aggies. UTEP fans started coming in at this
point. It must have been after 6:00pm,
the announced start time for the next game.
In the bottom, Sarai Mejia
came in to pinch hit, but was hit by the pitch.
Jeanelle scored by tagging up on a flyball and a bad throw in. Alyssa
Barela, pinch hitting, struck out twice.
The ump called her back after a foul tip on a bad swing. She took the same bad swing on the next pitch
for the out. 7-1 Aggies was the final score with the final out being a looking
strikeout.
Okay, next up, *Aggies versus Miners.*
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