NM State and UTEP Men’s and Women’s Basketball 2-15-18

The UTEP Miners Women’s Basketball team played a late afternoon game versus the Marshall Thundering Herd.  Since they were playing in West Virginia, it was actually an evening game, I guess.  Brandon Cohn was there riding solo and damn happy to be there.  The Marshall band played All My Ex’s Live in Texas during the Miner player introductions.  One of the Miners missed the trip for academic reasons, giving them a short bench.  I can see why NMSU has made a point of keeping all of their players eligible. 

I was getting ready for work during the first quarter.  I heard Katarina Zec get a block.  Given that I’m listening for her, I’m always glad to hear Kat some highlights.  The quarter ended 17-12 Herd.  I was in transit for the second quarter and tuned back in at work at halftime.  It was 28-25 Herd.  Brandon complimented the Marshall staff.  They gave him and the team a tour of the university, including the tribute fountain.  It’s turned off on the anniversary of the tragic accidental deaths of their football team in the 70’s.  (I haven’t seen the movie.)    

Things got kind of busy at work, so I wasn’t entirely paying attention to the game.  Marshall went on a run in the third and the quarter finished with them leading 45-39.  Late in the fourth, Jordan Alexander got a put back to bring the score within two.  I missed the end due to a loud conversation in the next cubicle, but the final was 66-64 Marshall.  UTEP may be in trouble making the post season conference tournament with their current record.  My girl Kat led all scorers with 20 points and along with 9 rebounds. 

During the game call, Brandon said, “She missed the bunny,” a couple of times, referring to a player missing a layup.  I’d never heard anyone else using that phrase, but upon searching, it’s apparently common.  I’d only use it during Women’s games frankly.  My next door cubicle mate asked, “Why are you listening to a Miner game?”  He then answered his own question, “Oh, it’s that girl, right?”  I mentioned Kat wears nerdy glasses when she’s not playing.  He immediately got the Superman reference.   

Later that night, I got to watch the Aggie Women take on the Utah Valley Wolverines on TV here at the Pan-Am Center.  Well, not really.  I was pretty busy and only got to check in on the game a couple of times and watch the last few minutes of the game.  I joined the game at the half with the Aggies up 30-24.  This was in spite of 10 Aggie turnovers and Mariah Seals of the Wolverines putting in 14 points, mostly off of four three’s. 

During the third quarter, the Aggies went on a 16-0 run to take a definite lead.  I also noticed that the girls on the bench were wearing pink sweaters.  I thought that campaign was over.  In the fourth, the Aggies had up to an 11-point lead.  That got trimmed to 4 in the last minute.  The game got rough as Jasmine Cooper and a Wolverine player both got technicals, but only the Utah Valley player fouled out.  The Aggies would go on to ice the game with free throws for a 59-51 Aggie win.  Brooke Salas led with 25 points, 17 of those in the second half.  Gia Pack came in with 18.  In the postgame, Coach Atkinson used the phrase, “The Nail,” to reference the free throw line.  I like that.  I’ll have to work it into a post sometime in the near future.

An hour after the Women started, the Aggie Men started their game against Utah Valley on the road.  I joined this game on the radio at the half, after the Women finished.  It was 41-37 Wolverines.  Zach Lofton only had 2 points.  In the second half, it was a close back-and-forth.  The Aggies took a slim lead of 61-60 with under 10 minutes to play. 

The crowd there in Ogden was really into it.  The score tied at 66 with six minutes left.  With under four, Utah Valley got a block and a three for a 71-68 lead.  That grew to 81-74 with under a minute.  The Aggies weren’t able to catch up.  86-79 Wolverines was the final.  Wolverine Kenneth Ogbe, whom the Aggies silenced in the second half of their game in Las Cruces (1-20-18), scored 22.  The Wolverines ended the game with five players in double figures.  Zach finished with 19 in the Aggies’ first conference loss.  Coach Jans blamed the team defense.  The Aggies never stopped them from scoring to be able to get on an offensive run.  

NM State Softball Troy Cox Classic February 16, 2018

NM State Aggies vs Oklahoma Sooners 2-16-18

In quick summary, rainout. 

Since I work at night, going to this afternoon game with the Aggies against the two-time defending national champion Sooners was possible for me.  Unfortunately, we were socked in the day before with light showers.  The forecast for today wasn’t good, and it was raining when I woke up.  Ron, who was also eager to go, called and said the team Twitter feed updated that the game time was moved back an hour.  I told him I couldn’t go with that timing and got on with my day. 

Ron called back a half-hour later.  The rain had stopped, so the game was back on.  I hurried to get ready and we arrived in the Softball Complex parking lot with about ten minutes before first pitch.  The lot was full and there were fans milling about, several of them were Oklahoma fans.  The PA was playing loud, but decent music, which made for sort of a festive atmosphere.  We could see the girls on both teams warming up on the field. 

Ticket prices for the tournament were double and then some over regular ticket prices ($12 to $5).  Since we were planning on going to at least games two games over two days, it was going to be cheaper to get the full pass ($20).  Right before I got to window, it started raining.  At that point, I knew they were going to get rained out.  It didn’t take a meteorologist or fortune teller to make that prediction.  And yet, there I was at the window.  G******it!  I bought two passes. 

There weren’t any programs out front, which was probably a good thing because they would have gotten wet.  Inside, the weather hadn’t kept anyone away.  It’s kind of hard to judge the size of the house, since most of the crowd had umbrellas out, but it was a good turnout.  There were a bunch of Oklahoma fans with the Aggie fans.  I expected this.  I’d even decided against wearing my new waterproof jacket, since it was basically Sooner red more than Aggie crimson.  Well, that was another bad decision.  In the 15 minutes we were sitting in the stands, I got soaked to the point that I had to change socks when I got home.  Yes, I did bring an umbrella and was sitting underneath it.  I suggested to Ron that he wear his wide-brimmed sun hat before we left his car.  While he was sitting in the stands, he periodically leaned forward to empty the water pooling on his brim.

It seemed like a bad sign that the player introductions were being made and none of the players or umpires were out on the field.  After that, there was two song musical interlude, during which Aggie Coach Kathy Rodolph walked over to the visiting dugout.  Then the umpires came out.  They quickly inspected the dirt infield, which was now muddy, and then joined the coaches.  Soon enough, the PA called off the game and all the rest of the today’s schedule (four games).  Tickets would honored tomorrow, which was scant consolation.  On field, Fahren Glackin ran out and met a Sooner player at home plate where they chatted.  They must be friends or related.  The other players hung around the dugout.  They’ve got to be disappointed, especially given the crowd that showed up.   

