2021 NM State Softball
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2021 NM State Softball 1815 Wells Street | Stan Fulton Athletic Center | Las Cruces, NM 88003 | @NMStatesoftball | • WAC Regular Season Champions: 2011, 2015, • NCAA Regionals: 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018 2016, 2017, 2018 • WAC Tournament Champions: 2011, 2015, 2017, 2018 DATE OPPONENT TIME Feb. 12 Middle Tennessee^ 0-3, L. NM State vs. Dixie State Feb. 12 Pittsburgh^ 6-3, W Feb. 15 Liberty^ 2-7, L Friday, Apr. 23 (Game One) Feb. 15 Liberty^ 2-11 (5 inn.), L 2 p.m. Feb. 19 #24 UCF 1-18 (5 inn.), L. WAC Digital Network Feb. 20 #24 UCF 2-11 (5 inn.) L. Feb. 21 #24 UCF 2-8, L. Karl Brooks Field | St. George, Utah Feb. 26 #12 Kentucky^ 1-11 (5 inn), L Feb. 26 FIU^ 4-3, W Friday, Apr. 23 (Game Two) Feb. 27 #12 Kentucky^ 1-10 (5 inn.) L 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game One Feb. 27 FIU^ 5-11, L WAC Digital Network Feb. 28 Stetson^ 5-3 (8 inn.) W Karl Brooks Field | St. George, Utah NM State Dixie State Mar. 3 #5 Florida 2-6, L 21-18 (6-3) Mar. 5 Central Michigan^ 3-1, W Saturday, Apr. 24 (Game Three) 18-21 (6-6) Mar. 5 North Dakota^ 4-1 (8 inn.), W WAC 1 p.m. WAC Mar. 6 Florida Gulf Coast^ 2-1 (9 inn), W Mar. 6 Middle Tennessee^ 4-2, W WAC Digital Network Mar. 7 South Dakota^ 2-1, W Karl Brooks Field | St. George, Utah Mar. 7 Toledo^ 4-2 (8 inn), W Mar. 10 USF 3-4, L Mar. 10 USF 3-4 (12 inn.), L Mar. 19 Idaho State! 12-13 (9 inn.), L Mar. 19 Southern Utah! 10-0 (5 inn), W Notes Mar. 20 Southern Utah! 6-3, W Mar. 20 Idaho State! 15-2 (5 inn.), W First Pitch Mar. 21 Idaho State! 9-1 (5 inn.), W The first-place Aggies are back in action this weekend, as they take on Dixie State at the Mar. 23 Portland State 3-2, W Karl Brooks Field in St. George, Utah. Friday’s doubleheader will begin at 2 p.m. with the Mar. 23 Portland State 5-4, W Mar. 26 Seattle U* 4-6, L series finale beginning at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Mar. 26 Seattle U* 1-4, L. Mar. 27 Seattle U* 6-5, W Where to Watch Apr. 2 Grand Canyon* 6-8, L All three games will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network. Apr. 2 Grand Canyon* 8-6, W Apr. 3 Grand Canyon* 8-1, W Apr. 9 Team Mexico# 5-6, L. Returning Home Apr. 9 #8 Arizona 5-11, L. The Aggies returned home on Apr. 2, as they played their first game at the NM State Apr. 10 Team Mexico# 5-12, L Softball Complex in 387 days. The Aggies played 21 games to start the season in the Apr. 10 #8 Arizona 0-8, L. state of Florida due to the restrictions by the state of New Mexico which prohibited Apr. 16 Tarleton State* 8-0 (5 inn.), W. Apr. 16 Tarleton State* 2-0,, W games being played within the state. Once the Aggies returned, they were right back Apr. 17 Tarleton State* 13-3 (5 inn.), W . on the road again for a five game road trip in the Pacific Northwest. The Aggies had just Apr. 23 Dixie State* 2 p.m. three series scheduled at the NM State Softball Complex this season. So far this season, Apr. 23 Dixie State* 4:30 p.m. the Aggies are 5-1 at the NM State Softball Complex. Apr. 24 Dixie State* 1 p.m. Apr. 30 Utah Valley* 3 p.m. Apr. 30 Utah Valley* 5:30 p.m. Faapito Makes History May 1 Utah Valley* 1 p.m. Matalasi Faapiot sketched her name into the record books last Friday against Tarleton May 7 California Baptist* 6 p.m. State, as she threw the first no-hitter by an Aggie since May 20, 2011. Faapito was the May 7 California Baptist* 8:30 p.m. first Aggie to do so since Alex Newman. Faapito allowed just two base runners. She May 8 California Baptist* 1 p.m. May 13-15 WAC Tournament* TBA struck out five batters as well. Bold