NM State NCAA Softball and WAC Baseball Tournaments

5-19-17 NCAA Softball Tournament

Twitter had a couple of interesting links today.  One was a conference-produced interview with Kelsey Horton, done during the WAC tournament dinner.  The video briefly mentioned her accomplishments as the WAC Softball Player of the Year, but it was mostly about her mother.  She was diagnosed and treated for cancer last year.  When Kelsey wanted to go back home (with Coach Rodolph’s blessing), her mom told her to stay where she was, and that she wanted to see her in the big tournament.  Kelsey seemed very sweet in the video.  It was already easy enough to root for her.  (She had nice nails in that video.  You wouldn’t think a female athlete would spend money to have their nails done.)  The baseball team also posted a video.  They had conducted a youth baseball camp earlier and posted a video of the kids wishing the girls good luck at the tournament.  It was cute.          

Their opening round game against the Arizona Wildcats was on ESPNU.  This was a home game for the Wildcats.  Their stadium was at capacity, with their outfield walls filled, listing their conference and NCAA championships.  They were favored contenders this year and had already beaten the Aggies twice in Las Cruces.  11-0 was a very unsurprising final as NMSU was overpowered by Arizona’s hitting and pitching, along with a few defensive miscues. 

Still, it was actually really cool to see the girls on national TV.  They were still doing their usual singing from the dugout.  The director probably should have taken a shot of them to show where the cheers were coming from.  I could swear I heard the old man there too.  He wasn’t at the baseball games this week.  The ESPN hosts talked to Coach Rodolph during the game late.  They were grateful that she wanted to talk, given the score, and were very impressed with her poise.  The hosts also liked Misty Hoohuli’s name.  I’d feel worse about the loss were it not so dominating.  [Arizona would finish the regional un-scored upon against three different teams.]

5-20-17 NCAA Softball Tournament

The Aggie softball team was now in the Loser’s bracket to face the St Francis Red Flash (?).  I felt fortunate that the game was on the radio this time.  Jack Nixon was there for the call.  University President Garrey Carruthers was also there as the girls’ bat boy.  He must like them, since he’s done this before.  The Aggies got off to a good start by scoring four times in the first.  Kayla Green made her second tournament start in a row.  She had her good stuff working early from what I could hear described. 

After four scoreless innings, Kayla gave up a homer and was relieved for Samaria Diaz.  Unfortunately, she ended up giving up a grand slam home run and the lead.  Kayla would make a short return later, but gave up another home run.  Fahren Glackin was finally brought in, but she gave up a homer too. 

Meanwhile, a pitching change on the other side had completely stopped the Aggie offense.  Kelsey Horton had a fairly quiet game for her with just a double.  From watching on TV the day before, I noticed she was looking gimpy again.  Jack mentioned she had a large baseball card collection.  This is great.  If I ever meet her again (I did meet her last year while her and her teammates were handing out programs at a football game), I have something to talk to her about.  Maybe she’s got a Buster Posey card she’d be willing to trade for.  I’ve only been looking for one for seven years.  The Aggies did load the bases in the seventh with two outs, but there was no dramatic comeback this time.  Our final: Red Flash (?) 8, Aggies 4. 

If the pitching improves and the hitting stays about the same, I like the girls to repeat in conference and do better in the big tournament next year.  With this year’s experience, hopefully Kayla and Sam will be improved.  Another good pitcher added to the mix would help in relief.  The hitting should definitely be solid with Kelsey and most of the other girls returning. 

5-25-17 WAC Baseball Tournament

Thanks to their number one seed, the Aggies played their first game on the second day of the tournament.  They were playing the Northern Colorado Bears, a team which the Aggies had swept in Las Cruces last month.  Unfortunately, Kyle Bradish didn’t start the game well for the Crimson, giving up three runs in the first.  He settled in well after that with a bunch of strikeouts.  By the sixth, he’d loaded the bases and two more came in.  Matt McHugh finished off the inning.  The Aggies answered with two in the bottom and another in the seventh, but left the bases loaded then.

Just after midnight, just like a World Series game (because the game started well after 8:00 pm), the game ended dramatically.  With the bases loaded and only down a run, the last two Aggie batters struck out.  5-4 was the final.  Your telltale stat, the Aggies had left 13 runners on base for the game.     

5-26-17 WAC Baseball Tournament

Now in the Loser’s bracket, the Aggies had to play an afternoon game.  This matchup was against the CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners, whom the Crimson had played last week and won two of three.  This game functionally ended quickly.  Marcel Renteria gave up six runs in the first and didn’t even finish the inning.  In the fourth, with the Aggies using their third pitcher of the game, the Roadrunners scored another five runs. 

The Aggies did score runs, but the 11-7 final wasn’t as close as it sounds.  The NM State Aggies were eliminated from the tournament.  Brent Sakurai had a good game.  When Adam Young was describing his season, he paused and used the same word I did a couple of days ago when I wrote about him for the Season Rewind, “Gritty.”

I’m not sure what happened here.  The Aggies certainly had enough hitting going into the tournament to be a contender, even if the pitching was a bit suspect.  Their opponents stepped up their pitching, while the Aggies’ just seemed exhausted.  By the end of the season for the last two years, they just seemed tired.  Maybe some more days off for the regulars would help. 

Next season, the team is going to lose much of their starting lineup.  Hopefully, Coach Brian Green can find another good crop of JuCo transfers that will fill in the gaps.  Even if this year ended with about the same record and result, he proved that last season wasn’t a fluke, or just due to Daniel Johnson being awesome.  Next year may be a down year with other teams, like Grand Canyon, dominating.  If the coach can still pull out a winner anyway, it would be a very good sign for Aggie Baseball.