If you thought Game 1 of this double header didn’t
go well for the Aggies, you might wish to avert your eyes for Game 2. Ron and I were now sitting in a different row
from Game 1. Thankfully, we could still
see the beautiful young woman below us, but now we were seated next to a loud
GCU fan.
We’ll get right into it. Gianna Nicoletti led off for the GCU Lopes and singled. In short order, she stole second, stole third, and scampered home on a bad throw by catcher, Hannah Lindsay. Aggie starter, Jordan King, got a popup next, but then gave up a hit. Jayleen Burton at short made a nice stop on the next grounder, but didn’t have a play.
Another hit followed.
It was a grounder to short that looked like the runner either interfered
with the ball or the fielder, but it wasn’t called. There was a throw home that beat the runner,
but was dropped. A running-scoring
sacrifice and another hit scored two more runs.
Jillian Taylor made a good
running catch to end the inning. 4-0
GCU.
What looked like a group of football players came in,
maybe linemen. Later, another group of
what looked like football players came in, but they looked more like wide
receivers. The two groups did not sit
together. Ramsay Lopez led off the bottom of the first for the Aggies with a
home run to right center. Maya Martinez got serenaded by the
dugout with, “Who’s up to bat with a big, old booty!” Maya doesn’t look like she has that much junk
in the trunk, unless I misheard that. Katelyn Dunckel at short for GCU made a
good running play to end the inning. She
then slipped on the dirt coming off the field.
4-1 GCU. This is as close as the
score will get.
Between innings, it was quiet enough in the lightly
populated stands that I could hear the GCU pitcher talking with a very pretty
assistant coach. Glamorous blonde, Macee Barnes, led off for the Lopes
with a first pitch home run to left center.
Next came a walk, a fielder’s choice, and a stolen base. Denae
Chatman came up and fouled a hard pitch into the Aggie dugout. She then got a hit. There was a play at the plate where the throw
beat the runner, but was again dropped.
Then there was a double and then Kristin Fifield came up and blasted a two-run homer to the left
center. She was endowed with a gold
chain around her neck when she got back to the dugout. Jayleen at short dropped a grounder next,
which finally precipitated a pitching change.
Hannah Burnett then stole
second and advanced to third on a dropped third strike. Hannah then stole home on a passed ball
before the inning finally mercifully ended.
11-1 GCU.
The Aggies just went down in order in the bottom. The Pocket Contest returned. A GCU fan lady ran down for a prize, but was
beaten out. One of the items called for
was a $2 bill. A couple of people in the
small crowd did have one. They must have
been here before, because this item has been called for before.
Lindsay had had a bad game behind the plate. It wasn’t surprising to see a new catcher, Jaelah Burrell, come in for the third. Right after a leadoff single, there was a
wild pitch that advanced Gianna to second.
A bad pickoff throw by Jaelah advanced Gianna to third. She then scored on another wild pitch.
By this point, it was getting a bit colder with the sun
going down and I was zoning out. There
was a walk that followed that I didn’t notice.
I had to ask Ron how that person got on first. Stephanie
Reed came up and hammered one to straight center into the (thankfully)
vacant camera platform. After another
single, Jordan was put back in to pitch.
A pinch runner was actually thrown out trying to steal second. She looked safe and I thought she’d been
called out for leaving early. Ron said
she should have slid. That was the first
out of the inning. Thankfully, the next
two batters went down. 14-1 GCU.
Finally, a little life came into the Aggie offense. Ramsay singled. It could have been ruled an error, but it was
a slow, deflected roller. Jillian drove
her in with a home run to left center.
14-3 GCU.
Meanwhile, a perhaps more important drama was playing out
off the field. Ron nudged me during the
inning and pointed out that Coach
Rodolph and Associate Coach Heifner were
out talking to each other out of the dugout and away from the bullpen. Maybe they didn’t want the players to hear
them. I didn’t notice, but after the
game, Ron told me that they never came back to the field. They left with the game still in
progress. I suspect this ties into what
that fan lady said during Game 1—that Coach Rodolph’s contract hasn’t been
renewed. We’ll see how this story
develops.
My notes started getting skimpy as my interest in the game
waned. The Lopes scored three more runs
on a Dunckel three-run homer in the fourth.
The Aggies changed pitchers again to get the final out. 17-3 GCU.
There was another retro Men’s Basketball jersey toss into
the crowd in the break. The girl at the
scorer’s table, who’d wanted one so bad during Game 1, was now mad dogging the
Marketing intern doing the toss. There
was drama everywhere. The Aggies got two
on in the bottom. Their dugout got loud,
but the inning ended with a strikeout.
