Groan. Not only did Daylight Savings Time (Spring forward) start Saturday night, I couldn’t sleep on top of it. I’d had a Grilled Cheese Hamburger and a “Concrete” (basically a Blizzard) at Freddy’s yesterday afternoon. It was great, but seemed to come back to haunt me in my sleep. (This would be bad foreshadowing for what was to come on Sunday.)
Driving in, I saw a couple of players practicing on the soccer field and a couple of people watching. I wonder if there was an exhibition this morning. Aggie Baseball would be playing at the same time as Aggie Softball. There were three school busses sitting over in the baseball parking lot, though I didn’t see a bunch of kids there when I went over later.
There was a sort of light crowd at 425 for today’s Softball game against the LA Tech Bulldogs. It was beautiful out. It was warm and sunny with a little breeze. The players were doing their usual hip bump pregame ritual on the field. A guy sat down next to me with enormous cowbell. There’s always a bigger cowbell. It was so loud, I doubted I needed to ring mine. I was worried I was going to go deaf by the end of the game. There were dueling Anthems with Baseball.
There was a last minute switch at pitcher that put Faith Aragon into the circle, instead of Jaileen Mancha, who was the only pitcher not used yesterday. LA Tech was singing to start the game. The first two outs were runners erased on the basepads. Faith overpowered Reagan Marchant, LA Tech’s main slugger, for the final out.
In the bottom, Faith did it with the bat. With Devin Elam on, she blasted one out to center. I could hear the Aggie dugout singing. Maybe the crowd was quieter than yesterday, so that I could hear the dugout noise. Kendal Lunar got on via an error and she was cashed in by single by Johnna Aragon. 3-0 Aggies.
In the top of the second, Coach Rodolph came in, but without her adorable dog. She left early again. I wonder if she’s only here to put in an appearance and has better things to do. Maybe she’s not enjoying the game as much if she’s not coaching.
The Aggies threw out another runner on base, but there were two runners that got into scoring position from an error when a ball got past Skye Johnson in left field. A foul out behind the plate to Kendal catching ended the threat. Between innings, everyone got a Whataburger coupon for free fries. Well, now I’m glad I came. (I wish I had used it instead of what I did instead.) Faith doubled in the bottom of the second and Kendal doubled her in. Aggies up 4-0.
Faith worked a 1-2-3 top of the third. I hopped to the bathroom before the inning started. On the way back, Fan Tom was talking to a guy, who identified himself as Faith’s dad. He was beaming with pride, as well he should. If I hadn’t been in a hurry, I might have said something. I gave him a thumbs-up. In the bottom, the Bulldogs turned a nice double play to end that frame.
I was listening to game on the radio. I never caught the announcer’s name, but he did a good job. I briefly flipped over to the baseball game, which was also on the radio. I kind of recognized the voice. Adam Young was still out sick and Russ Langer was travelling with the Men’s Basketball team. UTSA was up, 1-0 in the third.
There was a hat toss between innings and it looked pretty good. It was cream-colored with “STATE” across the front. I had to remind myself that I already have a crate full of hats, so let somebody else have them. The guy with the big cowbell and his wife were discussing the UTEP fan riot yesterday with a couple of other fans. Also, he mentioned that it was tied at 1 at Aggie Baseball. (I’m surprised I could hear anything with all his cowbell ringing nearby.) In the crowd, I saw a lady with a really cool Albuquerque Isotopes Bugs Bunny jersey. There’s a giveaway I would make an effort for.
Top of the fourth, Marchant got her revenge with a solo home run to begin the inning. From the radio announcer, I think that was the 18-th home run of the series. Next, Reese Torres was hit hard enough on the elbow that she had to come out for the inning. A single followed to put two on. Faith knuckled down and struck out the next two batters and made a putout on the last batter. 4-1 Aggies. In the bottom Bulldog pitcher, Allie Floyd, also struck out two for a 1-2-3 inning.
Scoring update, 3-1 Aggies in the fifth. Maybe I picked the wrong game to go to, but they announced autographs for today for softball. I had to come. Now I’m rooting for a run rule here, so I can get over to baseball quicker.
Top of the fifth, the Cowbell Guy was going after the female ump after a walk, which put two on to begin the inning. Another fan started loudly arguing with him. The radio guy even commented on the argument. There were more catcalls after another close call. The Cowbell Guy jokingly answered the heckler, “Ah, leave her alone. She’s doing the best she can.” Faith came back with a looking strikeout and the Aggie infield threw out another baserunner. Torres, back in the game, hit a big flyball to the warning track in center for the final out.
The bottom of the fifth began with another hustle double by Faith. A bobbled grounder error put Kendal on. Skye singled in Faith and bravely advanced to second on the throw in to the infield. Tamara Carranza singled in Kendal. A double steal afterward didn’t quite work with Skye getting thrown out at the plate. The scoring on the play was, 2-3-2. The radio announcer was amazed. He didn’t think he’d ever written that down before on a scorecard. Johnna singled in Tamara anyway. A nice jump catch in center by Elena Heng ended the inning, but the Aggies had done the damage, up 7-1.
4-3 Aggies in the sixth at Baseball. Faith was rolling in the top of the sixth in Softball with two looking strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom, Laney Johnson came on in relief for the Bulldogs. Their infield got two baserunners out, including Bradi Gallaway making dive stop and flip to second for an out. Lots of traffic, but the Aggies were not able to run rule it in their final opportunity.
Faith was back out trying for the complete game in the seventh. After a groundout and a single, the Bulldogs bunted over the runner. This seemed like a questionable strategy down 6 runs. Faith hit Gallaway and then hit Marchant to load the bases. Marchant let out an, “Ouch!” before taking her base. I’m pretty sure Faith didn’t mean to hit either batter, but the LA Tech first base coach didn’t see it that way and got ejected for yelling at her. Faith finished it off with a looking strikeout, her ninth. Aggies win, 7-1.
Gameballs. For the Bulldogs, in addition to her defense, Elena Heng went 3 for 4. Reagan Marchant homered again in this series. I have to give some consolation to pitcher, Allie Floyd, who took the losses in all three games this weekend. For the Aggies, Johnna Aragon went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s. Faith Aragon went 3 for 4 with a 2-run homer at the plate and pitched 7 innings in the circle, only giving up 1 run. (How good would this team have been if they still had Desirae Spearman?)
No announcement was made about autographs. I finally asked before leaving. It wasn’t happening. That was likely a good call as there really weren’t any kids in the crowd. I was disappointed, but it was good to see Aggie Softball playing well. The game went about two hours, so the Baseball game still had a couple of innings to go. I hustled myself next door to catch the end of that one.
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