Even if they’d started the game, I couldn’t take notes with the rain.  Really, I tried.  It wasn’t going to happen.  Without the program, I’d have trouble doing a scorecard anyway.   This tournament was on a pretty tight schedule with four teams playing each other over three days.  I can see where they really wanted to at least get this big game in today, but it was really questionable green-lighting it based on the rain stopping for an hour and a half beforehand.  Did anyone look at the radar?  It’s right there on the Internet and doesn’t require expert interpretation.  Crap, now I’m absolutely committed to going tomorrow and Sunday so I can attempt to get my money’s worth.  I may be watching Ball State versus Boston U, but I’ll do it.

(And just to make matters worse, I didn't finish the basketball post I was going to do today and left my notes at home, which is why I'm posting this.  So, there's going to be some chronologically out-of-order posting next week.)

UTEP Miners vs LA Tech Lady Techsters Women’s Basketball 2-10-18

Okay, “Lady Techsters?”  Are you kidding me?  As time goes by, that “El Paso Chihuahuas” name just sounds better and better.  Is American society really sure it wants to eliminate Native American names from sports teams?  There doesn’t seem to be anything good to replace them with.

Today was National Girls and Women in Sports Day.  UTEP celebrated by offering free admission to today’s Women’s basketball matchup.  (The Aggies did not for today’s softball matchup, but at least they didn’t raise ticket prices for their game against a big time opponent in Kentucky.)  There were a bunch of local girl’s teams there.  (Sounds like a good idea for NMSU.  Offer free admission to some games for kid’s teams.  Actually, they might already be doing that.  I’ve seen out-of-town teams come to games.)  So, they had a good crowd.  Boxer Jennifer Han was also there, probably signing autographs.

These are not the top teams in C-USA, but they had something to play for.  Both were trying to stay out of the cellar so they could qualify for the postseason tournament.  While they were the home team, the Miners were wearing their colors today with the . . . Lady Techsters (sigh) in white.

Brandon Cohn did the play-by-play today.  He was extremely excited in calling the game.  Color commentator Tracy Miller was only present in the commercials for her business.  As usual, I was listening only because I wished I were watching so I could see more of Katerina Zec (and I was waiting for the softball game).  She’d had a good game last Sunday, which I didn’t hear.  She came out taking some shots early here too.  The first and second quarters were tight.  It was 33-32 UTEP at the half.  Zec had 11 points.  Tamara Seda had 12.

Much like the 2-2-18 game, the Miners gave up a big run as LA Tech ran off 12-straight points.  It was 54-46 Techsters after 30 minutes.  (It could be worse; they could be the Hipsters.)  During the fourth, I was busy getting ready to go to the softball game, which was unfortunate because the game got exciting.  UTEP started off with a run of their own.  LA Tech took a timeout as my scribbling became incomprehensible as it was about time to go.  Crap.  The crowd was really into it at the end as UTEP was only down by three.  However, they missed their last shot.  65-62 Techsters was the final.  And it just hurt worse because of the name.  Zec finished with 15 points.  Tamara finished with a monster 23 points, but was hampered at the end with four fouls.

NM State Aggies vs Kentucky Wildcats Softball 2-11-18

Okay, I can’t avoid this topic any longer.  It’s time to talk about the “hair” situation.  Amy Bergeson (and you can check out a better current picture of her here and read about Saturday’s games) went from long raven locks (as shown below, Amy’s on the left) to a shorter blonde cut with some dark highlights.  This is a really fun, sporty look for Amy.  Looking at some older pictures, I think this is her natural hair color. 

Kelsey Horton, meanwhile has gone brunette.  Part of me thinks this was done in an effort to try and fool conference pitchers into thinking she’s someone else, so that they’ll pitch to her.  I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to work.  She’s still lovely, but Kelsey should be blonde.  It’s not that I have a blonde preference (I think, I definitely used to prefer brunettes), but I always mentally picture Kelsey with her heroic stature as a Valkyrie, one Odin’s warrior handmaidens of victorious, valiant death (or maybe not that dramatic).  She storms on to the field for battle wielding a BBCorr bat and wearing a mitt.  All Kelsey needs is a winged horse and large feathers on the side of her helmet to complete the look.  (You can feel free to take this as a suggestion for this years’ Halloween costume.  Post it on the team Twitter.)

Last night’s What-a-burger did not sit well with me and I got no sleep.  I don’t think it was the burger, but rather how late I’d eaten it.  (The PQ Treats frozen tornado that I chased it with probably didn’t help.)  I ended up having a glass of milk for breakfast and didn’t actually eat until after this game in the late afternoon, when I’d finally got my appetite back.  This seemed like an ill omen. 

The last of last night’s basketball crowd was finally able to pull out of the parking lot as I came back to the university for today’s softball game versus the Kentucky Wildcats.  (That might not be much of an exaggeration, exiting after a big event is an issue.)  There had been a cold breeze blowing before I left, but it had died down by the time I’d pulled in.  I ditched my coat in my truck as it was bright, sunny and warm.  I was even overdressed a bit in my Aggie hoodie.  Well, at least it’s a great day for a game, I thought. 

There was another good crowd in the stands.  University President Garrey Carruthers was there.  He’s a fan of the team.  I sat next to Danny again.  (Ron had family things to attend to today.)  Adam Young was providing play-by-play for today’s game on the radio, which was very welcome.  Unfortunately, this was only scheduled radio broadcast for the regular season.  The baseball team was scrimmaging next door. 

The girls were in their “Sandman” black and grey’s, though their batting helmets were white today.  I noticed volleyball player, Lia Mosher, wasn’t with the team today.  (She’s pretty easy to pick out of a crowd.)  I find myself really hoping I get to see her play this season.  Staff ace, Kayla Green was reported to be sick, but was still in uniform.  She came through the stands briefly during the game to collect retrieved balls at the pressbox and she was coughing.  As it was, Kayla probably wanted to be there no matter how she was feeling.  I’m guessing Coach Kathy Rodolph would have started her today and only kept her around on the off chance that if the game was close late, she might be good for an inning. 

