Troy Cox Classic Softball: #4 OSU vs Nebraska 2-24-23

I’m writing this after watching five games in the last two days.  I’m exhausted and all the games have blurred together.  Still, it’s been great (and occasionally upsetting).  This year’s Troy Cox featured two headliner invitees: Nebraska and #4 in the nation Oklahoma State.  I took Friday off for the two Aggie games in the evening that I was going to with Ron, but I went by myself for the morning game between these two guest teams.  I figured it would be the best game of the weekend.  I was not disappointed.

 

Except that I forgot to take my notebook for the game, but I did remember the scorecards.  I scribbled some notes on the back of them.  Indeed, I’ve taken little in the way of notes all weekend.  That might be a good thing to make sure I can write these recaps more quickly.     

 

The first thing that happened at the game was that I ran into Danny outside the stadium.  I’d only seen him once at Aggie Women’s Basketball this season.  He was here for the first game of the tournament, where OSU beat UNM 12-1.  Danny said even the one run was just a fluke.  The Cowgirls looked real good.

 

There was a great crowd inside with fans and family of the two teams.  They both travel well.  There was just few Aggie fans scattered in the crowd, including myself.  A couple of OSU fans were wearing shirts with their Pistol Pete on it.  We, of course, have the real Pistol Pete at NMSU.  I think both teams had radio announcers at the game.  I could hear one at times in a pavilion at the top of the stands.  On field, an OSU assistant coach was obviously several months pregnant.  That’s dedication to the sport.    

 

Behind me and Danny was the Lobo team.  They were in the stands eating their lunch of Chik-fil-a.  There were also a couple of dogs where we were.  One was friendly little service dog and another was a big happy white dog.  I think they were both owned by NE fans.  One of the Lobos, Emmalyn Brinks, ran down in her socks to pet the big dog when she saw him.  She’s a statuesque beauty with long, dark hair and hard to miss.  I’d see her in action the next day.

  

I have to emphasize that this was a really well-played game.  On one play, there was wild throw from third to first that the first baseman jumped up and caught.  Any other team in the tournament that throw would have went to the parking lot.  Here, even an errant throw almost resulted in an out. 

 

The scoring started in the top of the second.  The Cowgirls rattled off three hits with two outs and scored a run, 1-0 OSU.  The Cowgirls had a pair of singles in the next inning, but left them stranded.  The Cornhuskers got their first runner in the bottom of the third via a hit batter, but a beauty of a double play ended the inning. 

 

In the fourth, AD Mario Moccia came in.  He chatted with the Lobo’s coach in the stands and later had a long talk with an NE fan.  (I wonder what that was about?)  OSU once again put a couple of runners on in the top of the fourth.  They came up empty again.  The PA announced that it was 20-degrees in Lincoln, Nebraska and 36-degrees in Clearwater, Oklahoma.  It was a balmy 60-something in Las Cruces.  I doubt anyone was missing home too much.  Nebraska got their answering score with a line shot home run by Caitlynn Neal to center just under the scoreboard, 1-1. 

 

To the dramatic top of the sixth, the Cornhuskers brought in a reliever, Courtney Wallace.  After giving up a pair of singles, a bunt attempt to third was thrown to second to nip the middle runner.  Another bunt attempt rolled in front of home plate.  Courtney grabbed it and flipped home to get the runner trying to score from third.  The next batter beat out an infield hit to load the bases with two outs, but a groundout ended the inning.  What a Houdini act to get out of that one!

 

That luck would only last into the top of the seventh.  A single and a hit batter put two Cowgirls on and a pair of wild pitches moved them into scoring position.  A single by Katelynn Carwile brought in the go-ahead run for OSU.  That brought out the hook for Wallace.  The OSU bench serenaded her as she left.  Ouch!  Another single brought in another run to make it 3-1 OSU.  That would be the final score.  A double play in the bottom of the seventh ended the game.

 

For Gameballs, I’ll toss out one to Cornhusker Caitlynn Neal for her fourth-inning home run.  For the Cowgirls, I’ll highlight Chyenne Factor for going 3 for 4 with an RBI and their starter Lexi Kilfoyl.  She went 7 innings and only gave up 1 run and 2 hits.  Your stat of the game only came up when I added up the scorecards.  Nebraska pitching scattered 14 hits and only gave up 3 runs.  OSU could have theoretically blown this open at any point, but Nebraska wouldn’t let them.       

 

The Oklahoma State team went to the foot of the stands in front of their fans and spelled out “O-S-U!”  I left the park afterward and returned home for a few hours.  Danny also left for the day before the Aggies played.  He might have been worn out.  When I returned later with Ron, we could see the Cornhuskers warming up.  One of their coaches was giving Wallace a long talk.  It was probably something of a review and a pep talk.  Coaching is really all about managing people more than X’s and O’s.  This game was a great way to start off the tournament.