CLERMONT, Fla. - The NM State softball squad (2-7) was able to get back in the win column Friday evening with a 4-3 victory over the Florida International Panthers (4-6) at The Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. The Aggies dropped Friday's opener to #12 Kentucky (11-0) by a score of 11-1.
The two preseason All-WAC nominees stole the show in the win against FIU, as redshirt freshman
Matalasi Faapito was phenomenal on the mound throwing a complete game while allowing just five hits and three earned runs. Faapito's preseason All-WAC counterpart, redshirt senior
Nikki Butler, got her bat going with a two-run home run in the third inning to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead. The Panthers would get one of their own in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Aggies responded with two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Freshman
Jayleen Burton started things off with a walk in the fifth inning before redshirt freshmen
Hailey Tanori and
Ramsay Lopez each recorded an infield hit to increase the Aggies' lead to three. The Panthers responded again in the bottom of the fifth with two more runs, but Faapito retired the final six batters to give the Aggies the win.
In the first game of the day against Kentucky, the Aggies struggled to get anything going offensively, as they recorded just three hits. Butler provided the only run of the game on a sacrifice fly to bring Tanori across.
The Aggies will be back in action tomorrow against Kentucky (2 p.m.) and FIU (4:30 p.m.) The games can be streamed live on FloSoftball with a paid subscription.
++NM State++
