NM State Aggies vs Creighton Bluejays Softball 2-8-19

It was a bright, clear sunny day here in the Mesilla Valley.  Regrettably, the ambient temperature was in the 50’s with a light breeze.  It felt somewhere in the 40’s.  I’d gone outside earlier and shivered.  I was doubting my sanity going out for today’s season opener for Aggie Softball, but I’m a fan and had the day off for this, so off I went.  Coach Rodolph, in an interview earlier in the week, said that opponent Creighton was picked to win their Big East Conference.  The school is better known for their Men’s Basketball team. 

The parking lot outside the stadium was full, which was my first indicator of a good crowd.  Inside, a very pretty girl was handing out Aggie hats to everyone.  I declined since I already had one of that kind.  A nice young man helped me with a program.  Aggie Sports Marketing is on the ball.  I picked up a soda and popcorn at the concessions.  I shouldn’t have done that, since it ruined my appetite for dinner afterward. 

It was a full-ish house in the stands with Lobo and Miner fans watching the game between their teams.  I had arrived in the seventh.  The Lobos won 15-6.  I did see a Miner player hit a homer in the seventh.  The Miners are wearing new colors.  I saw one of their players outside later and she came back in to watch this game.  She was very pretty with sparkling eyes.  I’ll see if I can figure out who she is tomorrow.  [I didn’t see her again.  Nor did I see the mythic WAC girl (WAC game 8), who I’d noticed with the team during the fall.]  A pretty Lobo player, #32 Lauren Wilmert, came in the stands afterward and chatted with a couple of Aggie fans.  She was heckled lightly by the guy sitting in front of me.    

A good crowd of Aggie and Creighton fans came in after that game.  Danny came in and I chatted with him.  He’d been here watching the other games today.  He gave me a scouting report, but I couldn’t hear him over the crowd noise.  I filled him in on last night’s dramatic win by Aggie Men’s Basketball.  Creighton brought quite a few fans, including a guy in facepaint and a spiky blue wig, like it was a basketball game and he was trying to get on camera.  Nobody was shirtless with a letter painted on their chest.  Perhaps it needs to be snowing for that to happen. 

Other Aggie sports were well-represented.  First, I saw Coach Baarts and the Soccer team enter.  My heart fluttered a bit seeing Dmitri Fong.  Football, perhaps some Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball (including a freezing Brooke Salas), and Volleyball (little Zoe Abeyta was wearing shorts and a windbreaker) were all represented.  The girls all filled up a section. 

I kind of hate to mention this, but later in the game, my dear Aileen Galicia from the Soccer team came in.  I’m still ashamed that I didn’t go see her after the game on Senior Day (10-27-18), though I understand why I didn’t at the time.  I think I took a couple of Aggie losses too hard that day and lost all my confidence.  She looked beautiful now, but somehow changed in personality, more mature maybe.  Aileen didn’t sit with the team, who’d left by that time. 

Even though she walked right past me, I didn’t say anything since she’d brought two guys in with her.  I kind of doubt I’ll have another opportunity to speak to her.  (I want to ask her about the team, but away from the team, since I want her frank opinion.)  Cristina Bertoldo, her graduated teammate from last year, came in afterward and also walked by me to sit with her.  This was my second blown opportunity to say “Hello” to her.  My relations with Aggie Soccer are going downhill.  

The man himself, Pistol Pete, threw out the first pitch.  The heckler guy shouted that Pete doesn’t have real guns.  (This guy should be grateful for that.)  Pete brought along a few Cheerleaders, who threw out some t-shirts.  In the background during the game, I could see the Baseball team working out in their stadium.  Surprisingly, the Aggie Softball team was the visiting team for this game, but did get to use their usual dugout.  (I usually get overly confused with my scoring when this happens.)  Both teams made some noise during the game, but seemed relatively quiet.  I’m sure they were all cold too.           

  

I was sort of surprised to see masher Kelsey Horton leading off the game.  She may have been surprised to find herself there too.  In a preseason interview, Kelsey was anticipating teammates getting on in front of her.  Coach Rodolph would rather Kelsey get as many at-bats as possible from that leadoff position, I guess.  Nikki Butler got a hit in the top of the first and advanced on an error, but the Aggies went down without scoring.

I’d noticed an Aggie Sports Marketing lady handing out shirts to the Aggie Sports girls in their section.  Between innings, their teams were recognized and then they bombarded the fans with t-shirts.  In the bottom, Kelsey was back at her natural first base position.  Jeanelle Medina was moved to second and two new freshmen were on the other side of the infield.  Jeanelle started a slick double play to end the inning, with starter Kayla Green getting strikeout as the other out.

Ariana Grande’s Thank You, Next played between innings.  I was mentally cringing as I waited for the profanity-using chorus, but they played the clean version skipping the bad words.  Ari, it’s a great song, but really, did anybody not think that out?  The Aggies went down in order in the top of the second.  I missed the first out, as there was a small emergency down in front.  Coach Baart’s small son fell down and hit his head.  The heckler guy was impressed that the kid wasn’t crying.  The coach said, “Give it minute.”  Kayla Bowen at short, dropped a ball hit to her, but did a good job of staying with it to get the out.  Victoria Castro almost made a great diving catch in center, but that single was the only hit of the inning.