Samaria Diaz started for the Aggies.  She was a bit shaky in the first, giving up three hits, a run, and hitting a batter.  Her catcher, Shelby Shultes, limited the damage by throwing out Erin Rethlake, the Wildcats’ starting pitcher and hitting for herself, at second base.  1-0 Kentucky.  Fahren Glackin collected a hit in the bottom, but Aggies otherwise went down quickly. 

In the second, trucker hats in colors matching the Aggies’ uniforms were tossed to the crowd.  I didn’t make an effort to get one.  I’ve already got three Aggie hats.  Sam gave up a couple of hits in the inning, and Rachel Rodriguez had her fourth error in three games trying to feed Kelsey for a force at second.  No damage done, though.  Afore mentioned blonde, Amy Bergeson singled in between a strikeout and a fly out.  Destiny Blueford, not the likeliest power hitter in the lineup, hit a line drive homer to right field, an opposite field two-run shot.  2-1 Aggies. 

In the third, afore mentioned brunette, Kelsey Horton committed her second error of the series.  I watched a preseason interview with Coach Kathy yesterday (Tuesday) and the first thing she mentioned that she was confident in was the team’s improved defense this season.  She must be fuming after this weekend.  Destiny, at least, sparkled again, as she threw out a runner at first on a ball hit to right field.  Unfortunately, Abbey Cheek came up and hit a two-run homer right after, 3-2 Wildcats. 

I should mention that the wind had picked back up and was blowing out.  Not only that, clouds had rolled in and suddenly it was cold and miserable.  An inning before, I was nearly sweating, now I was almost shivering.  I kept thinking the sun would come back out, the wind would die down, and I wouldn’t need to run out and get my jacket.  Rachel led off the third with a double.  Fahren received her third bruise of the series courtesy of Wildcat pitching.  Last time she was angry.  This time, the umpire had to escort her to first base to stop her from charging the circle.  She was replaced by a pinch runner, Brandy Hernandez.  A couple of groundouts and pop up ended the inning.

Sam got a couple of quick fly outs in the fourth, but was suddenly pulled in the middle of an at bat for Analise de la Roca.  She made one pitch to end the inning on a ground out to first.  Amy collected another hit in the Aggie half of the fifth, but was caught stealing right after.  She had an awkward jump going for the base and wasn’t going to make it.  That ended the rally. 

For the fifth, freshman, Kennedi Sorensen came in to catch, which I think was her debut.  I noticed her having a friendly exchange with the ump during the inning.  With two other hard-hitting catchers on the staff, she was probably happy to get into a game.  After a single, Jenny Schaper (“shaper,” still loving that name) hit a deep fly ball to straight away center.  Victoria Castro may have caught it going just over the fence, but couldn’t hold on.  In and out heartbreak.  It was a wind-aided, cheap homer, but it still counted.  5-2 Wildcats. 

The sixth inning featured “Dance Cam,” but without the camera, nobody wanted to dance.  It was cold and windy and we were losing.  “We just got up,” said one lady, referring to the fifth-inning stretch.  “That was just to warm you up for dancing,” replied Danny.  Analise had no problems in this inning.  In the bottom, Kelsey and Nikki shared a laugh on deck.  At least the girls stayed loose.  Kelsey got a single, but that was all of the Aggie damage.  The newspaper account mentioned that the Wildcats changed their pitching strategy for this game and went with a lot of offspeed stuff.  This was the inning I noticed that Rethlake was really getting in some good pitches.

And the wind the wind blew out another two-run homer in the seventh for Kentucky.  This one was by Katie Reed.  The crowd started deserting at this point.  It may have been more for the cold than the score.  There was scheduled autograph session after the game; I was definitely staying.  Then Cheek hit her second home run of the game.  This one was a three-run shot and would have gone out with the wind blowing straight in.  The outfielders didn’t even flinch or bother watching it.  10-2 Kentucky. 

Okay, I was definitely still staying, but I was also definitely running out to my truck to get my coat.  Besides, it finally occurred to me that was listening to the game call and wasn’t going to miss anything.  On my way out though, I ran into Volleyball Coach Mike Jordan.  Well, this was opportune, since I had burning volleyball question.  “Hi, coach.  Hey, did you know that Lia was out here yesterday in uniform with the softball team?”  I fully expected him to be infuriated that one of his players was cheating on him with another coach.  Actually, he knew about it.  Coach Jordan referred to it as “an experiment.”  He seemed skeptical, but was taking Coach Kathy’s assessment that she had some talent. 

Some of the volleyball team came in with him.  They must have come straight from practice, as they were in loose t-shirts and shorts.  This sight only made me feel colder.  I don’t think they felt real warm either.  After a hit batter, freshman Mikayla Bongi was finally brought in to the get the last two outs.  I don’t know why Analise was left out to twist in the breeze, so to speak, for so long.  She’s got some good stuff, but I wouldn’t want to wreck her confidence by letting her get shelled this early in the season.  In any case, the Aggies went down in order to end the game.  Our final: Wildcats 10, Aggies 2.                      

Erin Rethlake of the Wildcats gets the game ball for her complete game pitching performance, as well as hitting for herself.  This was a pretty amazing turnaround from her Saturday start.  Destiny Blueford is our easy, if only, Aggie Player of the Game with her two-run homer and a great putout.  Team fielding was again a bit shaky, as was the pitching.  I mean no disrespect to the Kentucky coaching staff, but after seeing their team dominate in this game, I don’t think they actually scouted the Aggies until after they’d gotten beat the day before.  I may be wrong, but that’s sure what it looked like.  One thing is for sure, when defending national champion Oklahoma comes here this week for the Troy Cox Classic, the Aggies aren’t going to be sneaking up on them, not after this weekend.          

After the game, I went around back for autographs.  The volleyball team was there, which was a nice show of support.  Gia Pack from the Women’s Basketball team was also there.  I would have liked to have said “Hi” to her, but she looked kind of grim.  I hope the whole team isn’t brooding after their bad road trip.  Once again, I ended up next to Coach Jordan.  Having the coach’s ear for a second time, I praised Megan Hart’s performance last year.  He said she’d recovered from her injuries to where she felt confident in hitting. 

