NM State Aggies vs Boston University Terriers 2-18-18

When I saw the schedule for the tournament, this 9:00 am Sunday game, I considered really optional for attendance.  I work at night, so getting up early isn’t something I do very willingly.  I also had had a long day at the ballpark and softball field yesterday.  I didn’t entirely sleep well either, though it wasn’t from an upset stomach from eating late like last weekend.  (I had a large slice of pizza and some frozen yogurt for dinner.)  However, Ron was committed to go.  I still needed to go to come close to getting my money’s worth from the full session pass, so he picked me up after 8:00 and off we went.    

It was beautiful, bright sunny day.  I brought my sunglasses, but quickly realized I should have brought my sunblock too.  There was a clank of bats going next door at the baseball field for their game in an hour.  (Sorry, you guys shouldn’t have overlapped with your schedules.  I could only pick one.)  Boston U and Aggie fans were about equal at the softball stadium, but some more Aggie fans, including a couple of girl’s softball teams, came in late to tip the balance.  It was a decent crowd for an early morning, nothing like the SRO last night.  The BU coach was kind of cute.  I think she was actually older than she looked from a distance.  Coach Kathy Rodolph for the Aggies had made some interesting lineup choices with a couple of freshman starting.  Stefani Duran at DP was a local girl from Onate High.

The Aggies were again the visiting team.  This caused me terrible problems when I started writing this and forgot about that.  Kelsey Horton again led off the game.  She started off with a home run to right center.  After being stifled for the last three games, I was wondering how long it would be before Kelsey took it out on somebody.  The girls actually made a tunnel for her after she crossed home plate.  Rachel Rodriguez came up and hustled a single into a triple after a couple of errors by the Terrier left fielder (only one officially).  Fahren Glackin drove her in for a 2-0 Aggie lead.  A guy behind us was working up a lot of the crowd chatter.  He was calling Fahren “Hammer,” so I’ll try to use that here sometime.  The BU coach had seen enough and pulled her pitcher, Ali Dubois.  Reliever Cali Dolfi finished the inning.

Kayla Green was back out to start this game after her complete game yesterday.  She gave up a couple of hits, but the Terriers mostly ran themselves out of the inning.  Brittany Younan advanced to third with one out, but got caught in a pickle when she tried to take home on a loose ball at the plate.  Madi Killbrew made a heady play by taking third all the way from first in the process.  However, no one scored.

Freshman Sarai Mejia singled in the second.  Jeanelle Medina was up next, but was called out for contact with the ball or stepping out of the box to hit.  The team really needs to work on that.  The order turned over and Kelsey came up with a single.  Rachel then beat out a great bunt to load the bases.  Unfortunately, Victoria Castro hit a grounder which led to a force out. 

There was a final t-shirt toss.  While I wanted one, no matter how much didn’t need it, there were too many kids present for me to think about depriving any of them.  The Aggie fan doing most of the yelling accidently cheered for BU in the bottom of second.  “Who are you rooting for?” asked another fan.  Jeanelle made a good play to get the lead runner on a fielder’s choice.  Rachel had an error at short, but no harm done. 

Fahren led off with a hit in the top of the third.  Zariyah Caldwell, another local girl from Mayfield High, pinch ran for her.  Caity Szcznesny came to bat.  She was choking up on the bat so far, she might have been holding the wrong end, but Caity managed a single anyway.  Stefani hit into a hard luck 1-6-4-3 DP to end the inning.  Good concentration by the BU infield there.

This game was moving along quickly, like BU needed to catch a plane in a couple of hours and the Aggies were planning on brunch.  A remix of The Outfield’s Use Your Love played over the PA.  Kayla allowed a leadoff hit in the bottom without further damage.  I took a look at the Aggie scorer’s table behind home plate.  I think that was last years’ seniors, Haley Nakamura and Misty Hoohuli, manning it.    

