LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State softball hosts the 2018 Western Athletic Conference Softball Tournament on May 9-12. As the top seed overall, the Aggies earned a first-round bye and face the winner of the contest between fourth seeded Grand Canyon and fifth seeded CSU Bakersfield on May 10, at 10 a.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 this year's WAC Tournament on the WAC Digital Network as well as on Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV and Droid TV. Games may also be streamed on to Facebook Live.
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, NM State leads the league in batting average (.308), slugging percentage (.501), on base percentage (.388), triples (13), home runs (51) and hit by pitch (48). In the circle, the Aggies rank first in the Western Athletic Conference for batters struck out looking (69), saves (5) and walks allowed (79).
Individually, Horton ranks second in home runs (22) and homers per game (0.46) nationally. Horton also ranks first in the WAC with 46 runs scored and 135 total bases for her junior campaign. Glackin and Butler lead the league by getting hit by a pitch 14 times each. Glackin is also tied for first in the conference with five triples so far this seasons.
 LEAVING A LEGACY
The WAC regular-season title was on the line when NM State hosted Seattle U in the team's final conference series of the season. The Aggies fell 7-4 in the first contest and the team needed to win the final two games to take the title. In dominant fashion, New Mexico State defeated the Redhawks 9-1 in the first game of the doubleheader and 12-2 in the series finale to win its fourth-straight regular season title.
In the team's 12-2 victory, Horton hits a pair of home runs including a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the fifth. She finished the series with seven RBI. Analise De La Roca claimed her ninth victory in the circle when she went 3.2 innings and allowed two runs on two hits while striking out three. Samaria Diaz pitched 1.1 innings in relief struck out three SU while allowing a single hit.
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies fell 5-1 in their regular-season finale to then-ranked No. 8 Arizona State. Castro launched a solo homer over the centerfield fence for NM State's lone run of the contest. De La Roca fell to 9-4 with the loss as she pitched 4.0 innings and allowed four runs on six hits while striking out a pair of ASU batters. Diaz pitched 3.0 inning in relief and allowed one run on three hits while recording a pair of strikeouts.
COMING UP: TOURNAMENT TIME
The winner of Thursday's game advances to the semifinal round and plays on Friday at 1 p.m. The loser heads to an elimination game on Thursday at 4 p.m. The 2018 WAC Tournament champion is set to be crowned on Saturday, with the championship game taking place at 1 p.m.
