 "Photo:")
By David Sanders
Sports Reporter
The New Mexico State softball team defeated Western New Mexico in both games of their doubleheader on Tuesday.
The Aggies (27-25, 6-9 in the Western Athletic Conference play) are gearing up to take on Utah State (17-21, 5-10 in the WAC) this weekend in a three-game series, where the Aggies hope to take third place in the WAC standings.
Utah State is coming off of three losses to Hawaii, who is currently ranked number one in the WAC. Utah and NMSU have not yet played this season, but last year the UtAgs won two of the three games played between the teams.
The series is important because NMSU, Nevada, San Jose State, and Utah State are all still in the running for the third-place position among the WAC teams.
The Aggies are coming into the series with some momentum, having won their last three games. In their games against Western New Mexico on Tuesday, the Aggies shutout the Mustangs with scores of 10-0 and 4-0.
"We had good pitching, and we did a good job defensively," Assistant Aggie Coach Catherine Heifner said. "We did what we needed to do to win the game."
In the first game, the Mustangs were unable to deal with NMSU's pitcher, sophomore Kim Watson. Watson allowed only one hit in the first game and struck out six players.
The Aggies scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Junior Ashley Roszkos hit a homer to drive in three runs, which tied the all-time career RBI record at New Mexico State.
The fourth inning was particularly brutal for Western New Mexico. In the bottom of the inning, sophomore Kristi Hanan hit a second three-run homer for the Aggies. Sophomore Rishelle Gastelum drove in a RBI with a single shortly thereafter, and NMSU then loaded the bases and scored on a sacrifice fly by junior Ashley Frisby.
After errors and a walk gave the Aggies another run, Hanan drove in another, getting her fourth run of the inning, and bringing the Aggies their last runs of the game. With the ten-run lead still intact, the game was called on account of the run-rule.
The next game played out largely like the first, with the Mustangs unable to score off the Aggies pitching. The first score of the game was in the bottom of the third, when sophomore Kristy Randall put the Aggies on the board with a RBI single.
Roszkos broke the RBI record in the sixth inning with a solo home run, putting the Aggies up 2-0.
Junior Colleen Kimbro then drove in a run. Gastelum scored off of a sacrifice fly from freshman Tiffany Autry, giving the Aggies a 4-0 lead that the Mustangs were unable to overcome.
NMSU will host Utah State in a three-game series in Las Cruces, beginning on Friday, May 4, at 6 p.m. The second and third games of the series will be held Saturday, at 1p.m. and 3 p.m.
Be the first to comment on this article!