The fourth inning began with a remix of Justin Bieber’s Sorry.  The PA was having a good time.  The kids went nuts for the Pistol Pete mustache bandana giveaway.  We could hear the baseball team in the outfield doing their pregame cheer.  The Aggies went down in order in the top.  Kelsey caught a hard liner to start the bottom.  Jeanelle did the same with the next batter.  Neither team scored for the inning.

In the fifth, a new pitcher, Lizzie Annerino, came in for the Terriers.  Rachel collected another hit and stole a base.  Catcher Nikki Butler also singled, but no one scored.  I’ve mentioned that Victoria has a cool walkup song.  The PA turned up the volume on it and even played it twice this inning when there was a delay after her introduction.  [Edit: It’s Fade by Kayne West.  It may be the end of the world here: I sort of like a Kayne West song.  Sort of.  Other than the sample, the rest of the track is crap.]   

We could hear the Anthem playing next door.  Rachel started off the bottom of the fifth inning with an error.  Unfortunately, Marina Sylvestri came around to score on a hit by Madi Killbrew after that.  After, Jeanelle also had an error.  Both errors were on bad hops.  It could have been worse.  Amy Bergeson, who came in for defense in left field this inning, threw out Killbrew at home on a bad send by the coach.  Madi danced around in front of the plate, trying to dodge the tag.  Nikki touched her and then flipped the ball into the circle with disdain.

Centerfielder Jilee Schanda ran down a sure gapper by Stefani to start the sixth.  There was a big roar over at the baseball field.  The Aggies must have scored early.  Destiny Blueford and Kennedy Johnson came in as pinch hitters next, but went down in order.  Kayla made one pitch in the bottom and was then pulled for Samaria Diaz, who also pitched a complete game yesterday.  Perhaps Kayla hit a pitch limit.  Kennedi Sorensen, yet another freshman, entered the game as her catcher.  Sam had a trouble-free frame. 

The top of the order went down in order for the Aggies to start the seventh.  Here’s where I finally remembered that the Aggies were not the home team for this game.  Oh well, better late than never (and a bunch of cut and pasting).  Sam gave up a walk in the bottom, who was sacrificed over as the tying run at second, but she finished the game with a strikeout and a groundout.  Aggies won 2-1 in a squeaker.  Thank goodness.  I’d have hated to pay $40 for two tickets and not seen an Aggie win. 

Should I have said upfront that after the first two Aggie batters scored, that would be it for the game?  Kelsey Horton, Rachel Rodriguez, and Fahren Glackin all had a good game offensively.  Coach Kathy’s strategy of emptying the bench didn’t really pay off today, but maybe in the future.  The defense was back to being shaky with three errors. 

The saving grace today was Aggie pitching.  Kayla Green and Samaria Diaz locked it down.  Pitching pretty much ruled today and for the tournament.  I heard later at the basketball game that the highest scoring game was Ball State versus Boston U at 6-5 (Ball State won).  Your stats of the day: Aggies 6-left on base, Boston U-7 left on base.  Both teams had ample opportunities to open this game up.  Boston U winning yesterday against Oklahoma was a big upset in college softball (as I read about later).  They had a successful tournament no matter what.  The Aggies went 1-2 in games, but the pitching really shined.  These games were worth it for the rest of the season, just for the confidence-building.  They proved they can play with anybody.          

     

We left at around 11:00.  There was no radio coverage for the baseball game, due to the Women’s Basketball this afternoon, so we weren’t getting updates, other than hearing some loud cheering during the seventh inning of the softball game.  I had no intention of paying to get into a game that had already going for an hour and also I was hungry for lunch.  Ron checked the physical scoreboard at the stadium before we left the parking lot, before I told him he could get an update on his phone.  It was 8-0 Aggies in the third.  Somehow they did it on 3 hits.  The game ended, 13-3 Aggies, during the second quarter of the Aggie Women’s Basketball game we went to next.  For the third game in a row, it once again ran over three and half hours.  Getting lunch at Schlotzsky’s was probably the better decision.