LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State softball takes on top competition at the Tempe Regional of the NCAA Softball Tournament this weekend. The Western Athletic Conference tournament champions face off against host and No. 8 overall seed Arizona State at Farrington Stadium on Friday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. MT.
GET CONNECTED
To stay connected with the softball team and catch all of the up-to-date information and breaking news, follow the Aggies on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, @NMStateSoftball.
WHERE TO WATCH
Fans can watch all the action from the Tempe Regional on WatchESPN.
ALL-WAC AND THEN SOME
Six Aggies received All-WAC honors including Kelsey Horton, who was named the WAC Player of the Year for a second-straight season. Nikki Butler, Fahren Glackin, Kayla Green, and Horton were named to the first team while Victoria Castro and Rachel Rodriguez received second team honors.
Horton joins elite company as she is the sixth WAC athlete and second NM State player to win a pair of WAC Player of the Year awards. New Mexico State graduate assistant coach Staci Rodriguez was the most recent two-time recipient of the accolade as she won the award in 2013 and 2015. This is also the sixth-straight season NM State has taken home the conference player of the year honor.
RANK IT UP
As a team, New Mexico State leads the WAC in slugging percentage (.516), on base percentage (.396), home runs (58) and hit by pitch (51). In the circle, the Aggies rank first in the league for batters struck out looking (71), saves (6) and walks allowed (85).
Individually, Horton ranks first in home runs (25) and homers per game (0.49) nationally. Horton also ranks first in the WAC with 52 runs scored and 152 total bases for her junior campaign. Butler leads the league by getting hit by a pitch 15 times this season. Glackin is tied for first in the conference with five triples so far this seasons.
HORTON HEARS A BOOM
Horton's junior campaign has been one for the record books. Not only does she hold the NM State single season record for home runs with 25, she has tallied 152 total bases, another single-season record for the Aggies. Both records were previously set by New Mexico State All-American Hoku Nohara in 2011. Horton also ranks second all-time in WAC history for home runs in a season and first in the bat-testing era.
BUILDING A DYNASTY
Following the regular season, NM State hosted the 2018 WAC Softball Tournament. The Aggies took down Grand Canyon 10-2 in a six inning run-rule victory before defeating UMKC 13-4 to advance to the championship. The final contest was a rematch against the Lopes and the New Mexico State squad slugged its way to a second-straight WAC tournament title with a 9-7 victory over GCU. Following the contest, Butler, Horton, Kennedy Johnson, and Rodriguez were named to the All-Tournament team with Horton receiving the coveted Most Valuable Player award.
SCOUTING THEÂ FIELD
Arizona State enters the tournament with a 43-11 overall record and a 16-8 record against Pacific-12 opponents. The team posts a 1.45 ERA and is hitting .282 for its 2018 campaign. The Sun Devils are led by Kindra Hackbarth, a second team All-Pac-12 selection, and Danielle Gibson, a first team All-Pac-12 honoree. Hackbarth led the team with a .363 batting average and 65 hits, while Gibson leads the Sun Devils in home runs (12), RBIs (39) and slugging percentage (.675). First team All-Pac-12 honoree G Juarez, a Top-10 Finalist for USA Softball's Player of the Year Award, leads ASU in the circle with 276 strikeouts, a 0.92 ERA and a .146 opponent batting average.
NM State and ASU have faced off twice this season, both resulted in losses for New Mexico State. In 3-0 loss at Farrington Stadium, Samaria Diaz threw a complete game and allowed just two earned runs on four hits while striking out a pair of Sun Devil batters. In the 5-1 loss at the NM State Softball Complex, Castro launched a solo homer over the centerfield fence for the Aggies lone run of the contest.
Also traveling to the Tempe Regional is Long Beach State, who finished second in the Big West with a 42-12 overall record and a 16-5 record in league play. The Beach holds a 2.27 team ERA and hit .308 as a squad. LBSU is led by Naomi Hernandez, who posts a .388 hitting clip that includes 18 doubles and four homers. Cielo Meza comes into the regional with a 22-4 record in the circle and a 1.48 ERA. In her 170.0 innings pitched, she's tallied a team-best 217 strikeouts.
Rounding out the field is the Ole Miss squad, who comes in at 30-23 on the season and 7-17 in Southeastern Conference play. As a team, the Rebels are batting .262 and hold a 2.70 team ERA. Elantra Cox posts a team-best .337 batting average that includes three doubles and three triples in her 169 at-bats. Kaitlin Lee holds a team-best 2.32 ERA and a 16-12 record in the circle. The senior has pitched 12 complete games so far, including a pair of shutouts.
COMING UP: TOURNAMENT TIME
The winner of Friday's contest takes on the winner of the game between Long Beach State and Ole Miss at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The losers of the two games face off at 5:30 p.m., on Saturday in an elimination contest.