With all the confidence I could muster, I then told him that the only thing holding the team back the last two years has been injuries.  At this point, I was probably about to go into some polite form of my rant that I didn’t want to hear about anymore injuries in practice, since that’s on the coaches, not the players.  I was going to use my example that Coach Mark Trakh felt his success with the Women’s Basketball team last year hinged on keeping his players healthy and making sure they didn’t hurt themselves in practice. 

What actually happened was that Coach Jordan agreed that that was an issue and that they needed to focus on it.  Okay, he’s aware of the problem.  I remarked about how badly the girls in volleyball get injured compared to other sports.  The coach winsomely expressed his admiration for his lost team captain, Jordan Abalos.  She had apparently came into the program with an injury from high school that had never really healed.  Wow, as if I didn’t already think enough of her determination.  She was already aware that her knees were wrecked for life from playing, but kept doing it. 

At this point, his wife and little son came back.  The boy had a mitt with a bunch of signatures on it.  The coach gave me a fist-bump in parting.  He had a massive championship ring sitting on one of his fingers.  I hope the conversation wasn’t too awkward for the coach.  Random conversations with idiot strangers about the team probably happen to him on a regular basis.  I was certainly glad to chat with him for a minute.  He was a nice guy, as long as you’re not playing volleyball for him.       

I’ll admit.  The autographs were a bit of a letdown.  I’d hoped to chat for a couple of seconds with a several players, but it didn’t really materialize.  In fairness, they’d just lost badly, it was cold and windy, and, after the talking to the coach, I was the last person in line.  The girls mostly had their heads down signing and were leaving right after signing my poster.  The signing tables were even being taken down behind me. 

Still, there was some interaction.  Nikki Butler has a great smile and was very friendly.  Unfortunately, I totally blanked on her name, which was terrible because I did know it and recognized her.  I got to congratulate Destiny Blueford on her home run.  She was all smiles and nice.  Granted she was the only one who’d had a good game, but I’d guess that’s her usual personality.  Down the line, I ended up standing next to Rachel Rodriguez.  She’d had a rough weekend, but Rachel was all smiles and totally genuinely pleasant.  You could tell she was a nice girl in two seconds, like Brandi Walton on the basketball team last year.  Rachel even checked to make sure that Kelsey had signed the poster before she gave it back to me.  What a sweetheart. 

There I was, so close to Kelsey Horton, but she was already leaving by the time I got to her.  I wasn’t able to get her attention before she left.  Darn it, I had a couple of questions for her.  Not that I know anybody on the team well, but I at least know a bit about her.  Well, so much for talking to her this season.  Fahern Glackin was the last player on the line.  I told her that the other team didn’t seem to like her.  Yeah, she was aware of that and she was still angry.  I wished I’d said something different.  Fahren was probably aching. 

 

I need to add a postscript.  Monday evening, I listened to KROD’s Sportstalk out of El Paso.  Likely much to the consternation of Miner fans, much of the show was about the Aggies.  Host Steve Kaplowitz spent his opening segment talking about the Pan-Am sellout and the Men’s basketball win.  He had Coach Chris Jans on to talk about it, as well as Coach Brian Green to promote Aggie Baseball.  However, nobody mentioned the Softball team’s big wins.  Aggie Athletic Director Mario Moccia did Tweet out over the weekend that he was sorry that the softball victory would likely get overshadowed by the basketball victory. 

I took it on myself to hype the team.  I wasn’t able to call them from work and there wasn’t a working e-mail to reach them, but there is a spot on their website for breaking stories and tips.  Apparently they keep close track of submissions there.  Kappy read my copy verbatim ten minutes later (after presumably fact-checking it).  The funny thing was that I had a co-worker at my desk and I was showing her my softball poster with the station stream on.  Kappy said my name to start the story and she said, “Hey, that guy on the radio just mentioned somebody with your name.”

I admit that was a bit of thrill hearing my little recap was being read over the air with my name attached to it.  I was even more happy to help recognize the team’s accomplishment to a wider audience.  If anyone with the team was listening earlier, hopefully this made up for it.  I think Sportstalk just didn’t know that the Aggies had beaten an SEC team, because they would have mentioned it.  Coach Kathy is a “friend of the show,” and I think I’ve heard her interviewed there.  (I hope they take the opportunity to invite her on this week to talk about it.)  Kappy even segued into talking about UTEP Softball right after. 

Coach Jans did wish the baseball and softball teams good luck in his interview, but I think he didn’t know about it either.  I’ve heard him offer support to other Aggie sports before.  Coach Green, on the other hand, must have known.  His boys were there and had to have come back inspired and motivated to go beat a big school themselves this season.  Come on, Coach, Aggie Up.      

NM State Aggies vs Kentucky Wildcats Softball Game 2, 2-10-18

(And NM State Aggies vs GCU Lopes Men’s Basketball)

Continued from Game 1

At this point, two storylines which were unrelated, converged, that is, Game 2 of this softball double header and the Men’s Basketball game versus Grand Canyon University.  As much as the GCU game deserves its own entry, I wasn’t there and I can’t even fake decent coverage.  If Ron had expressed interest in the free tickets from work to the basketball game, or if I’d stayed home and watched on TV, or even if I could have given more attention to the radio call (or even been able to hear it at times), I’d do a full write-up.  Instead, I’m going to leave it as it is in my notes, mixed in with the softball recap.  Hey, I had to make a choice as to what sport I’d be watching this night.  As great as the basketball game was, I honestly don’t feel cheated.

During the intermission, we went back to Ron’s car for our jackets and to warm up a bit since it had gotten colder.  We started listening to the basketball pregame.  The Women’s team lost their game in Phoenix to GCU really badly.  They’re not a great road team and that’s not friendly place to play for visitors to begin with.  Here, the game was a sellout at the Pan-Am Center with over 12,900 in attendance.  Athletic Director Mario Moccia came on and reported that this set a new single game revenue record for the university.  Also, he was also really pleased to announce the softball win over Kentucky in Game 1.  Mario was beaming over beating an SEC opponent with an exponentially bigger athletic budget.

The crowd was thinner for Game 2, which wasn’t unexpected, but it was still a decent crowd, especially under the circumstances.  It was colder, but the wind had mostly died down.  I was still listening to the basketball game on my headphones.  Wow, I could almost tangibly feel how big the crowd was there just from hearing them.  And they were giving the Lopes a hearty Aggie welcome.   

