I’d had an exhausting week at work. Frankly, I didn’t want to go to a Softball
double header today, much less write about it; I’d rather have slept in. I’d seen enough of the softball team last
month (2-13-22) and they’d only gotten worse since then. The game time had also been changed from
4:00pm to 2:00pm, but for a good reason.
The Aggie Men’s Basketball
team, after winning the WAC Championship,
had gone on and won their first round NCAA
Tournament game over UConn. It was a #12 seed upset of a #5 seed. This time change was done to accommodate the
6:40pm game time for the Aggies’ second round game.
It was a good change weather-wise, too. Ron had been at the Friday evening Softball
game and reported it got good and cold when the sun went down. At least it was really nice out to start the
games. The Aggies did beat GCU that night, which seems incredulous
given what happened on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Aggie Baseball was
having a brutal road trip. They’d
dropped two to Nebraska mid-week—one
close loss, one not. They next went to Dixie State and were pummeled in
consecutive run-rule losses. The team
did come back with a close win on Sunday.
I was greeted with a $7 ticket price at the gate. This was an increase. I’d thought about getting some popcorn
between games, but that $2 went to the extra ticket price. It was a light crowd, perhaps due to the time
change, or maybe they were waiting for the basketball game. Even the GCU fan representation seemed light. A security guard asked me before the game
where I thought he could see the basketball game. I suggested the pub across from the
university, but I knew that a co-worker had watched the UConn game at Peter Piper Pizza, so it was going to
playing at any local restaurant with a TV.
It was announced during softball that Rudy’s Barbeque was the official (sponsored) viewing place. I’ve got to try that place sometime.
I took a look over the GCU team. Ron had reported a very large pitcher on the Lopes and I did see her. Ron said she was good, but I didn’t get to see her play. I was more disappointed that the cute, freckled redhead, Lexy Coons, had moved on. There was another very pretty girl I noticed, but I only saw her poke out of the dugout a few times. I never got her player number. The Lopes played some hacky before the game. The Aggies worked on their dance moves. For the Anthem, a couple of the Aggies practiced their kneeling. I didn’t get their numbers to properly recognize them. Ron said one of the girls on GCU had her head bowed, which he is interpreting from watching Women’s Basketball, is also a protest.
This was obviously a rough game for the Aggies. It was a rough one for the scorekeepers,
too. My scoring differed from the
announced scoring at the end of the innings.
(The scoreboard is a bit primitive.
It doesn’t list hits and errors.)
The official scoring differed from both.
For both games, I was tempted to erase my scorecards and start
over. There’s no reconciling them, so
these aren’t officially accurate. (And given
the result, I don’t really care.) Also,
there was a really attractive young woman sitting in front of us that was a
constant distraction.
GCU’s dugout began the game in full chorus singing. We were seated around some GCU fans, who were mostly pretty chatty in shouting encouragement to their players. The game immediately wrong-footed for the Aggies, as GCU led off with a single and the runner took second when the throw into the infield got away. An error at third put a second runner on. After a ground out, a walk loaded the bases. Another walk scored the first run. Kristen Fifield then got plunked on the helmet, which drove in another run and ran the Aggie starter from the game. I hadn’t even written her name down on my scorecard.
Felicia
de la Torre came in and grazed the next batter to force
in another run. Aggie catcher, Melika Ofoia, was popping her hand into
her glove so hard, it sounded like a pitch.
It was confusing me, as I was looking down at my scorecard and thought
there’d been a quick pitch. Two more
walks and a single brought in three more runs before a couple of fly outs
finally ended the inning. The carnage
ended with GCU up 7-0.
The talk in the stands nearby was even more disturbing
than the team’s performance. Women’s Basketball Coach Atkinson had
already been let go at the end of the season.
While her record at NMSU looks really good, most of her wins came with
the previous coach’s recruits. The last
couple of years have been a disaster. A
fan talking to another fan said that Coach
Rodolph’s contract had not been renewed.
Now in this case, the coach has been responsible for probably all of the
Softball program’s successes and there have been a lot. I didn’t hear the rationale, but certainly
Kathy could have left for a better job whenever she wanted, so I don’t think
this is a dispute over money. Maybe I
should have joined the conversation, because I have no explanation. After what happened during Game 2, I feel like
this rumor has been confirmed.
The Aggies were not going to roll over, at least to this
point (along with some help from GCU).
The Aggies were still singing in their dugout. (There was also an attractive trainer in
there. I was trying to find
entertainment where I could at the game.)
A walk and a single put two on before a bad throw from first base led to
a two-base error and two unearned runs scoring.
