It was bright and sunny when I got up this morning, so I
was looking forward to going out to today’s games. However, during a call to my dad, I was
informed that there was a strong cold wind blowing. After poking my head out of the door, I
realized this was going to be a long afternoon at the ballpark.
It wasn’t going to be as long as it could have been
however. First, I had to choose between
the baseball and the softball double headers since they overlapped. Next, Ron had a family function to go to in
the evening. This meant either going
separately or him taking me back home and then me going back on my own. This also meant I had to give up tickets from
work to go to tonight’s Aggie Men’s
Basketball game. Given conditions
outside, just going to one softball game seemed like the best option.
One nonnegotiable was lunch. We’d skipped dinner because of how late the
games went yesterday. I was starving
the next morning. At Jack-in-the-Box, I inhaled an Ultimate
Cheeseburger and was still hungry. Ron
produced some chocolate chip cookies in his car, so I could have a quick
dessert. I was still hungry, but I’d
live.
At the Softball
Complex, we were greeted with a softball landing in front of us at the
entrance. The ushers gave us each a foul
ball to return to the press box. I’d
only handled one of these bright yellow balls before, but that was a very used
ball from practice. This game ball was
hard, but very light. It made a nasty
sound hitting the pavement. We gave both
balls to a couple of kids playing under the stands, so that they could get the
candy rewards.
There was a good crowd inside to watch the Texas State Bobcats versus the Bradley Braves. Wow, those Bobcats uniforms were sharp. They were like throwback Astros uniforms, but used different shades of crimson in the color
bands. Their batting helmets had gold
trim. We were sitting next to the Texas
State fans, who were very vocal. They
were encouraging their pitcher, “Pudge,” and one of their outfielders by
name. (I wouldn’t call a girl “Pudge,”
even if it was meant as an affectionate honorific.) The PA even took notice of them, “I hear you
fans! I love your enthusiasm!” They even had a special cheer for when the
team scored. I was impressed.
The wind direction was blowing in and it was playing
heck with balls in the air. Next door at
the baseball field, it was therefore blowing out. We could hearing cheering for homers
there. We may have picked the wrong game
again. Ron checked the score. It was 15-0 in the third inning! As for the visitors’ softball game, Bradley won 12-10. The Braves made a tremendous comeback in the
last two innings off a couple of home runs when the wind shifted out.
Between games, the wind ominously picked up. I quickly had sand in my mouth, but at least
I was no longer hungry. The Griz came out to warmup. They were in crimson too. It’s the color for the weekend for everyone,
I guess. A couple of their girls tried
playing hacky with a softball, which didn’t work.
For the Aggies, freshman Alyssa Barela was in to catch.
Perhaps, Coach Rodolph was
unhappy with Kennedi Sorenson’s
performance yesterday. Casie (pronounced “KC”) Roberto started in right. Kayla
Green was in the circle for the Aggies.
She started the first with a strikeout and a great catch on a comebacker. A couple of volleyball players came in at the
start of the game. After a half inning
in the cold wind, they came to their senses and left. 
In the bottom, Griz second baseman, Lexi Knauss dropped a Kelsey
Horton liner to let Kelsey on base.
Little did I know at the time, this was the start of an epidemic of
errors this afternoon. Knauss started a
double play on Victoria Castro to
erase the error. Strangely, this was the
start of several good plays in the field to go along with the errors. An error in left field moved Kayla Bowen and Mya Felder up a base once they got on. Nikki
Butler almost hit one of her coaches a couple of times with foul
balls. She was cringing afterward before
striking out to end the inning.
The Aggies looked sharp in the second, turning a double
play and Kayla getting a strikeout looking, but went down quick in the
bottom. Kayla worked into some trouble
in the third. The bases were loaded on a
hit, an error by KB, and a hit batter with one out. Kayla got out of it with a strikeout looking
and a lineout.
In the bottom, events did not go well for Griz
shortstop, Maygen McGrath. I’d noticed her at the plate. She’s an impressive specimen at 6’, even
bigger than Kelsey. Tori doubled and was
moved to third by Mya, but she was then doubled off on a fielder’s choice by
KB. McGrath let on Nikki with an error. Chloe
Rivas replaced Nikki on the bases and for the rest of the game at DP. Next up, McGrath let on Casie with another
error, and then threw the ball away at second (which should have been a third
error), which scored Mya and KB. 2-0
Aggies.
The wind got worse and started blowing dust on the field
from the visitor’s bullpen. Game 1 of
the Baseball double header finished, 24-8
Aggies over Texas Southern. They
still had another 9-inning game to go.
