I don’t want to say that it was preordained that the
Aggies were going to win this game, but, on the way to the Softball Complex, I did notice an odd cloud pattern in the
sky. Three long, thin clouds formed a
capital “A” in the partly cloudy sky. I
was with Ron, but I didn’t say anything at the time. I didn’t want to jinx it, or alternately,
appear to be going mad. Regardless, I
had a good feeling about today’s game.
This was in spite of today’s opponent, GCU.
Going into this, I knew that earlier in the season they had beaten the
#1 team in the nation, Florida State. Looking at the program after we got there, they
were 8-1 in conference. (They’ve also
played four more games than the Aggies.)
I had decided to take off this Friday for the game, instead of for the Lobo double header a couple of weeks
ago, figuring they might need the fan support here more.
Ron and I had a quick dinner at Raising Canes and had an early dessert at PQ Treats. Yes, “Ice cream
is for winners!” I know. This was premature, but we were actually way
too early to go to the game. Getting my
just desserts, I didn’t think much of the root beer float on special after I
drank it. I’ll stick to the Frozen Tornados from now on. Inside the stadium, after we got there, a
selection of buttons of the senior girls on the team were out on the courtesy
table. The ones just featuring Kelsey Horton and Kayla Green were nice, but I thought this one with all four was
sweet.
The warmup music was modern urban and definitely not the
80’s mix at the baseball stadium. The
GCU girls were really loose and mostly dancing to the music. I picked out Lexy Coons having fun taking infield. She was easy to notice with her lush curly
red hair. I’m pretty sure I noticed her
at the tournament last year. Ron picked
out Kaileigh Holland and Gianna Nicoletti as his favorites. I think he was ready to switch allegiances. I’ve been a bad influence.
Some of the GCU girls put their mitts on their heads and
turned around doing a dance in sort of a pregame ritual. Their whole team got together to pray before
the game. The Aggie girls played hacky
on their side of the field. The Aggies’ bats
were all lined up outside of the dugout.
When the umpires came on to the field, they checked each one of them and
did the same at the GCU dugout.
The crowd for the game was great. There were a bunch of kids throughout the
crowd and a knot of Lopes fans behind us.
At the same start time, Aggie
Baseball was playing on the road.
Ron and I both brought radios to listen to that game while watching this
game. I’ll cover the baseball elsewhere. Occasionally, it was a distraction, but not a
big one.
Samaria
Diaz
started for the Aggies. In the first,
she started off with two strikeouts, gave up an infield hit, but finished out
the inning with a flyout. Jeanelle Medina ledoff in the bottom
with a single and advanced to second on a bad throw. Jeanelle has been a great team player,
adapting to whatever position and wherever in the lineup and doing it well. 
No surprise what happened next with Kelsey up. She homered to the opposite field. 2-0 Aggies.
The PA announced that that was her 65-th home run and that she was now
the program leader in homers. Aggie
Baseball, in the middle of their game, actually retweeted congratulations to
Kelsey. Ryan Denhart didn’t make it out of the first after she loaded the
bases after the home run. Brianna Aguilar came in to finish the
inning. Sierra Smith at third made an unassisted double play by catching a
liner and doubling off the runner at third.
Earlier, there was a foul ball that hit near the
pressbox and almost hit a little girl there.
I was told the next day by fellow softball fan Danny that the girl was Brandy Hernandez’s niece. In the second, another ball dropped into the
stands. This one bounced directly to the
foot of the grandstand and was caught by a little girl there. She got a round of applause. Ron shouted out, “Sign her up!” Danny had also scouted her; she is a softball
player.
On field, Sam yielded up a single, though Victoria Castro almost threw the runner
out at first. Coach Heifner argued with the ump, but didn’t bring out a rulebook
this time (3-23-19). Sam got a
strikeout looking to end the inning. Nikki Butler, catching, flipped the
ball and ran off before the ump showed the call. (Hopefully, he said something before she
flipped the ball.) In the bottom, Jeanelle got a hustle double, but was
stranded. Back in the stands, some
Volleyball girls came in. Brielle Sterns was now working some
tremendous braids with highlights. Very
impressive. Coach Baarts from the soccer
team and his family also came in to watch.
There was a contest up front at the courtesy table for
guessing the number of chocolate Easter eggs in a jar. It paid off between innings. A little girl won an Aggie beer stein. Okay.
Sam worked a quick third inning with two strikeouts. Nikki singled in the bottom and Keala Brown pinch ran for her, but she
was left stranded.
For the fourth, the third base ump had to jump in the
air to dodge a hard low liner. He got a
round of applause for his nimbleness.
Sam walked a batter, but cut her down at second on a comebacker on the
next batter. Jeanelle got spiked on the
leg on the slide. The trainer had to
come out and bandage her up, but she stayed in.
She’s tough. In the bottom, GCU
catcher, Kaylee Dietrich, threw out
a runner at second. I noticed that she
was using a team color-coordinated purple glove.
Mya
Felder had a great fifth for the Aggies at third base. She made all the outs for the inning,
including a couple of difficult grounders.
After the Stretch, the PA complimented the crowd for their
participation. This was a very engaged
bunch of fans tonight. Kelsey nicked the
third base line for a leadoff double, Taylor
Olsen at first started a double play on the next batter, catching a liner,
then doubling off Kelsey.
The PA announced it was 98 degrees in Phoenix. It was in the high 70’s here, but cooler with
the wind and the sun going down. Ron’s
attention perked up as Kaileigh Holland came in to pinch hit in the sixth. She walked.
I’m not sure if Ron was rooting for her at the time. There was a questionable call by the ump next
on an infield hit by Shea Smith, and
the crowd let him have it. Savannah Tourville singled next to
drive in Holland.
Rachel
Hammons pinch ran for Savannah.
She allowed herself to get caught stealing, which allowed Shea to steal
home. Rachel even made it back safely to
first. That was impressive. The GCU fans started chanting for their team at
this point as the score was tied at 2.
Sam held the line and closed out the inning with a strikeout looking.
The Aggies went down in order in the bottom of the
sixth. Sam was back out for the
seventh. She allowed a leadoff hit, but
got two more strikeouts to end the frame.
Here’s your bottom of the seventh.
Casie Roberto doubled. Caity
Szczesny pinch ran for her. Shelby Shultes pinch hit for Brandy and
hit a two-run homer to end the game. The
ball actually bounced off the top of the wall before going over.
4-2
Aggies win with a bang! That
was at least Shelby’s second walk off pinch hit home run this season. (Forgive me that I’m not willing to go
through my posts to count up all of her pinch hits.) She’s really good at in this role. The team went to the circle and chanted out
the fight song with the crowd. Shelby
was all smiles. Brandy hugged her and
jumped into her arms. Shelby could have
gone out front and gotten hugs from all the Aggie fans in the crowd if she
wanted.
Shelby
Shultes gets an obvious gameball. Kelsey
Horton gets another for her record book homer. Lastly, Samaria
Diaz worked seven dominating innings with 8 strikeouts and only giving up 2
runs. GCU is a tough team. Keeping them down and getting those runs were
not easy. This was a great win.
Ron had some extra time after the game, so we went back
to my apartment. We ended up listening to
the end of the baseball game, which didn’t work out for the Aggies there. I brought up Twitch on my computer while we were listening, and we also watched my
favorite Starcraft II streamer, Winter.
Overstimulation and OCD much?
Pshah.
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