Samaria Diaz was the Game 2 starter for the Aggies.  She got off on the right foot with a pair of strikeouts in the first.  The Kentucky starter was Larissa Spellman.  She looked pretty small out in the circle, but could whip it up there.  Larissa also looked pretty cute.  The action started in the top of the second.  Jenny Schaper (pronounced “shaper” and what a great name) started off the inning with a hit.  This started a bit of a merry-go-round. 

It looked like the Aggies might get out of it only giving up a run, but a low throw by Rachel Rodriguez pulled Fahren Glackin off first.  I had that as another error, but it was ruled a hit.  Wildcat batter, Katie Reed, ended up on second with two more runs scoring.  Another run scored before Shelby Shultes threw out Erin Rethlake (still in the lineup as a batter, though she was the Game 1 starter) at second to end the inning.  4-0 Wildcats.  Back at the Pan-Am, both teams were stuck on 12 all for several minutes at the 11-minute mark.  GCU took the lead, but a pass from AJ Harris to Eli Chuha for dunk made it 23-17 Lopes with 9 minutes left in the first half.

The third inning started with a scary moment as a groundball took a bad hop and hit Kelsey Horton in the jaw.  She was stunned for a moment and took a hard luck error.  From what I saw the next day at the autograph session, her lovely face was undamaged, which was the important thing.  Kelsey stayed in the game.  The next two Wildcat batters hit ground balls at her, likely not by accident.  She had no trouble handling them, but I suspect she was fuming afterward.  This was confirmed in the bottom of the inning.  Spellman started off giving up three straight singles.  Kelsey came up with the bases loaded and promptly hit a grand slam homer to left center.  She isn’t just beautiful when she’s angry, she’s dangerous.

Back at the basketball game, Jack Nixon thought that Zach Lofton didn’t look right shooting, even free throws.  It was definitely hurting the Aggies not having their leading scorer making baskets.  Keyon Jones got a steal and a three, but the half ended 40-34 Lopes.  Jack pronounced this the Aggies’ “worst half of the year.”  This was going on as Spellman came out of the game after giving up two more hits without getting an out for the inning.  Grace Baalman came in.  She was pretty tall and also nice looking.  Grace finished off the inning without further damage.  The score was tied 4-4 after three.

Nice sock caps were thrown to the crowd between innings.  I already have a couple, so I didn’t try to get one, but they were a nice giveaway.  Kelsey had an error to start the inning.  Once again, the Wildcats kept hitting at her, but she got the next two batters who both grounded out to her.  Sam was suddenly pulled from the inning with two outs, maybe for pitch count.  Kayla Green, Game 1 starter, was brought back in and finished off the inning.  This move made me think Coach Kathy Rodolph really thought they had a good chance to win and was going to do whatever to secure it.

The second half started in basketball.  The Aggies went down by 12 early.  However, one of the better Lope players picked up his fourth foul.  GCU Coach Dan Majerle was incensed with the officials.  Jack was unimpressed and questioned Dan’s judgment in leaving the player in to begin with and Dan’s ability to count to three.  “Did they teach him how to count where he graduated from?”  The player was more angry and immediately picked up a technical and fouled out. 

The Wildcats led off with a single to start the fifth.  A hit batter and an errant pickoff throw would snowball into two runs.  The inning ended with a running, over-the-shoulder catch by Victoria “Tori” Castro in centerfield.  The crowd really got into it at that point though the score was 6-4 Kentucky.  As often happens, a player making a great play in the field would immediately make a great play batting the next inning.  Tori led off the bottom with a deep home run to right center.  Amy Bergeson then doubled.  Shelby made up for the bad pickoff throw by singling Amy in, though she did knock down her third base coach with a foul preceding the hit.  Just like that, we’re tied.

Brandi Wilke came in to pinch run for Shelby.  I ran into her somehow on social media two years ago (probably off the team Twitter feed) and couldn’t remember ever seeing her in a game.  Beyond being rather attractive, I was glad to finally see her out on the field.  Fahren would hit a bloop single to bring Brandi in, so she got to score a run too.  (I have enough trouble keeping my scorecard without trying to keep track of pinch runners in softball where players get changed in and out constantly, so sorry it’s not written down.)         

61-53 GCU with eight minutes remaining at the Pan-Am Center, but it’s 7-6 Aggies at the softball complex.  The PA played the Macarena before the sixth.  Jeanelle Medina warmed up at third by doing the dance.  The Wildcats had mild threat in the inning and there was another Aggie error, but nothing came of it.  At the basketball game, Jemerrio Jones was having a monster game.  His 27-th point brought the Aggies to within four of the Lopes.  With under five minutes left, the score was tied at 64.  Jack and the huge crowd were roaring. 

I had assumed Ron was listening to the basketball game on this earbuds, but he had to ask me what the score was when another fan asked him.  After my report, he brought out his radio to listen to the game.  With under two minutes left, a second GCU player fouled out.  Aggie big man Johnathon Wilkins followed him into a spectator role right after.  I was still watching the game in front of me.  After a leadoff double by Nikki Butler, Tori homered to deep center.  One minute left in the basketball game, the Aggies had a one-point lead.  I nudged Ron, “This is all pretty exciting!”

Caity Szczesny, who had pinch hit last inning and stayed in the game, doubled.  Meanwhile, the basketball team was up three with 24 seconds left.  At this point, I had both hands over my ears, trying to hear the end of the basketball game over the crowd cheering at softball field.  The Lopes took two three-point shots on their final possession, but came up empty.  We’re done at the Pan-Am Center.  Our final: Aggies 74, Lopes 70.  In addition to his 27 points, Jemerrio Jones also had 20 rebounds, but our player of the game is the Fans.  The fans did not give up in this game and were cheering the whole time and screaming whenever Aggies made plays.  The team definitely needed a sellout crowd supporting them to beat a determined GCU tonight.  Hopefully, Zach Lofton is okay and gets back on track next game.

Fully back at the softball field, Sarah Rainwater for the Wildcats almost had the play of the night with a diving catch of a Rachel Rodriguez Texas Leaguer in centerfield.  Almost.  Right in front of the umpire, the ball popped out of her mitt as she hit the ground.  Caity scored to make it 10-6 Aggies.  The inning ended with some hard feelings.  Fahren got plunked hard for the second time in the game.  She slammed her bat down in front of the plate before going to first.

