NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Softball 3-4-23

It was brilliant weather-wise this weekend.  It was sunny and warm with a light breeze.  Unfortunately, I would be watching softball and baseball without Ron, who was sick.  He’d been sick all week, so it wasn’t surprising he was going to sit this weekend out.  I wouldn’t be left totally alone, however. 

 

I arrived at the Softball Complex in time to see the end of UTEP vs Northern Colorado.  I saw fan Danny and went over to him, but he left right after.  (I think he was just tired.  At least my ego is saying that.)  There was a good crowd present.  I decided to go up to the top of stands to sit.  I was next to a UTEP fan couple. 

 

The game was good.  It was 4-4 in the seventh.  The game went to the eighth.  UTEP scored a pair of runs off a home run in the top.  UNC scored a run in the bottom.  Jaycie Gandert came up with a runner on second with no one out and made two bunt attempts.  Failing at that, she then blasted a walk-off two-run homer to center to end the game, 7-6.          

 

I was wearing my Chihuahuas bucket hat with an Aggie button on the front of it.  It was an attempt at giving myself some shade.  That failed, also the light breeze kept trying to pull the hat off.  One of the UTEP fans recognized the hat.  He said he’d tried to get one at the game where it they were giving it away.  (I might have given him mine if I didn’t need the shade at the time.) 

 

Between games, I asked him about the tournament they had in El Paso in conjunction with the Troy Cox Classic.  They weren’t in town for it.  They’d gone to Arizona to watch Spring Training games with the Padres and the Rangers.  Darn.  Filled with envy, my experience enjoying softball last weekend was suddenly cheapened. 

 

A crowd of 573 was the official attendance.  That’s about what it looked to me.  UTEP isn’t as big a draw as those schools last week apparently.  Some of the UNC girls came back in to watch.  I noticed their catcher, Sabrina Javorsky, during the game with her sleeveless top.  Without the mask, she was wearing glitter face paint.  

 

What I didn’t notice immediately was that Coach Rodolph was not there.  There was no announcement as to why.  The Aggies were very loose.  I’m not sure I saw them this loose last week with their pregame rituals.  They did their bump circle.  The girls in the outfield practiced their dance moves.

Okay to be honest, there’s really not much of a game here to recap, but I gotta talk about the highlight of the season for me.  Ryleigh Whitekettle from the Volleyball team sat next to me and I got to chat with her.  This totally makes up for the team stiffing everyone on autographs last year. 

 

I’d seen her at softball before, so I wasn’t totally surprised.  Her and a couple of guys from the Football team sat down in front of me when the game started.  (I assumed one of the guys was her boyfriend, but that may have been presumptuous.)  OMG, she is gorgeous.  I knew she was beautiful seeing her on court, but up close, WOW!  She was in something like a workout outfit, but with her curled blonde hair, blue eyes, and statuesque 6’4” frame, she made it look like an expensive evening gown.

 

I blindsided enough that I forgot her name for an inning.  The next inning, I still couldn’t bring myself to say anything.  Finally, they all moved to the top row and Ryleigh sat next to me.  It helped to break the ice that I knew her name and that I wanted to congratulate her on her breakout final game against UTEP.  She was pleased with a little recognition.

 

One of the guys she was with had asked her what happened to the team last season.  Her answer was basically, “setter problems.”  I followed up with the burning question: What happened with Alana Embry?  She’d quit team.  No explanation was given.  It had happened on gameday.  Ryleigh had heard that Alana had gone elsewhere and was happy now.  Ryleigh did praise emergency setter Rilen Garcia’s effort.  Rylee Fay has left the program, but they have recruited a new setter.  

 

I asked how Ryleigh how she got here.  She’d been at Houston and Coach Jordan had recruited her.  Apparently, he’s quite charming and persuasive (unlike his on-court coaching persona).  She was also looking forward to playing in Conference-USA.  It’s closer to her home and she’s relishing the new competition.  (I’m admittedly apprehensive.)  I did offer her my stadium seat and cushion, but she refused.  I did say to the football guys that I’d chatted with Shiyazh Pete last week and gushed about their win over Liberty.  One of the guys called me, “Sir.”  Well, that brought me right back down to earth as an old man (comparatively).   

