New Mexico State University Athletics

Staci Rodriguez enters her second season as a graduate assistant with the softball program. The Paramount, Calif., native joined the coaching staff after leaving her mark across the New Mexico State softball record books as a player.

Rodriguez was an outstanding player for the Aggies as she consistently since her freshman year, primarily in the outfield. As a sophomore, she led the team with a .780 slugging percentage and 20 home runs. Those 20 bombs led the WAC, placed her 10th in the nation and second in the NM State Record Book. She posted three homers against Siena College, the most hit by any Aggie player in a game until Kelsey Horton tied the record in 2017. Her .357 hitting clip was good for second on the team and fifth in the conference. In her 60 hits on the season, Rodriguez tallied 63 RBI. Rodriguez was named WAC Player of the Year, Hitter of the Week three times and received WAC All-Academic honors. She was also recognized as a Player of the Week by ESPNW College Softball Notebook.

During her junior season, Rodriguez went 58-for-146 with 45 RBI and a WAC-leading 15 home runs to finish the year with a .397 batting average. Rodriguez reached base 37 consecutive times to lead the team and finished the season with 20 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games. Rodriguez was named WAC Player of the Week two times during the 2014 season and was also placed on the All-WAC second team. She was also named to the NFCA All-Region for the second straight year.

Rodriguez started all 63 games in center field during the final year of her storied NM State career.  She led the team in batting average (.401), on-base percentage (.529), runs scored (73), walks (49) and was tied for the team lead in doubles (16).  She was also second in slugging percentage (.763), hits (71), RBIs (58) and home runs (16).  Her 73 runs scored broke the Aggie record for runs scored in a season and upped her career total to 194 runs scored, which was also a new team record. Rodriguez also became only the second player in NM State softball history to reach 50 home runs in a career, netting her 50th in Seattle off of a grand slam. She finished her career with 56 total homers, second all-time in program history. Rodriguez also finished her career second on the all-time RBIs list with 192, second in career slugging percentage (.694) and second in career on-base percentage (.467). She finished with a career .351 batting average.

At the conclusion of the WAC regular season, Rodriguez was named the 2015 WAC Player of the Year, her second Player of the Year award. She was also named to the All-WAC first team, marking her third-straight year on an All-WAC team. It was also the third-consecutive time on an NFCA All-Region team as she was a third-team member for the second-straight year. Among other accolades, Rodriguez was part of the WAC All-Tournament team and picked up a WAC Hitter of the Week honor as she finished her career with six such awards.