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.
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