Kayla started off the fourth with another hit batter. KB made another error that let on another
runner. A single loaded the bases with
nobody out. A single scored a run, but
Kayla made a pair strikeouts and Mya handled a ground out to end the
inning. 2-1 Aggies.
The Aggies went down in order in the bottom of the
fourth. Griz third baseman, Kylie Becker, made a great shoe-top
catch of a liner. The PA gave a weather
report between innings. It was 60
degrees and windy in Las Cruces.
Meanwhile, it was 37 degrees and partly cloudy in Montana. The Griz went down in order to start the
fifth. Jeanelle Medina showed some awesome concentration at second,
getting the first two groundouts with massive wind gusts hammering at her.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies had runners at
second and third with no outs on a hit and another error. Michaela
Hood in for the Griz in the circle and worked out of it, finishing the
inning with a strikeout looking. Oh my
goodness, the bad plays were becoming unavoidable. Even sure-handed Jeanelle bobbled a throw
from Kelsey to let on the first batter of the sixth. Kayla got a strikeout right after. Right field defensive replacement, Caity Szczesny, made a spectacular
diving catch on a dying liner to end the inning.
The Griz got two quick outs to start the bottom of the
sixth. I scored McGrath with another
error to let Brandy Hernandez on, but the official scorer took pity on her and
gave Brandy a hit instead. This started
a two-out rally with Tori driving in our first earned run of the game. The inning ended with a great catch in
centerfield. 3-1 Aggies.
Kayla got her seventh strikeout to start the seventh
inning, but she was probably out of gas at that point. The next batter hit a sky-high flyball to
left field. With the wind moving the
ball around in midair, Brandy stayed with it and made the catch. The next batter singled up the middle. Maygen McGrath finally got her revenge in
this terrible game for her with a line drive homer to center to tie the score
at 3.
What no one probably wanted was more softball, certainly
not extra innings. KB started the inning
with a single. Michaela Hood got a
strikeout looking for her eighth of the game and popout. Kennedy
Johnson, I was wondering where she was, got a pinch hit single. Shelby
Shultes stepped in as the next pinch hitter. Perhaps by this point, Hood was finally
winded (pardon that pun). Shelby
absolutely jacked a walk-off homer with an exclamation point. It was a high-arcing shot to straight left. Given the wind direction and speed, there’s
no way that ball should have been anywhere near fair. It must have been crushed. That was a three-run game winner. Aggies
win 6-3!
Seven total errors officially. (I had 10.)
But, I also have five starred defensive plays, two well-turned double
plays, and several otherwise routine plays made spectacular by the high
winds. Kayla Green and Michaela
Hood pitched as well as two starting pitchers could in that wind with some uneven
defense behind them. Both pitched to
their limit, getting crucial strikeouts when needed. They only made one real pitching mistake
each, but Hood’s came last.
Offensively, Maygen
McGrath was the standout for the Griz, going 2 for 4 with a two-run home
run. For the Aggies, Victoria Castro continues on a torrid
pace going 3 for 4 with a clutch RBI hit.
Then there’s Shelby Shultes,
she only needed one at bat to be the hitting star of the game with a
game-winning three-run homer.
Part of me wanted to stay and see the Aggies play the San Jose State Spartans. They came out and warmed up right after in
their bright yellow jerseys. Somebody
finally wasn’t wearing crimson this weekend.
But Ron had to go, and I’d had enough of being outside today. Wow, that took a while to play out with the
delay from the preceding game. As it was
after 5:00pm, I was pretty sure it was just going to get colder soon.
As it turned out, I would have stayed late, froze, and
watched a hard 1-3 loss. Samaria
Diaz pitched a good game. She only had
a bad first with a couple of errors behind her, and that was all of the
Spartan’s scoring. The Aggies could only
scratch out a run on a Mya Felder
single. The team did get some hits. Kelsey and Tori both got two hits. Tori is doing great, but I’m still not sure
if leadoff is the best place for Kelsey.
Shelby earned a start behind the plate for this game. Sarai
Mejia started in right. I think
Coach Rodolph is still trying to decide on a right fielder.
As for Aggie Baseball,
the second half of their double header was a 38-6 win in a tidy four-hour game in a freezing cold wind. 11 Aggies had at least 1 RBI and a hit. This kind of offense will not last, but these
guys can hit. It’s hard to judge the
pitching given the scores and the opponent.
The team is off to a great start though.
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