LAS CRUCES, N.M. – After 18 seasons in the WAC, highlighted by 6 regular-season and 4 tournament championships, the NM State Softball program will now call a new league home. On Wednesday, 21^st-year Head Coach Kathy Rodolph unveiled the 2024 spring schedule ahead of the team's first season in Conference USA.
 
The 48-game schedule features 28 home contests and 20 road games, with the Aggies set to partake in a pair of tournaments, along with hosting the 2024 Troy Cox Classic. In addition, NM State will play host to the 2024 CUSA Championship Softball Tournament, held May 8-11. 
 
In totality, the Aggies 2024 schedule contains games against six teams who made the NCAA Tournament in 2023 (Middle Tennessee, Nebraska, Seton Hall, Texas State, Liberty and Grand Canyon) along with games against Power 5 programs Ohio State, Arizona State, Texas Tech and Nebraska. 
 
The Aggies will kick off their 2024 season with a pair of contests against CAA member Monmouth on Friday, Feb. 9, followed by a two-game series against former WAC opponent Abilene Christian on Saturday, Feb. 10.
 
A yearly tradition at NM State, the Troy Cox Classic welcomes North Dakota, Sacramento State, Montana and Nebraska to Las Cruces beginning Friday, Feb. 16, and runs through Monday, Feb. 19. The Huskers are the only team to return from the 2023 edition of the Troy Cox Classic, going 5-1 in games against #4 Oklahoma State, Cal State Bakersfield, New Mexico and NM State.
 
Following the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, the Aggies travel to the Grand Canyon State to participate in the GCU/Arizona State Classic, held in Phoenix, Arizona from Thursday, Feb. 22 to Sunday, Feb. 25. The first road trip of the season pits NM State against familiar foes, as the Crimson & White will play games against tournament co-host GCU, Utah Valley, Ohio State, co-host Arizona State and 2023 NCAA Tournament participant Seton Hall.
 
NM State kicks off the month of March at Rocky Johnson Field in Lubbock, Texas for the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic, hosted by Texas Tech. The tournament beings Friday, March 1, and runs through Saturday, March 3, with the Aggies playing games against Merrimack, Texas State and Texas Tech. 
 
Kathy Rodolph's squad begins their 24-game conference slate in their first season in CUSA with a three-game home series against Western Kentucky from Thursday, March 7 through Saturday, March 9.
 
Familiar foes from the WAC will now clash as CUSA members as Sam Houston will host the Aggies. The three-game series will take place from Thursday, March 14 to Saturday, March 16. Last year, NM State defeated the Aggies in two of three meetings, but the Bearkats won the most recent game. 
 
UTEP will make the trip up north to Las Cruces for a three-game stint from Friday, March 22 to Sunday, March 24. The rivalry will be a Conference USA matchup for the first time. The I-10 rivals split the two-game season series in 2023, but NM State has dominated the series, coming away with a victory in 37 of the last 46 meetings.
 
The Aggies will follow up with a Tuesday, March 26 doubleheader with their I-25 rivals New Mexico, and will play the Lobos one additional time in Albuquerque on Tuesday, April 16. In last season's series, the Aggies and Lobos each won their home contests, but in recent years the rivalry has been all NM State. Since the 2014 season, the Crimson & White have compiled a 15-4 record against UNM. 
 
NM State will then welcome West Coast Conference member San Diego to Las Cruces for a three-game series starting on Friday, March 29, running through March 30. This will be just the second meeting all-time between the two programs, with the Toreros picking up a win over NM State in 2003. 
 
A three-game road series against Jax State begins the month of April for the Aggies, starting Friday, April 5 and continuing through April 6. This constitutes the first meeting all-time between the teams. 
 
For the third time since 2019, the University of Arizona Wildcats will travel to the City of Crosses for a Tuesday, April 9 doubleheader. This series represents the final non-conference home games for the 2024 campaign. 
 
FIU pays a visit to the NM State Softball Complex for a three-game series from Thursday, April 12 through April 14 for the first time since the 2005 season, when both programs were members of the Sun Belt Conference. In 2021, the teams met at The Spring Games in Clermont, Florida splitting a pair of games. 
 
Two of the newest members of Conference USA will meet on the softball diamond when Liberty hosts the Aggies in Lynchburg, Virginia from April 19 through April 21. Last season, the Lady Flames represented the ASUN Conference as the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament ahead of their move to CUSA. 
 
The final home series of the 2024 season commences Friday, April 26 when the Aggies play host to the LA Tech Bulldogs. The three-game series concludes with Senior Day on Sunday, April 28. 
 
The Aggies' only regular-season series in May is a three-game stint in Murfreesboro, Tennessee to take on Middle Tennessee. The games will run from Thursday, May 2 to May 4, closing out the regular season. The two programs last met in 2021 at The Spring Games in Leesburg, Florida, where each team won one game. 
 
The 2024 Conference USA Softball Tournament will be held in Las Cruces in the Aggies' first year as league members. The bracket will include six teams competing in a double-elimination format. The Championship Game will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2024 and will be a winner-take-all, single-elimination game. Last year, Middle Tennessee came into the CUSA Tournament as the #6 seed, knocking off #3 seed North Texas to earn the 2023 CUSA Tournament Championship. 

For complete coverage of NM State Softball during the 2024 season, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of the Aggies – and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Softball), Twitter (@NMStateSoftball) and Instagram (@NMStateSoftball).