Sort of. I’m going
to get an incomplete on this report.
Friday night, I was following along over Twitter with the Aggies playing UTEP, which the Aggies won 9-1
in a run rule. After the game, I kept
refreshing to see if they were going to update the schedule over the
weekend. The plan was to play two more
games over Saturday and Sunday. However,
there was a consistent forecast for very high winds on Sunday. I thought they’d go ahead and make a double
header of it on Saturday.
Which they did . . .
but didn’t update the schedule until Saturday, where I didn’t see
it. I’m sure they waited to the last
minute, since they probably really wanted three sold-out games. So, I showed up at 5:30 for the 6:00 game and
almost had to park over in the baseball lot.
(I rode in behind a cart delivering a 4-ft tall bag of popcorn.) An usher told me that the game had started at
5:00 and that Sunday’s game would be played right after. Inside, it was good to see a capacity crowd
for the rivalry game. This did make
finding a seat difficult, though.
I saw that Xophia
Venegas, who I met at baseball,
got her picture in the paper promoting this weekend’s games. Between showing her and Savannah, they’re
doing a good job of promoting the team. No
scorecards today, since I arrived in the third inning with UTEP up 2-1. There were enough weird plays that I was sort
of okay with that. This recap is just
going to be some disjointed notes on the game.
It was overcast with a light breeze, or at least, the stands were out of
the wind.
About a third of the crowd was UTEP fans. We’d hear from them later. The team looked fairly smart their orange
“915” jerseys and blue pants. The Aggies
were coming off a successful three-game road sweep. Desirae
Spearman won her third Freshman of the Week honors.
Top of the third, we got what we came for right off the
bat. Jillian Taylor made a leaping catch at the wall to probably rob a
home run. She’s worth the price of
admission.
The big crowd was also fun. Every foul ball out of the stadium produced a
horde of kids rushing after it. The
crowd would get a laugh of it. Then
there’d be a giveaway toss and the crowd would go frighteningly insane. Even the UTEP fans wanted the Aggie
swag.
There were lots of dogs in the crowd. A football player (there were several there)
had a bulldog. There was a dog wearing a
big, inflatable collar, like a cone.
There were a couple of service dogs.
One was like a pit bull. Another
was an old, tired German shepherd. I
wanted to give him a hug. I think it was
past his bedtime. He seemed to just want
to sleep.
The Aggies put two on in the bottom of the fourth, but
didn’t score. Top of the fifth, Jayleen Burton let one go through the
wickets at short. That put two on with
nobody out. A sacrifice drove in one
run. A single brought in another. Jillian made a throw from the outfield that
was just offline to get her.
Then we had one of those weird scoring plays. There was an attempted steal of second, which
started a rundown. In the attempt, the
runner at third came home and drew a throw that was too late. The runner from first was still between
bases. Jessica Carreon at second dropped the ball and had trouble picking
it up, which allowed the runner to retreat safely back to first.
Then an error by Kayla
Lunar at third brought in another run.
The Aggie fans started cheering for the Aggies. The UTEP fans came back with their own
cheering and it became a contest. Finally,
the inning ended with the Miners up, 6-1.
There was a New Mexico state flag (the Zia) souvenir tossed
to the crowd. Yes, the El Paso fans
wanted them, too. There were a couple of
softball teams of little girls in the crowd.
They would occasionally become their own cheering section for the
Aggies. I also noticed the crowd on both
sides was really getting on to the ump.
(Sometimes, they seemed to have point from what I was seeing.)
To the bottom of the fifth and the Aggies got a rally
going. After a double steal with two on,
Jillian had an infield hit. The runner
from third scored. Shockingly, Des came
in right behind her and scored. Jill
took second during the play. Dezianna Patmon came up and hit a
two-run homer to make it 6-5 UTEP.
The Aggies had brought in a new pitcher during the fifth, Haiven Schoolcraft, who continued in
the sixth. I hadn’t seen her
before. She was throwing hard, but
wild. After a couple of walks, she gave
up a three-run homer. The Aggies brought
in yesterday’s starter, Jaileen Mancha. She gave up a solo home run, which set off
the UTEP fans chanting, “Let’s go Miners!”
Des in left field threw out a runner a home on a single to end the
inning with UTEP up, 10-5. The UTEP
coach spent a long time arguing the play at the plate, but it wasn’t close.
The Aggies were not quitting. Kayla jacked out a two-run homer in the bottom
of the sixth. UTEP brought in a new
pitcher. The Aggies managed to load the
bases with a walk to Des with nobody out.
Jillian would strikeout, but a wild pitch brought in another run. Unfortunately, the inning ended with Jessica
getting picked by the catcher at third.
The play looked even worse than it sounds. 10-8 UTEP.
There was a brilliant pink and purple sunset to the west
with low clouds surrounding it. The
Miners weren’t done scoring, either. A
double drove in two runs. Jill crashed the
centerfield wall going for it. 12-8
UTEP.
No quit tonight with the Aggies. In the bottom of the seventh, Jayleen Burton beat out a bunt single
to load the bases with nobody out. A sac
fly brought in a run. Jessica managed an
infield hit to reload the bases with two outs.
Des came up and was walked on four pitches, which drove in another run. Jill came up and this all felt familiar with
the last inning. After a battle, Jillian
struck out to end the game. UTEP wins 12-10.
In spite of the disappointing result and that I didn’t see
the whole game, it was pretty exciting.
I was glad I went. However, I got
up and left right after the game. No
offense to the girls, but I was feeling a little off. I’d had a busy day and an exhausting week at
work and almost didn’t go at all. Only
because the nice weather had held up, I decided to go. Also, I thought I’d only be there for a
couple of hours. I just didn’t have the
stamina tonight to be there for at least a couple more hours.
I watched the local news Saturday night and they showed
highlights of the game. The newscaster
then said that Game 3 of the series would be on Sunday. Apparently, she didn’t get the notification
either. The next day’s weather was as
advertised. At one point in the morning,
there was bright sunshine, a 50mph wind, and rain out of nowhere with small
bits of hail.
Sunday evening, I got the report about the game. (The newscaster apologized and said the game decision
was made at mid-day yesterday.) Desirae returned
to the circle to pitch. She hit an
inside-the-park home run with the score at 2-2 and that turned out to be the game
winner. The Aggies win 3-2 and win the series. I’m sensing more honors in Des’ immediate
future (Pitcher of the Week in this case, which happened on Monday).
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