NM State Aggies vs Kentucky Wildcats Softball Game 1, 2-10-18

This seemed like bad scheduling.  Here was Aggie Softball’s season opening double header versus preseason nationally ranked #17 Kentucky overlapping with the Aggie Men’s Basketball big “Pack the Pan-Am” matchup with Grand Canyon.  As it turned out, there were plenty of fans for both events.  Game 1 occurred three hours before the basketball and a bunch of fans showed up.  There were several Kentucky fans, though they were pretty quiet for the whole weekend.  A large number of other Aggie athletes from the football, volleyball, and baseball teams were also in attendance.  More on some of them later.

Ron was with me this afternoon.  We had both been really missing baseball and softball.  Up front, I picked up an already signed poster.  This might have been left over from the fan meet-and-greet on Friday.  There were enough people in the stands (maybe over 600), that our usual spot was taken.  We ended up sitting by fellow fan, Danny, behind home plate.  I immediately noticed a welcome new addition to the stadium; they’d put up their championship banners on the outfield wall. 

The team introduction turned out to be pretty interesting.  I noticed a new girl, Nicole Spyhstra.  She was a tall, glamorous brunette.  We look forward to seeing her in a game.  Then there was the surprise introduction of Lia Mosher.  The volleyball girls, all sitting together, immediately let out a big cheer.  I had a momentarily disconnect with a volleyball player being introduced with the softball team.    She wasn’t on their printed roster, so I don’t know what her position is.  Lia didn’t play tonight.  I looked at the whole team out on the field more closely after the game and, sure enough, there she was.  More on this in my Sunday game coverage. 

I thought I’d mis-heard the name in the fall, but there is indeed a “Buddy” on the team, Anne Marie Vargas’ nickname.  Caity Szczesny, my favorite player name, didn’t start tonight, which disappointed me, since I liked her hustle last year.  More disappointing was the absence of local girl and catcher, Alexis Maynez.  She didn’t play in the fall, and she’s not on the roster.  I liked the way Alexis caught and she had figured out the hitting.  She was at the scorer’s table with one of last years’ seniors, Haley Nakamura.  Maybe Alexis will be back on the team at some point.     

Let’s play ball.  Kayla Green started the game for the Aggies.  Though the team added two new freshmen pitchers, I think the experiment with Kayla playing the field, as she did in fall, is over.  She looked good and confident to begin the game, like a staff ace.  Last year, she was kind of pressed into the role, but now she’s grown into it.  Her offspeed seemed to be working, which was a good sign. 

The Kentucky pitcher, Erin Rethlake, hit for herself in the game.  Her last warm up pitch went wild, high and wide, like an intimidating Randy Johnson warm up.  Or not.  She might have had some nerves or rust to start off.  Rachel Rodriguez led off with an infield hit.  The Aggie dugout went crazy.  Fahren Glackin came up next and walked.  The dugout sang to her, in their usual style, but cut off early.  They didn’t sing for the rest of the weekend.  They might have decided to make a change with their team spirit philosophy.  I’d hate to see them stop, but if that’s not the image they want to project, that’s their decision.  Kelsey Horton also walked.  She looked good jogging down to first, so I think she’s 100%.  Nikki Butler drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.  Victoria “Tori” Castro then doubled in two runs.  The Aggies took an early 3-0 lead.   

Danny chatted during the inning about going to the Friday event.  He’d gotten a tour of the field and facilities, including the locker room.  They did hitting and pitching demos.  They also had some fun.  Destiny Blueford won a dizzy bat competition.  Danny was shocked by how close the pitching circle was to home plate.  He had a new respect for the players.  If I hadn’t been working that night, I’d love to have gone. 

The sun went behind a cloud, which cooled everything off, though it was still pleasant.  There was a wind blowing in, but it was above the field and stadium level.  From Danny and some of his friends there, I got some more gossip.  Fahren had been injured in the offseason training.  She’d since recovered.  Danny told one of his friends there about the coaching change in soccer that I’d told him about at a basketball game.  I told them that I’d met the new coach, Paul Baarts (1-20-18).  Danny was still confused why they’d replaced the previous one.  His friend illuminated that the coach had had some off-the-field issues that hadn’t pleased the university.  That explains that.

Danny’s friend couldn’t believe that players weren’t swinging at Kayla’s good offspeed pitches.  “It’s so slow.  It’s right there to hit.”  He said he’d swing at it if he were in the box.  If that was all she threw, I’m sure the players would be swinging at it.  (Speed differential and location are how pitchers get strikes, not just throwing hard.)  Kayla got two quick outs in the second, but then ran into trouble.  She gave up a double and a walk.  The fans started yelling at the ump about his strike zone.  After the second time he dusted off the plate during a stoppage, a lady shouted out, “Stop cleaning!  You can see it fine!”

Rachel got a couple of hard luck errors at shortstop on the next two plays to load the bases.  Runners dashed in front of her right while she was trying to field the grounders.  The second error seemed like outright interference with player actually having contact with her, but I guess it was ruled unintentional.  (I tried looking up the interference rules this morning.  It made my head hurt.)  Giving up an extra base hit, not getting some calls, and then having a couple of errors behind you will tend to rattle any pitcher.  This led to a double and a single scoring four runs before order was restored.  4-3 Wildcats.