I damn near didn’t see the game for Ryleigh.  I don’t know how these scorecards got filled out.  I think only actually missed a couple of plays.  Doing scorecards is such a habit, it’s apparently autonomic for me. 

 Aydenne Brown started for the Aggies.  She had a walk and a hit batter in the first, but no damage.  Jillian Taylor led off with a single in the bottom.  She advanced on a wild pitch, but was thrown out trying to take third on another wild pitch.  Riley Carley had struck out on that wild pitch, but made it to first and advanced to second on another wild pitch.  Brianna Ford, UTEP’s pitcher, found the strike zone against Kayla Bowen, who jacked out a two-run homer to make it 2-0 Aggies.

 

Jillian singled again to start off the third.  Riley brought her in with a line drive home run.  Kayla walked and was driven in with a home run by Hannah Lindsay.  It was a huge shot to right field that wrapped around the pole.  A pitching change brought no relief.  After two more singles, pinch hitter Kaylin Jackson doubled one of them in.  Jill came back up to bat and slapped one into a Jetstream to right.  The ball just seemed to float over the wall for a three-run homer.  It was 10-0 Aggies when the dust settled.

 

Worse for the Miners, a couple of Football teammates came in and sat down by us during the onslaught.  They began to mercilessly heckle the UTEP players.  It was football field trash talk-level smack.  I could not imagine going after unpaid student athletes like this during a game, even if I was one.  Given that they weren’t playing on the field, they shouldn’t have been saying anything like this.  That said, these guys were hysterical.  I wish I had been writing down what they were saying, but Ryleigh was enough of a distraction from the game.

 

This did lead to an older UTEP fan coming over and sit by them between innings.  He did not scold them.  (Maybe I should have said something, but they were too funny.  I didn’t entirely want them to stop.)  He did tell them, in a friendly way, how hard the girls train to get to this level.  I’m sure he could tell they were athletes, too.  This did tone down some of their comments.  I mentioned to Ryleigh that the Baseball team was here for a game once and that they went after the umpires.

 

Marketing Director Nicole Sack was busy.  A couple of Baseball coaches came to watch the game briefly.  Nicole got their picture and posted it on the team Twitter.  Since the Aggies had scored more than 7 runs, that activated the Raising Cane’s Challenge.  She went around the crowd handing out coupons.  One of the Football guys said, “Don’t give none to those UTEP people!”

 

Lastly, there was a Guess the Number of Jellybeans in the Jar contest for an Aggie lunchbox.  Four names with the closest guess were called out, but none of them were currently in attendance.  (They must have been Northern Colorado fans from earlier.)  Ryleigh’s “boyfriend” had been jumping up and down for it and finally, Nicole just gave it to him.  (Need I even say that the Football guys were going crazy for the giveaway hats and t-shirts?)  The heckling guys told him to give it to a kid, but I think he just wanted to get a good look at it first.  He handed it to them, and one of guys gave it to a kid among some UTEP fans next to the old man.  There, everyone’s happy.   

 

Well, that’s end of my notes.  The game did continue.  Kendal Lunar doubled in two more runs in the bottom of the fourth.  Aydenne had three quick innings in the meantime.  In the top of the fifth, she may have been tired or lost focus.  She gave up two doubles and a home run.  The final was 12-3 Aggies. 

 

For Gameballs, Miner Savannah Favre gets one for going 2 for 2, including a 2-run homer.  Aydenne Brown went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs in “garbage time.”  She had 6 strikeouts and only 1 walk.  Jillian Taylor went 3 for 3, including a 3-run home run.  This game was a beat down.  The Aggies Softball team did their taunting on the field with their bats and gloves. 

 

One hour and 50 minutes was far too short a time to spend basking in Ryleigh’s glow.  She also got up with her friends and left without saying “goodbye.”  I was slightly hurt.  The Aggies were set to play the Northern Colorado Bears next, but I was emotionally exhausted and left myself.  Also, I didn’t want to stay after dark when the game would finish and I was hungry.  I went home and walked over the mall for a Legend Burger that I had been wanting for like three weeks. 

 

The Aggies lost the night cap, 6-4.  Gabby Aragon started the game and drove in a couple of runs.  Aggie Baseball was also playing at night.  I’ll cover that briefly in the next post.