For the fifth, the Game 1 catcher, Melika Ofoia, was inserted into the game. The GCU coach tried to do the Aggies a favor
and flushed his bench and subbed out all of his hitters. Even this couldn’t help the Aggies. Two walks started the inning and a
run-scoring double and a run-scoring single followed. The first baseman then changed positions with
the pitcher. Kayla Bowen, now in the circle, had trouble fielding the next
play. Felicia de la Torre, now at first, dropped an easy grounder on the
next batter. The GCU fans actually
laughed. Somehow, the inning ended. 21-3 GCU.
We had the fifth inning stretch and I made up new lyrics
to Take Me Out to the Ballgame to
reflect the current game. I don’t
remember them now. It was all freestyle. Ron was amused. He pointed out poor out poor Adam Young, who was calling this double
header for the WAC Digital Network. He was up in the pressbox with binoculars
trying to sort out all of the player changes for the bottom of the fifth of this
hopeless game. The Aggies only managed a
walk, before Reed in centerfield ended the game on a nice running catch. 21-3
GCU wins.
I told Ron immediately after the game that I was done with
Softball this season. I don’t care how
pretty the girl sitting in front of us was, it wasn’t worth it. I’ll keep an eye on Softball, because I’m
expecting some coaching news to drop, maybe even before the end of the
season. I’ll give Kristin Fifield on GCU a gameball for her 2 for 3, 4 RBI game with
a home run. At least things ended in
time for us to go get something to eat and be close to on time to watch the
basketball game.
Ron and I went back to my apartment to eat our dinner from
What-a-burger and watch the Aggie Men’s Basketball second round NCAA Tournament game on my new Internet
connection. It was a tense, defensive
struggle, and that was just getting the game to come in on my computer. The actual game was even more dramatic and
sexy. The “sexy” part was me flipping
over to watch Dizzykitten on Twitch during the long commercial
breaks.
More seriously, it was a great game, but the Aggies did
fall to Arkansas, 53-48.
There was no goat player on the NM State side, no bad coaching decision
that cost the team the win, and the refs mostly stayed out the deciding the
game. The contest was very evenly
matched and could have gone either way.
We do have an Aggie hero, even in defeat. Johnny
McCants, in his final game as an Aggie, was the team’s leading scorer,
ended up on the floor drawing several charges, had a highlight reel jam (with
the national announcer even stealing Jack
Nixon’s, “Here’s Johnny!” line), and he never gave up and wouldn’t let the team
do so either.
After the twin softball losses, Ron was so depressed, he
left before the end of the game. My dad
is a fan of both schools, so he was okay with the outcome either way. My Aunt Judy in Missouri had the Aggies going
to the Final Four, but another aunt is a big Arkansas fan, so one of them was
happy.
Nixon interviewed an Aggie fan after the game, and she
reported that much of the crowd had been won over into rooting for the
Aggies. The TV coverage really seemed to
favor NM State, too. At halftime, Charles Barkley was even impressed,
“You guys played the worst half of basketball possible, your leading scorer has
been shutdown, and you’re still in it!
Game on!” As for me, I was just
happy I could get back to watching Dizzy uninterrupted . . . err . . . that the
Aggies acquitted themselves so well in an entertaining game.
The next day we got the long-expected news that Coach Chris Jans had gotten a new job
with Mississippi State. AD
Mario Moccia was talking about him leaving even before the WAC Championship game. After Jans won that first round NCAA game, he
was going to be able to get a good job.
Jans did a tremendous job here, so it was a very mutually beneficial
relationship. NMSU did give him a chance
when most schools wouldn’t have after a scandal, and he delivered a winning
program in return.
I guess it was a bittersweet weekend for Aggie fans after
losing two basketball coaches, potentially the softball coach, some bad
softball and baseball loses, and losing a possibly winnable trip to the Sweet
Sixteen. Still, I think I think most
Aggie fans (including myself) where happy to have a team to root for in the
second round of the NCAA tournament.
Hopefully, Mario can work some more magic in his coaching searches.
I have to brag about Sunday’s sports. I got together with Ron to watch the NASCAR race at the newly reconfigured Atlanta track. I finally talked him into going to Caliches, not just for the frozen custard, but for a meal. He had a couple of their hot dogs and couldn’t have been more pleased. I had a croissant sandwich which was as great as the last time I’d had one. Of course, we had sundaes, too. I’d told him they had good food there, but he didn’t believe me. I thought the race was great (unlike apparently a lot of fans), but was about 100 miles too long. This was certainly a memorable sports weekend altogether, even with some disappointments.
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