This title is a bit deceptive, as I only attended one full game. I wasn’t able to go to a bunch of the games of this invitational like I did in 2018. I saw this current Aggie team in one fall game last year (9-28-19). They looked pretty good then, though they’d lost ace pitcher Samaria Diaz (graduate transfer) and freshman of the year Mya Felder (transfer).
February 6 vs Nebraska Cornhuskers
I got to watch part of this game when it was unexpectedly on the WAC Digital Network. It was a good broadcast with Adam Young on play-by-play and Brian Cox doing the color commentary. The Aggies won going away 11-6. The team was starting four freshmen, but senior Nikki Butler set the tone by homering on the first pitch she saw. She finished with 3 hits and 2 RBI. Chloe Rivas went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s and got the win pitching. Freshman Matalasi Faapito pitched for 3 1/3 innings and gave up 2 runs. She was also in the lineup hitting.
February 7 vs Bradley Braves
The Aggies won on a run rule 13-4. Analise de la Roca pitched a near complete game. Matalasi Faapito went 3 for 3 with 4 RBI’s and two home runs. Fellow freshman Ramsay Lopez went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s and two more home runs. Even sweeter, this was Coach Rodolph’s 500-th Aggie win.
February 8 vs #20 Arkansas Razorbacks
That’s #20 in the nation Arkansas. After watching Aggie Women’s Basketball earlier, Ron and I arrived to this game about a half-hour late. The parking lot was full and we had to park closer to the nearby baseball field than the softball field. Inside, it was more than a sellout. Several lovely members of Aggie Volleyball were sitting at the front of the grandstand without seats. We were lucky to find two seats together. This was not unexpected. Las Cruces softball fans will turnout for a good matchup (2-16-18 vs Oklahoma). Arkansas also brought quite a few fans. We were sitting with some of them. Dad told me he saw the full house on El Paso TV news later in the evening.
We were pleased to see on the scoreboard coming in that the Aggies were up 3-0 in the third. I wasn’t able to find out how that happened until I looked it up online later. (Wow! Three back-to-back-to-back homers. Impressive!) I didn’t bother with a scorecard for a partial game. Matalasi Faapito was pitching for the Aggies. Caity Szczesny was now playing left field. Brandy Hernandez was in center. Listening to a visiting batter being announced, I was momentarily startled as Kayla Green’s name came up. That’s still a sensitive topic for me (4-29-19). Mata came up for the Aggies in the bottom and singled. She is multi-talented.
In the bottom of the fourth, Chloe Rivas singled. Here’s another Aggie that can pitch and hit. I think she was the DP and Mata was batting for herself in Brandy’s spot. There was a visiting weather segment. A girl came on the PA and announced it was 48-degrees in Fayetteville. It was warmer here, but still a bit nippy.
In the top of the fifth, AR got two on with nobody out. A pitcher was warming up in the Aggie bullpen. The Aggie dugout was still very loose. Girls were dancing inside. Jeanelle Medina, playing short, made a good move to cover third and get the lead runner on a grounder. Next, Brandy caught a deep flyball in center. She threw a strike to third to keep the runners from advancing. If they’d scouted her, AR probably had to actually see her arm to believe it. Brandy made a diving catch on the next batter, but it was ruled a trap. A run scored, but Brandy made a great throw in to keep two runs from scoring. 3-1 Aggies. Mata got a strikeout to end the inning.
Associate Head Coach McAdams and his family came into the game from the Women’s Basketball game. That’s some school dedication. I think the Aggie Baseball team was also watching from behind the centerfield wall. To the bottom of the fifth, Gabby Aragon reached second on an error. Arkansas brought in a new pitcher to face Nikki Butler. Nikki nearly took out Mr. Mook the photographer on a foul ball, but ended up making an out.
Arkansas got two on again with one out in the sixth. Chloe was brought in to pitch. Usually sure-handed Jeanelle made an error that scored a run. Brandy missed the cutoff man (err girl) and both runners advanced. A good play at second by Casie Roberto got a runner at first to end the inning. 3-2 Aggies. Mata didn’t lose her spot in the batting order and worked a walk in the bottom, but that was all for the Aggies.
Chloe allowed a leadoff single to start the seventh. Mata was put back in to pitch. I’m guessing since Analise de la Roca pitched yesterday, she was being reserved for tomorrow’s rivalry game. Mata was likely a bit gassed and gave up a two-run homer and then a solo homer, both to left center, to give AR a 5-3 lead. Chloe came back in to finish the inning.
The girls in the Aggie dugout were still dancing. They weren’t depressed at all. Gabby came up and singled with two outs. An error on a hit by Nikki drove her in. Unfortunately, a grounder ended it. 5-4 Arkansas was the final. The end came none too soon for the Volleyball girls. I noticed lovely Kiley Tonge was somewhat questionably dressed in a t-shirt and shorts in the 50-degree weather and was shivering. Fashion should sometimes take a backseat to practicality.
The Aggie Softball team went to the circle to say their usual, “Thank you,” to the crowd, but the Razorbacks jumped in front of them. They saluted their fans with a “Sewee!” (Or something like that.) That was kind of rude. Ron and I were a bit disappointed in the result, but that was a pretty good game. This hopefully gives the team confidence that they can play with anybody.
February 9 vs UTEP Miners
There was no letup in the crowd size for this rivalry game. The parking lot was not only filled again, but there were several groups of tailgaters. Inside, it was another full house. The UTEP fans were here in force, along with Aggie fans. Softball is more popular than you’d think here.