Another single brought in another run, and a hit batter and another
error loaded the bases again. Jayleen Burton came up and hit one by
the third baseline. It looked out, but
the ump, who was right in front of it, ruled it fair, and another run
scored. The Aggies had come back to make
it a game for the moment. 7-4 GCU.
Catastrophe struck.
The eraser on my pencil popped off.
In trying to find it, I lost the pencil.
Lucky, I came prepared with a second pencil. (I found the first pencil eventually. It’s just a stub that I’m going to have to
take out of service anyway.) Denae Chatman (I like that first name)
led off the second with a line drive home run to center. Thankfully, things then settled down. Felicia only gave up a hit afterward. Jillian
Taylor made a great play in center on a ball that would have gone out to
end the inning. 8-4 GCU.
Jillian worked a walk to start the bottom of the second,
but was gunned down on a steal attempt by Kinsey
Koeltzow from behind the plate. GCU
tried to a help with a dropped foul ball for another error, but the at bat
ended in a popup anyway. There was a
single following, but a strikeout ended the inning.
The Lopes loaded the bases in the third with a walk, a
hit, and a hit batter. That’s the first
time I’ve seen a batter given first on a pitch that bounced to plate. Maybe I mis-saw that. Two more singles drove in two more runs. A wild pitch nearly brought in another run,
but was thrown out at home. 10-4
GCU. The Aggies went down in order in
the bottom. There was a Pocket Contest
between innings. Two people with requested
umbrellas ran down to the intern and the Aggie fan beat out the GCU fan there. I noticed there was a group of fans sitting
by the Aggie dugout behind the fence. It
was sort of like Baseball’s Diamond Club,
but a lot less appealing. The group had
a barking dog with them.
A GCU batter was hit in the lower back in the fourth. This was followed by a single, but Maya Martinez made an unassisted double
play by catching a liner and stepping on second. There was an impressive Jersey toss into the
stands between halves. It was a retro
Men’s Basketball shirt. One of girls
working at the scoring table ran into the stands and was begging the Marketing
intern for one. I got a look at one
later on a kid, who was wearing his. It
was very cool.
The sun started ducking behind clouds and a cold breeze
blew through. It wasn’t unpleasant
yet. In the bottom of the fourth, an
error on a bobbled ball by the shortstop let on a runner. There was confusion on a popup between the
second baseman and the right fielder, which allowed the ball to drop. This was called GCU’s fifth official error of
the game, but usually untouched fly balls are called hits. On the play though, Jillian was thrown out
trying to take home. (GCU’s second
baseman, Macee Barnes, is pretty
glamorous with a long, flowing, curly blonde mane.)
A double down the line by Katelyn Dunckel led off the GCU fifth. The pretty girl in front of us stood up to
reveal that she was wearing tight yoga pants.
I was momentarily stunned. Where
was I? Dunckel stole third and came in
on a wild pitch. It looked like the
throw home got her, but apparently not. Felicia
gave up a walk before giving a line drive home run to Fifield that hit the
sponsor board in right. When Fifield got
to the dugout, they awarded her with a gold chain around her neck.
The pretty girl came back from the Concessions. She gave her mom (?) a Coke. The lady said she asked for a beer. The girl said, “Sorry, I left my ID at
home.” “You mean your fake one?” the
lady answered. Okay, maybe that’s not
her mom. The girl then started working
on eating a big pickle. That might have
been kinda hot, but was mostly really smelly, even a couple of rows away. Xophia
Venegas came in to get the final out.
She tripped on herself during one of her pitches, but Jayleen at short
made a great play on a hard liner to end the inning. 13-4 GCU.
The damage had been done.
The Lopes were now in run rule territory. The Aggies, though, went down in order, which
finished the game early. 13-4 GCU was the final. I’m tempted to not hand out any Gameballs for
this one. The Aggies gave up 13 runs and
rolled over. GCU took batting practice,
but need more infield practice after giving up five errors. However, GCU’s Ariel Thompson did go five innings and didn’t give up an earned run,
so she gets one.
As Ron and I were leaving the stands, we were hailed from
the field. It was our friend from
baseball, Michael, who apparently works with the grounds crew. He wanted to say, “Hi.” We wouldn’t have recognized him in
uniform. Outside the stadium, there were
two groups of tailgaters. One was
literally drinking off a tailgate. The
other had a pavilion set up which said Virgin
Galactic on it. The group had been
announced during the game. They bugged
out after Game 1, as did some more fans, who might have wanted to get ready for
the basketball game. Ron and I retired
to his car for snacks. “Hey, did you see
that hot girl in front of us?” he asked.
On to Game 2.
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