Don’t ask me how, but the baseball team made it back to the stadium to see the end of the game.  Not that the stadium is that far from the Pan-Am, but I can’t imagine how they did it so quickly on foot in such a short period of time, especially with a huge crowd exiting with them.  They had to have stayed to the end, though I did talk to a co-worker on Monday who left early, because he couldn’t take the tension.  Thankfully, there was no tension in the seventh.  Kayla shut them down quickly.  Our final at the softball field: Aggies 10, Wildcats 6.    

This softball program has probably had bigger regular season wins in its history, but these two wins have to be right up there.  Certainly the timing couldn’t have been better with the football bowl win last year and the Men’s Basketball team’s big wins on the road (and their win tonight).  This just continues the athletics program’s roll.  Mario Moccia has to be the happiest man on campus, at least in terms of putting out a competitive product.   

I was in shock after the game.  Just from recent memory, basically every time the team played a good non-conference opponent last year, they got crushed.  Winning two in-a-row right at the beginning of the season felt unthinkable just earlier that afternoon.  Frankly, they didn’t even play that well with five errors over the two games, which Kentucky mostly capitalized on.  The Aggies covered over their mistakes by out-slugging the Wildcats, which is a play style you can’t count on working all the time.  Coach Rodolph must have heaped praised the girls afterward, but let them know that their next team meeting wasn’t going to be pleasant. 

Kayla Green again only had one earned run over her three+ innings of work for our defensive game ball.  That no-drama seventh was her best work of the day.  I can’t choose just one offensive star for this game.  Kelsey Horton went 3 for 5 with four RBI’s, which all came on one mighty swing.  Victoria Castro went 3 for 4 with three RBI’s, which came on two big home runs.  I’m all for these two competing with each other for conference Player of the Year honors.     

   

Afterward, it was a bit of the worst case scenario for leaving the university, namely both sporting events ending at about the same time.  The basketball crowd was nowhere near gone as we pulled out.  Thankfully, traffic, at least from where we started, moved pretty quickly.  (People parked next to the Pan-Am Center, not so much.)  We went to the What-a-burger on Telshor for dinner.  Though a decent distance from NMSU, it was filled with happy Aggie fans.  The one closer to the university was later reportedly mobbed.  A lot of people were using those coupons on the back of their tickets.  To their credit, both locations served everyone quickly. 

While there, a guy at asked us about the softball game.  He’d come from Alamogordo (or Los Alamos, which would have been a way longer trip) to see the basketball game, but him and his wife decided to watch the first softball game beforehand.  He’d seen us there and wanted to know how the second game turned out.  We were pleased to report another victory.  Tonight was another great night to be an Aggie fan.  

NM State Aggies vs Kentucky Wildcats Softball Game 1, 2-10-18

This seemed like bad scheduling.  Here was Aggie Softball’s season opening double header versus preseason nationally ranked #17 Kentucky overlapping with the Aggie Men’s Basketball big “Pack the Pan-Am” matchup with Grand Canyon.  As it turned out, there were plenty of fans for both events.  Game 1 occurred three hours before the basketball and a bunch of fans showed up.  There were several Kentucky fans, though they were pretty quiet for the whole weekend.  A large number of other Aggie athletes from the football, volleyball, and baseball teams were also in attendance.  More on some of them later.

Ron was with me this afternoon.  We had both been really missing baseball and softball.  Up front, I picked up an already signed poster.  This might have been left over from the fan meet-and-greet on Friday.  There were enough people in the stands (maybe over 600), that our usual spot was taken.  We ended up sitting by fellow fan, Danny, behind home plate.  I immediately noticed a welcome new addition to the stadium; they’d put up their championship banners on the outfield wall. 

The team introduction turned out to be pretty interesting.  I noticed a new girl, Nicole Spyhstra.  She was a tall, glamorous brunette.  We look forward to seeing her in a game.  Then there was the surprise introduction of Lia Mosher.  The volleyball girls, all sitting together, immediately let out a big cheer.  I had a momentarily disconnect with a volleyball player being introduced with the softball team.    She wasn’t on their printed roster, so I don’t know what her position is.  Lia didn’t play tonight.  I looked at the whole team out on the field more closely after the game and, sure enough, there she was.  More on this in my Sunday game coverage. 

I thought I’d mis-heard the name in the fall, but there is indeed a “Buddy” on the team, Anne Marie Vargas’ nickname.  Caity Szczesny, my favorite player name, didn’t start tonight, which disappointed me, since I liked her hustle last year.  More disappointing was the absence of local girl and catcher, Alexis Maynez.  She didn’t play in the fall, and she’s not on the roster.  I liked the way Alexis caught and she had figured out the hitting.  She was at the scorer’s table with one of last years’ seniors, Haley Nakamura.  Maybe Alexis will be back on the team at some point.     

Let’s play ball.  Kayla Green started the game for the Aggies.  Though the team added two new freshmen pitchers, I think the experiment with Kayla playing the field, as she did in fall, is over.  She looked good and confident to begin the game, like a staff ace.  Last year, she was kind of pressed into the role, but now she’s grown into it.  Her offspeed seemed to be working, which was a good sign. 

The Kentucky pitcher, Erin Rethlake, hit for herself in the game.  Her last warm up pitch went wild, high and wide, like an intimidating Randy Johnson warm up.  Or not.  She might have had some nerves or rust to start off.  Rachel Rodriguez led off with an infield hit.  The Aggie dugout went crazy.  Fahren Glackin came up next and walked.  The dugout sang to her, in their usual style, but cut off early.  They didn’t sing for the rest of the weekend.  They might have decided to make a change with their team spirit philosophy.  I’d hate to see them stop, but if that’s not the image they want to project, that’s their decision.  Kelsey Horton also walked.  She looked good jogging down to first, so I think she’s 100%.  Nikki Butler drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.  Victoria “Tori” Castro then doubled in two runs.  The Aggies took an early 3-0 lead.   

Danny chatted during the inning about going to the Friday event.  He’d gotten a tour of the field and facilities, including the locker room.  They did hitting and pitching demos.  They also had some fun.  Destiny Blueford won a dizzy bat competition.  Danny was shocked by how close the pitching circle was to home plate.  He had a new respect for the players.  If I hadn’t been working that night, I’d love to have gone. 