Local girl and fan favorite, Brandy Hernandez, got the crowd going with a double down the third base line to start the third.  She hustled it into a double.  Kelsey came up for her second AB and promptly jacked it to right center.  2-0 Aggies.  Tori was up next and hit one to the scoreboard.  3-0 Aggies.  Needless to say, the crowd was in a frenzy by that point.  When Nikki came up to bat next, the football players behind me and the heckler in front really started giving it to Bluejay’s pitcher, Logan Black.  Her first pitch went straight to the backstop.  Nikki walked, but a DP started by Black ended the inning.

Kayla gave up a leadoff double.  Kelsey got the next out unassisted, but the runner made it to third.  Kayla Bowen (let’s go with KB from here on to avoid some confusion) threw home on a grounder, but wasn’t close to getting the out, 3-1.  “Don’t play with her, K!” a football player encouraged Kayla on the next batter, who hit a grounder that should have started a double play.  KB was uncertain for a moment about running to second or throwing it and the runner there was ruled safe (questionable).  There was a conference in the circle.  It ended with Kelsey saying something to Kayla that got a smile out of her. 

KB did get the next out on a popup, but on the next batter, Caity in right field misplayed a ball and two more runs scored, 3-3.  The next batter singled in another run to make it 4-3 Bluejays.  Kayla came out after giving up another hit.  I have her giving up 4 runs, but only 1 earned.  Analise de la Roca relieved her.  The next batter singled to center, but Tori made a great throw to the plate to get the runner and end the inning.  Nikki flipped the ball into the circle immediately after making the catch as she ran off the field.  It’s the defensive version of a bat-flip.

Mya Felder singled past first baseman, Sam Alm, to start the fourth.  “Ole!” shouted the heckler as Alm fanned on the ball rolling right by her.  Keala Brown came in to run for her.  She’d would motor all the way around on a hit by Caity to make it 4-4.  Kennedy Johnson, in her preseason interview, was expecting to have a good season this year.  She got started off on the right foot, as she greeted a Bluejay reliever with a two-run homer to right center (the wind seemed to be blowing out that way).  6-4 Aggies. 

Brandy singled again and Jeanelle followed her with another.  They both got moved up on a wild pitch.  Nikki drove in Brandy on a fielder’s choice that didn’t get anyone out.  Jeanelle would then score on a wild pitch to make it 8-4.  Alm made a good play on a liner to end the top of the inning. 

Danny and a lot of crowd had left by this point, apparently either secure in eventual victory and/or freezing beyond endurance.  KB started the bottom of the fifth with a great jump catch.  The next batter managed to hit the right field light pole with a foul.  I’d never seen that before.  Analise issued a walk, but the next batter was out on some kind of interference or some other funky softball rule, whatever gets the game over quicker.     

      

I missed the first Aggie batter of the fifth.  I couldn’t hold that Mountain Dew I’d finished in this kind of cold weather and peed for a couple minutes straight.  The next two batters were hit and then the next walked to load the bases.  Black came back in and faced pinch hitter, Kennedi Sorensen, who drove in two runs on a single.  10-4 Aggies.  I was briefly encouraged at the thought of a run-ruled game ending this immediately, but the top of the order popped out.  The Bluejays went down in the bottom with a single hit.

By the sixth inning, I was no longer taking notes, but I was pretty grateful that the wind died down.  Before this, I’d gotten to the point that I was having to stop myself from shaking in order to write.  I noticed AD Mario Moccia came in at this point.  He must have looked around the near empty stands and thought no one came tonight.  Also, I made the acquaintance of a Creighton fan.  He came over and asked if #2 Jayci Foster, his daughter, had been taken out.  (This is what happens when you’re sitting in ballpark keeping a scorecard.  People assume you’re paying attention.)  He was a real nice fellow and some conversation will help to warm me up a bit. 

Creighton is in Omaha, Nebraska, which I didn’t know.  People there hadn’t been able to go outside for two weeks because of the polar vortex.  That said, their fans still thought it was cold here in Las Cruces right now.  This fellow complimented our facility here.  (If we’re able to get the planned upgrades someday, I’ll be impressed too.)  He was a former umpire and he knew who Kelsey Horton was.  Wow, their fans are serious; they even scouted our team.  Hopefully, we’ll meet again on Sunday morning.  [We just waved to each other on Sunday.]

As for the last two innings, they went fairly quick, thank goodness.  Even Canadian, Megan Hart, finally left with the last of the volleyball team.  Analise locked down two more innings.  In the sixth, KB singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a passed ball (I’m sure this disagrees with the official scorer, in any case, she advanced two bases), and Caity drove her in with a single for the final score of the game.  Some reserve players got at bats in the top of the seventh.  Aggies would win 11-4.  I would have clapped harder for the win, but I was afraid I might shatter my hands.

The Aggie offense looked good.  I’ll single out Victoria Castro going 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI, Brandy Hernandez going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, and Caity Szczesny, who went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s.  Aggie pitching was good, but the defense let Kayla Green down a bit.  A couple of bad plays behind her cut her outing short.  Analise de la Roca did a great job in relief.     

I must have wanted to see this game, this team, and watch the outcome real bad.  This is about as cold as I’ve ever been outside.  All of the girls were shuffling in place at their positions, but held up well.  I’m simultaneously looking forward to seeing more of the team over the weekend and dreading being out in the cold.