The weather wasn’t bad the previous night, but Sunday afternoon was just about perfect weather-wise, being warm and sunny. In fact, it was maybe a bit too warm. I had to take off my jacket and regretted forgetting my sunglasses. I at least had on sunblock. Ron didn’t have any, but did have an umbrella. A loudmouthed UTEP mom told him to take it down, so he got a bit toasted. The same woman yelled all over the player introductions and kept me from getting all of the players the first time. Also, I was distracted by a beautiful young woman with her boyfriend in front of us. She looked just like a girl I was in love with a few years ago. It was kind of depressing.
Even with two games scheduled this morning with other teams, this game did start on time. The other games were likely on a curfew for teams to make their flights home. Ron wasn’t interested in the games not involving the Aggies. I was home watching Daytona 500 qualifying and some hockey. I’m not sure I made the right choice.
Jeanelle Medina did not start at short. Freshman Maya Martinez was there. I don’t know if Maya was in to get a look at her or if Jeanelle was in Coach Rodolph’s doghouse for that critical error yesterday. Maya made a good play at short in the top of the first on a soft liner. UTEP made a lot of noise from their dugout.
Right after UTEP pitcher Bryana Munoz made her first pitch in the bottom of the first, the third base umpire immediately stopped play to correct something in her delivery. Perhaps she wasn’t coming off the rubber right. It was a warning. After that, Keala Brown worked a walk and then stole second on a close play. UTEP fans were in an uproar over the call. Gabby Aragon drove her in, as Keala just avoided the tag.
The scoring kept going. Nikki Butler drove in Gabby with a double. Ramsey Lopez worked a walk. Matalasi Faapito singled in Nikki. That was three runs scored without an out. Casie Roberto hit a sac fly to left, but Ilena Santos made a good throw in to prevent a run. After a ground out, Maya hit a fly ball to center to end the inning. The PA gave the totals.
Sound effect of a record getting scratched. When I looked up after having my head down in my scorecard for a few seconds, I noticed the inning was still going. (What a time to be using a pencil that didn’t have an eraser. I lost the eraser in transit. I was able to fix the scorecard later.) Ron explained that the umpire had waved off the previous pitch for being illegal. What a costly error. Maya drew a walk to load the bases. Coach Rodolph did not hesitate to use her game-winning pinch hitter, Shelby Shultes, in the first for this situation. The resulting grand slam was almost a foregone conclusion. It was 7-0 Aggies when the dust cleared.
In the crowd, I saw an Aggie baseball player come in with his girlfriend. I recognized him, but couldn’t remember his name. Ron finally identified him as Chance Hroch. I think some other team members were watching over the left field wall. I saw a fan with a cool desert digi-cam Aggie hat. I have too many hats already, so I didn’t ask where he got it.
The UTEP fans got loud behind us as their leadoff batter for the second homered off of Analise de la Roca. She gave up a walk and a single next, but got the next three batters. In the bottom, Nikki got on via an error and some hustle. Unfortunately, she tried to steal second on a slightly bobbled ball and was thrown out. Kasey Flores made a nice play at third on a ball hugging the line for the second out. But, there was Mata again, who came up with a home run. 8-1 Aggies.
The pocket contest was back. All of the asked for items were found in the crowds’ pockets, including a $2 bill. The prize was nice, an Aggie lunchbox. For the top of the third, the most exciting play was a foul ball that went straight back and crawled over backstop and then fell down between the gap between that and the grandstand. I’ve seen everything with a foul ball now. (I’m sure something will happen in another game this season to make me say that again.)
I appreciated the good PA music today. It was pretty lively. For some reason, the player walkup music wasn’t particularly memorable or terrible so far this season. Kayla Bowen was thrown out on a blown hit-and-run for a quick bottom of the inning. The hat giveaway in the break had the crowd going crazy. Marketing director Nicole totally hammed it up while handing them out.
Analise hit the first batter of the fourth. She was pulled mid-at bat on the next batter for Chloe Rivas. She got a strikeout and finished the inning. There was a great fan catch of a foul in the grandstand. The PA was about to give out a warning and then said, “Wow!” after the catch. The beautiful Sundancer from the basketball game yesterday came in with her boyfriend. I can’t believe I haven’t noticed her all season, but have seen her twice in two days.
In the bottom, Gabby walked. Nikki singled and freshman Hailey Tanori came into run for her and to keep her from making any more bad base-running decisions. Ramsay drove in Gabby with a single. Kasey Flores made another good play at third to end the inning with a double play. She stepped on third for the force and threw to first to get the runner. 9-1 Aggies.
Ron caught a Pepsi towel in a giveaway toss. His trip was made. I noticed that the Aggies could run rule to start the fifth. Part of me didn’t want that to happen, so we could watch more ball. The other part of me was getting a sore back from being cramped in with a bunch of people around me, and the sun was starting to toast me. Chloe made the choice for me by striking out the side, the last one looking. After the second strikeout, the PA played the Chewbacca sound effect to the giggles of the crowd (even Miner fans).
The Aggies won it 9-1. Our player of the game is the easy choice of Shelby Shultes. One at bat, four runs, and she was done for the day. Aggie pitching with Analise de la Roca and Chloe Rivas did a nice job too. The Aggies seemed to be on a mission to either avenge last night’s loss, beat one of their rivals, and/or get an early start on the rest of the afternoon. The PA made a special point to be nice to the visitors and their fans, thanked them for coming, and wished them a safe trip back home.
The temperature dropped and clouds rolled in after the game. Ron and I got stuffed at Whataburger and finished the meal with dipped cones at Tastee Freez/ Wienerschnitzel. (That made me want to have a chili dog. Did you know they sell cans of their chili for $5?) Ron wanted more softball too. “Well, that’s our own fault,” I said, “They put on a bunch of games for this tournament and we only went to two of them.” It’s true. I felt like I’d wasted an opportunity to watch softball and instead went to work and slept in the morning and went to a basketball game. Hopefully, we’ll be watching some more softball and baseball next weekend.
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