The sun went behind a cloud, which cooled everything off, though it was still pleasant.  There was a wind blowing in, but it was above the field and stadium level.  From Danny and some of his friends there, I got some more gossip.  Fahren had been injured in the offseason training.  She’d since recovered.  Danny told one of his friends there about the coaching change in soccer that I’d told him about at a basketball game.  I told them that I’d met the new coach, Paul Baarts (1-20-18).  Danny was still confused why they’d replaced the previous one.  His friend illuminated that the coach had had some off-the-field issues that hadn’t pleased the university.  That explains that.

Danny’s friend couldn’t believe that players weren’t swinging at Kayla’s good offspeed pitches.  “It’s so slow.  It’s right there to hit.”  He said he’d swing at it if he were in the box.  If that was all she threw, I’m sure the players would be swinging at it.  (Speed differential and location are how pitchers get strikes, not just throwing hard.)  Kayla got two quick outs in the second, but then ran into trouble.  She gave up a double and a walk.  The fans started yelling at the ump about his strike zone.  After the second time he dusted off the plate during a stoppage, a lady shouted out, “Stop cleaning!  You can see it fine!”

Rachel got a couple of hard luck errors at shortstop on the next two plays to load the bases.  Runners dashed in front of her right while she was trying to field the grounders.  The second error seemed like outright interference with player actually having contact with her, but I guess it was ruled unintentional.  (I tried looking up the interference rules this morning.  It made my head hurt.)  Giving up an extra base hit, not getting some calls, and then having a couple of errors behind you will tend to rattle any pitcher.  This led to a double and a single scoring four runs before order was restored.  4-3 Wildcats.

This was where the Aggies showed some grit and forgot how much better the other team was supposed to be.  A Wildcat error let on Destiny.  Jeanelle Medina changed places with her at first and, after a sacrifice by Rachel, Fahren was able to beat out an infield hit to score her.  Kelsey then doubled her in from first with a shot down the first base line.  Fahren turned on the jets and just got in around the tag.  5-4 Aggies.

In the third, Megan Hart and Bridgette Lowe came in and joined the rest of the volleyball team.  At 6’5” and beautiful, Megan gets everyone’s attention wherever she enters.  (Bridgette’s nice too.)  Danny teased his friend about passing up a chance to be introduced to her a while back.  He said he was too intimidated.  Now this guy is a handsome young man, not 6’5”, but I was still surprised.  I went ahead and related my own story about being in line next to the team for the South Alabama football game (12-2-17) and having the same reaction.  Perhaps we both felt a little better after that exchange.                    

Kayla looked better for the inning.  At one point, Alexis, from the scorer’s table, spontaneously shouted her usual catching encouragement to her.  Kayla got a called third strike to end the inning.  Not that the current Aggie catchers are doing a bad job (they’re not), but I’m sorry Kayla and Alexis aren’t working together this year.  During the bottom of the inning, some of the baseball team came in.  I heard bits and pieces of a scouting report on some of them from the crowd. 

For the fourth, little stress footballs were tossed into the crowd.  The umpire and Coach Kathy Rodolph started shouting at the pressbox from the field, “Answer the phone!”  The setting sun was covered by a cloud, and I think they wanted the stadium lights turned on before they ended up playing in the dark.  Autumn Humes came into pitch for the Wildcats.  She started out by giving up three walks.  Kelsey drove in one run with a fielder’s choice.  Kentucky got a couple of outs at the plate, but Nikki got hit by a pitch to drive in another. 

Next, Tori had an epic at bat as she fouled off several pitches.  One, terrifyingly, went straight up and back into the stands behind me.  (It was scary because I lost track of the ball in flight.)  She put another in parking lot.  PA Kevin announced that they had a “sweet prize” for anyone returning a ball to the pressbox.  Someone answered, “Is it a new windshield?”  Tori got on by fielder’s choice, but that at bat set up the next batter.  The Aggie play of the game came via pinch hitter, Shelby Shultes, as she doubled in three runs.  It was 10-4 Aggies after four innings.

A batch of young girls came in and sat down behind us.  Danny chatted with them and found out they were high school volleyball players.  The university should be making as many deals as possible with the local schools to have their kids attend Aggie sports.  Kayla started the fifth by giving up a home run, 10-5 Aggies.  The coach must have seen enough at that point and brought in one of the new freshman pitchers, Analise de la Roca.  This was her college debut.  I probably saw her in the fall, but didn’t have a name to attach to her.  She was a complicated-looking windup.  Analise finished off the inning with a deep fly at the fence that was probably knocked down by the wind.

During the fifth inning stretch, many of the fans and the Aggie players left to go to the Men’s Basketball game that was soon to start.  This was understandable.  It was the big scheduled sports event of the semester.  Some of the baseball players hung around a bit longer.  They started heckling the Kentucky pitcher as she issued two more walks to start the inning.  They were also giving it to the umpire during the game.  These are things they can’t do during their own games, of course.  GCU baseball players did the same at a softball game last year (4-29-17).

Kelsey came up to bat next.  Sometimes, the stadium will suddenly go quiet right before a player is about to jack one.  It happened this time, but that wind again knocked down the ball at the fence.  Tori came up to bat.  Let me interject here that she’s the only one on the team with a good, upbeat walkup song.  Thank you for that, instead of the musical crap that your teammates use.  More importantly, she singled in the two runners on base to make it 12-5. 

In the sixth, Analise was still throwing hard and looking good.  In the bottom, Destiny got a bloop double that the wind carried in from the outfield.  The centerfielder tried making a play on it near second base.  The seventh started with a great dive catch by Rachel.  Unfortunately, Analise’s lack of experience might have been exposed as the next batters went walk, single, and home run. 

Mikayla Bongi, the team’s other new freshman pitcher, came in for her college debut, still working with a four-run lead.  I remembered her from the fall.  She wears a face guard, meaning she’s probably been hit in the face with a comebacker, so she must be pretty brave to keep doing this.  She got over her nerves quickly, as her first batter homered.  Danny said that the team on Friday had referred to Kentucky as a bunch of “slap” hitters.  No, they seem to know how to get the ball over the fence.  Right after that, Kelsey made a great diving catch for Out #2.  A liner to Jeanelle ended the game, 12-9 Aggies final.  Whew!

