NM State Aggies vs UTEP Miners Softball 3-5-23

Straight from Aggie Baseball, I went over to Aggie Softball.  I knew that their two games of the day were delayed from an early game between the two visiting teams.  When I walked in, it was 4-4 in the seventh inning with the Aggies playing the Northern Colorado Bears. 

Whoa!  More interestingly (sorry Softball girls), gorgeous Volleyball player, Ryleigh Whitekettle, was sitting right by the entrance by herself.  Since we’d met yesterday, I boldly sat down next to her and starting talking to her.  I briefly told her that baseball was a disaster and that they’d walked off without shaking hands with the other team.  She was a bit shocked and said she’d ask somebody about it, implying she knew somebody on the team.  (Which wouldn’t surprise me at all given how many good-looking girls hang around the ballpark.)  I also learned that she was friends with Jordin King on the Softball team and she was there supporting her.

 

I didn’t get much time with her.  Jillian Taylor came up with a runner on and blasted a two-run walk-off homer to win the game, 6-4.  Yay!  (Darn it.)  With the break before the UTEP game, Ryleigh left, saying she wanted to change and lived across the street in dorms.  I went back to my truck to apply more sunscreen and get my bucket hat.  There’s no shade at the Softball Complex and there was only intermittent cloud cover.  I discovered in the mirror in the bathroom that I already had a ripping sunburn on my neck.

 

Coach Rodolph was still not in attendance for this game.  Later, someone from the team came up and was talking to someone next to me and said something about, “She came to in the hospital and asked, ‘Who won the game?’”  Immediately alarmed, I butted in and asked if she was talking about the coach.  She said, “No,” and that the coach was just out sick.  I’m still not sure.

 

The crowd for both games today was over 500.  I came back and sat back down where I was right behind home plate.  It was a great view of the game, but it pretty much left me no view of anything else in the stadium.  I have 1/3 a page of notes on the game as a consequence.  The pretty Pan-Am girl was there somewhere behind me.  Ryleigh came back (with less clothing on), but sat elsewhere in the stadium.  I was a bit hurt.  

It was good Ryleigh came back, because Jordin King was starting for the Aggies in this game.   I didn’t see her have a good outing earlier this season and she started off the game against the Miners with a walk.  An error put two on, but Jordin came back to get three outs on contact to get out of the inning.  In the bottom, Kayla Bowen slapped a double and advanced to third on a wild pitch, but was left stranded. 

 

Jordin worked a quick second, again inducing contact.  Unfortunately, so did Aalijah Alarcon, UTEP’s starter.  Pate Cathey led off the third with a home run to give the Miners a 1-0 lead.  Jordin settled down and kept inducing soft contact to end the inning.  Jillian came up in the bottom and homered right back.  The girl was on fire today.  Her teammates made a tunnel for her when she went back into the dugout.  1-1.   

 

I kept changing hats and taking off and putting on my sunglasses as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds.  I probably looked like an idiot.  No wonder Ryleigh didn’t want to sit with me.  They ran the Fry Game between innings with a kid.  In lieu of the Pan Am video board, excessively handsome Football player, Thomaz Whitford, came out with an iPad to run the game.  As usual, the contestant guessed right.

 

Jordin got her first strikeout, and a looking one, to start the fourth.  Paige Knight at third, Kristen Boyd at second, and Kayla at first combined on a sweet DP to end the inning.  In the bottom, Kayla started off the inning with a single.  She took second with a surprise stolen base.  It was so surprising, the catcher threw the ball into centerfield. Kayla made a rough slide into third on the error.  The coach and a trainer came out to her, but Kayla came up smiling.  Hannah Lindsay drove her in with a groundout.  Ajia Richard at short made a great snow cone catch to end the inning, but the Aggies were now up 2-1.

 

Jordin worked an in-order top of the fifth, again doing it with contact.  Paige singled to start the bottom.  Savannah Bejarno came in to pinch run and stole second, but was called out, perhaps for leaving too soon.  Emily Dix came in in relief for the sixth.  She gave up a single.  The runner was bunted over to second, but left stranded.       

 

Jill got it started in the bottom of the sixth with a single.  Kendal Lunar followed that with a single and Jillian hustled to third, sliding under the tag.  Ajia then turned in another good play, by catching a liner and doubling off Jill.  Aalijah almost got out of it, but Riley Carley and Kristen drove in a pair of runs with singles to make it 4-1 Aggies.  Emily worked a no-drama bottom to win the game. 

 

Unlike yesterday, this was a very tight, tense, and well-played game.  I don’t think my recap is doing it justice.  It was also a very quick game at one hour and 40 minutes.  Not to mention, I didn’t do a lot of crowd coverage.  I found out later that broadcasting legend, Jack Nixon, was calling these games.  Annoying that it wasn’t on the radio. 

 

For Gameballs, Miner pitcher Aalijah Alacron gets one for keeping the Aggie offense in check for most of the game.  For the Aggies, Jillian Taylor went 2 for 3 with that home run in the third.  Jordin King had a great bounce-back performance today, only giving up 1 run in the five innings.  Hopefully, she can build off this.  Emily Dix locked it down for 2 innings in a close game.

  

Ryleigh left and took my heart with her.  I went home and for the second day in a row, I went over to the mall for a dinner.  I actually half-ran, because I wasn’t sure when the mall closed.  For whatever reason, I wanted a big slice of Luigi’s Pizza and was willing to work up a big appetite for it.  It was great.  It was a long day at the diamonds, but finished well.

Bonus Coverage: Aggie Women’s Basketball at the WAC Tournament

Since this happened last night and I probably won’t be writing more about Aggie Sports for maybe the rest of the month, I’ll throw this in here.  The Aggie Women played in Las Vegas for the WAC Championship.  Hmm.  Seems like there’s something missing this year, but I can’t put my finger on it.  For some reason, I’m not really excited about March Madness either.  Regardless, I listened to both of the Women’s games this week.   

 

The ladies started off well on Monday against UTRGV, 65-49.  Molly Kaiser went off for 25 points.  Wednesday, they faced Southern Utah, the #2 seed and regular season winner of the conference.  In spite of giving up a huge amount in size, the Aggies ran up a 16-point lead at halftime. 

 

But after playing such tenacious defense with a short bench in the first half, a good team like the Thunderbirds were able to make a comeback.  SUU took the lead to start the fourth, but the Aggies retook a slim lead heading into the final minute, which may have taken 20 minutes to play out.  The Aggies were up by 5 in the final seconds.  The T-Birds cut it to 2 with 3 seconds left.  Cherita Daugherty made a one-handed heave near half-court that swished in to give SUU the 63-62 win.

 

I thought about calling dad after the game, but I didn’t want to talk about it.  He actually called me later when he saw it on the local news.  Just to make it worse and rub it in, the winning shot made the national news the next day.  The Aggies finished with four players in double figures and played their hearts out.  Senior Tayelin Grays looked completely devastated in the postgame press conference, as did the coach.  You can only tip your hat after that kind of loss.  Congrats to the girls and to Coach Adams for showing such character this season.