This was where the Aggies showed some grit and forgot how much better the other team was supposed to be.  A Wildcat error let on Destiny.  Jeanelle Medina changed places with her at first and, after a sacrifice by Rachel, Fahren was able to beat out an infield hit to score her.  Kelsey then doubled her in from first with a shot down the first base line.  Fahren turned on the jets and just got in around the tag.  5-4 Aggies.

In the third, Megan Hart and Bridgette Lowe came in and joined the rest of the volleyball team.  At 6’5” and beautiful, Megan gets everyone’s attention wherever she enters.  (Bridgette’s nice too.)  Danny teased his friend about passing up a chance to be introduced to her a while back.  He said he was too intimidated.  Now this guy is a handsome young man, not 6’5”, but I was still surprised.  I went ahead and related my own story about being in line next to the team for the South Alabama football game (12-2-17) and having the same reaction.  Perhaps we both felt a little better after that exchange.                    

Kayla looked better for the inning.  At one point, Alexis, from the scorer’s table, spontaneously shouted her usual catching encouragement to her.  Kayla got a called third strike to end the inning.  Not that the current Aggie catchers are doing a bad job (they’re not), but I’m sorry Kayla and Alexis aren’t working together this year.  During the bottom of the inning, some of the baseball team came in.  I heard bits and pieces of a scouting report on some of them from the crowd. 

For the fourth, little stress footballs were tossed into the crowd.  The umpire and Coach Kathy Rodolph started shouting at the pressbox from the field, “Answer the phone!”  The setting sun was covered by a cloud, and I think they wanted the stadium lights turned on before they ended up playing in the dark.  Autumn Humes came into pitch for the Wildcats.  She started out by giving up three walks.  Kelsey drove in one run with a fielder’s choice.  Kentucky got a couple of outs at the plate, but Nikki got hit by a pitch to drive in another. 

Next, Tori had an epic at bat as she fouled off several pitches.  One, terrifyingly, went straight up and back into the stands behind me.  (It was scary because I lost track of the ball in flight.)  She put another in parking lot.  PA Kevin announced that they had a “sweet prize” for anyone returning a ball to the pressbox.  Someone answered, “Is it a new windshield?”  Tori got on by fielder’s choice, but that at bat set up the next batter.  The Aggie play of the game came via pinch hitter, Shelby Shultes, as she doubled in three runs.  It was 10-4 Aggies after four innings.

A batch of young girls came in and sat down behind us.  Danny chatted with them and found out they were high school volleyball players.  The university should be making as many deals as possible with the local schools to have their kids attend Aggie sports.  Kayla started the fifth by giving up a home run, 10-5 Aggies.  The coach must have seen enough at that point and brought in one of the new freshman pitchers, Analise de la Roca.  This was her college debut.  I probably saw her in the fall, but didn’t have a name to attach to her.  She was a complicated-looking windup.  Analise finished off the inning with a deep fly at the fence that was probably knocked down by the wind.

During the fifth inning stretch, many of the fans and the Aggie players left to go to the Men’s Basketball game that was soon to start.  This was understandable.  It was the big scheduled sports event of the semester.  Some of the baseball players hung around a bit longer.  They started heckling the Kentucky pitcher as she issued two more walks to start the inning.  They were also giving it to the umpire during the game.  These are things they can’t do during their own games, of course.  GCU baseball players did the same at a softball game last year (4-29-17).

Kelsey came up to bat next.  Sometimes, the stadium will suddenly go quiet right before a player is about to jack one.  It happened this time, but that wind again knocked down the ball at the fence.  Tori came up to bat.  Let me interject here that she’s the only one on the team with a good, upbeat walkup song.  Thank you for that, instead of the musical crap that your teammates use.  More importantly, she singled in the two runners on base to make it 12-5. 

In the sixth, Analise was still throwing hard and looking good.  In the bottom, Destiny got a bloop double that the wind carried in from the outfield.  The centerfielder tried making a play on it near second base.  The seventh started with a great dive catch by Rachel.  Unfortunately, Analise’s lack of experience might have been exposed as the next batters went walk, single, and home run. 

Mikayla Bongi, the team’s other new freshman pitcher, came in for her college debut, still working with a four-run lead.  I remembered her from the fall.  She wears a face guard, meaning she’s probably been hit in the face with a comebacker, so she must be pretty brave to keep doing this.  She got over her nerves quickly, as her first batter homered.  Danny said that the team on Friday had referred to Kentucky as a bunch of “slap” hitters.  No, they seem to know how to get the ball over the fence.  Right after that, Kelsey made a great diving catch for Out #2.  A liner to Jeanelle ended the game, 12-9 Aggies final.  Whew!

We’ll hand out some game balls here for Game 1.  First, credit the Wildcats for jumping all over any weaknesses that the Aggies displayed.  I’m sure nine runs is normally enough for them to win.  For the Aggies, Kayla Green gave up five runs in the four innings, but I have only one of those runs being earned.  When she’s on, she’s very good.  I know this is going to be a hard lesson to learn, but Kayla just needs to focus more and not let anything going on behind her with the defense or anybody on base distract her.  As I mentioned before, Shelby Shultes got the biggest hit of the game, but Victoria Castro had a great game with four RBI’s on two hits.  Tori and Kelsey are going to be giving opposing coaches fits trying to figure out how to pitch around them, especially with much of the rest of the order also able to hurt them.

On to Game 2