We’ll hand out some game balls here for Game 1.  First, credit the Wildcats for jumping all over any weaknesses that the Aggies displayed.  I’m sure nine runs is normally enough for them to win.  For the Aggies, Kayla Green gave up five runs in the four innings, but I have only one of those runs being earned.  When she’s on, she’s very good.  I know this is going to be a hard lesson to learn, but Kayla just needs to focus more and not let anything going on behind her with the defense or anybody on base distract her.  As I mentioned before, Shelby Shultes got the biggest hit of the game, but Victoria Castro had a great game with four RBI’s on two hits.  Tori and Kelsey are going to be giving opposing coaches fits trying to figure out how to pitch around them, especially with much of the rest of the order also able to hurt them.

On to Game 2

NM State vs CSU-Bakersfield Men’s and Women’s Basketball 2-8-18

I had an irritating night at work.  I’m only saying this to make an excuse for taking poor notes for these two games.  The Men and the Women weren’t playing at the same time exactly, but the games were overlapping, which also made it hard to follow both.  I don’t make the schedule.  I’d prefer to listen or watch both separately.

A couple of Aggie pregame items first.  Earlier in the week, the Aggie Coach’s Show went an extra half hour going over new football recruits for national signing day.  NMSU managed to steal some recruits from UTEP and other regional schools.  Coach Martin again thanked the fans.  He said it really helped make the case for the school when he could show video of a full stadium and people storming the field after a big win.  During the Men’s pregame tonight, Athletic Director Mario Moccia said that the Men’s big game against Grand Canyon on Saturday wasn’t a sellout yet, but was set to be their highest revenue game ever. 

The Men’s game started first.  The Bakersfield Roadrunners gave the Aggies a rough time in their house last month (1-13-18).  That was partly because of their physical play, but also because the Aggies were finishing their epic eight-game road trip.  I thought that game was amazing for Roadrunner player Moataz Aly getting three goaltending calls.  I was glad to hear Sidy N’Dir was back playing for the Aggies for this game.  He’d gotten pretty roughed up in the last game.  

Once again, the Aggies came out cold against the Roadrunners.  They could not hit any three’s.  As Jack Nixon reported Coach Jans saying on the sidelines to a player, “You’re open because they don’t think you can hit it.”  Still, the Aggies were keeping it close at 14-14 inside of ten minutes.  The Aggies started to get the upper hand as the half went on.  I kept getting busier at work and couldn’t take many notes.  AJ Harris hit Jemerrio Jones for a jam.  Joe Garza came into the game and got a steal.  It was 18-14 Aggies with seven minutes remaining.  Garza got fouled on a three-point attempt and converted on all three foul shots.  Garza also pulled down a rebound.  Gabe Hadley showed some defense and rejected a dunk attempt.  Jack loved it.  The Aggies pulled away 31-18 at the half.

Oh, this was perfect.  I’m having a bad night at work and I hear that I’m missing a game of Mascot Basketball during halftime.  That’s just great.  Here’s a good halftime stat: the Aggies were 11 for 11 in free throws.  That’s how you make a physical team pay.  The Women’s game started at about this time, since I had video for that one, I more or less switched over, but kept an eye on the Men.  It wasn’t much of a game though.  The Aggies were up by at least 20 for most of the half.  The final was 69-43 Aggies.  Zach Lofton led the way with 14 points.  Jemerrio Jones did the dirty work with 20 rebounds.  Gabe Hadley hit a couple of threes.  Joe Garza finished with 9 points, second in scoring, including two three’s.  I’d heard the coach call him and the rest of the bench out after the last game, so apparently Joe heard him.  This was a great game for the team and Grand Canyon is coming in Saturday having just lost tonight.

Meanwhile, the Aggie Women were in Bakersfield.  Their last game against the Roadrunners was here (1-13-18).  The Aggie girls had to make a great comeback in the second half with the crowd behind them to get the win then.  The Aggies were coming off a great, 79-77, win on Saturday at UTRGV.  I didn’t have access to any live coverage, but the paper had a sizable article about the game.  Zaire Williams hit a three to force overtime and hit a pair of free throws for the win.  Gia Pack had a great night with 29 points.  Brooke Salas didn’t have a particularly good game.  If it was because she was being guarded well, then her teammates did what they were supposed to do: make the other team pay for leaving them open.   

I was able to watch tonight’s game thanks to the WAC Digital Network.  Thanks.  It was the Bakersfield feed.  The WAC scoring underneath video was actually 30 seconds ahead of the team scoring.  They also identified the Aggies as UMKC, but with Aggie logo.  This was corrected at some point in the second quarter.  The first thing that strikes anyone watching a Bakersfield game is their shocking solid blue floor.  That has to be a bit of a distraction for opponents.  Their facility is a large gym.  They had a good crowd and it looked like many students were there.  They also had a very pretty blonde cheerleader.  I didn’t get to see enough of her. 

This matchup was #1 (Aggies) versus #2 (Roadrunners) in the conference.  The Aggies came out playing a press defense and managed to get a steal on a trap, but Brooke lost it moments later.  I was still busy with work.  I missed most of the first half.  The Aggies were leading after the first quarter, 16-11, and at the half 29-25.  The Roadrunners made a deep three at the buzzer, which seemed ominous at the time.  Brooke wasn’t playing when I was watching in the second quarter.  She had two fouls.  I don’t think she was injured.

In the third, it was tied at 35 with four minutes left.  Brooke was still not playing at the time, but finally came back in before the end of the quarter.  The fourth started 37 all.  Unfortunately, the Aggies went cold shooting were down by eight halfway through.  What felt like the back-breaker was Gia getting her pocket picked at midcourt and that turning into a layup.  Tonishia Childress hit a three to get in within six with under a minute, but it was too late.  62-52 Roadrunners was the final and they took over first place. 

Monique Mills actually led the way for the Aggies with 12 points.  I’m glad to see her back on track.  She was also wearing her shorts hiked up like that SDSU girl last week.  I guess it’s a fashion thing.  Everyone else was in single digits scoring.  Basketball analysis isn’t my forte (neither is any other sport), but the only real standout postgame stat I saw was this: the Aggies had 19 turnovers and the Roadrunners got 18 points off those turnovers.  I have to think Brooke sitting out a significant amount of the game hurt the team.  Duh.  Her not being a factor for these last two games has definitely made it hard for the team.  I don’t know if she’s injured or sick or just being guarded better, but they need her to beat these better teams in the conference.