Denotes Home Game On Top of the WAC * Western Athletic Conference Game With three weeks remaining in the regular season, NM State is currently tied at the top ! GCU Invitational (Phoenix, Ariz) of the WAC standings with Seattle U. Both teams hold a 6-3 record in the conference. # Exhibition ^The Spring Games (Leesburg, Fla., Clermont, Fla.) The Redhawks hold a 2-1 advantage against the Aggies this season. The Redhawks end All Times Mountain the regular season with series against Tarleton State, Dixie State and Grand Canyon. Dates And Times Subject To Change The Aggies round out the season with Dixie State, Utah Valley and California Baptist. WAC Standings The WAC Tournament begins on May 13 in Seattle, Wash. WAC Overall NM State 6-3 21-18 Going Through the Gauntlet Seattle U 6-3 19-17 The NM State Aggies faced one of the toughest starts in program history. In the first 13 GCU 5-4 16-23 games, the Aggies faced a nationally-ranked opponent in six of those games. This is the Dixie State 6-6 18-21 only time in program history that the Aggies will have played six games against nation- Utah Valley 5-7 19-21 ally-ranked opponents in its first 13 games of the year. In 2018, the Aggies opened up Cal Baptist 5-7 17-25-1 Tarleton 3-6 14-28 the season with five ranked opponents in its first 12 games. Dixie State @NMStateSoftball Preseason WAC Coaches’ Poll NotesNotes (cont.) Rank Teams (1st-Place Votes) Points 1. Seattle U (4) 32 The Aggies also took on No. 8 Arizona on Apr. 9-10. The Aggies dropped both 2. NM State (3) 31 games to the Wildcats. 3. Utah Valley 25 4. California Baptist 20 Late Inning Magic 5. Grand Canyon 19 The Aggies have played a staggering seven extra inning contests so far in 2021 and 6. Dixie State 12 are 4-3 in those games. The Aggies have had three walk-off wins this season. The 7. Tarleton 8 Aggies’ most recent walk-off victory came on Apr. 2 against Grand Canyon when Maya Martinez hit a three-run home run with two outs to give the Aggies the 8-6 Preseason All-WAC Team win. The Aggies are 12-5 in games decided by two runs or less this season. Player School Heating Up Carissa Burgess Dixie State Associate head coach Cat Heifner has the Aggie bats rolling in WAC play. In con- Nikki Butler NM State ference play, the Aggies are hitting .314 as a team. The Aggies have smacked 12 home runs and 50 RBIs while scoring 56 runs in nine conference games. Matalasi Georgia Capell Tarleton Faapito, Brianna Gallegos, Gabby Aragon and Nikki Butler are all hitting above .400 Madison Cathcart Seattle U in conference play. Ally Choate Seattle U Devyn Cretz Utah Valley Faapito and Butler Sweep WAC Player of the Week Awards Destiny Crumpley Tarleton Redshirt freshman Matalasi Faapito and redshirt senior Nikki Butler were awarded Ryan Denhart Grand Canyon the WAC Pitcher of the Week and the WAC Hitter of the Week on Monday morning. Kaylee Dietrich Grand Canyon This is the first time each individual has won either award this season. Butler and Abby Doughty Utah Valley Faapito are the second Aggie duo to be honored by the WAC this season, as Felicia Matalasi Faapito NM State De La Torre and Hailey Tanori were named WAC Pitcher of the Week and WAC Hitter Brittany Galvez Cal. Baptist of the Week on Mar. 22. Hannah Hughbanks Dixie State Faapito was the star of the weekend in the circle, as she tossed the first Aggie Katelyn Mangrello Cal. Baptist no-hitter in a decade on Friday against Tarleton State. Faapito allowed just two base runners in the Aggies’ 8-0 win. Faapito got the nod again on Saturday and had another solid performance in the Aggies’ 13-3 win. She pitched five innings and allowed just two earned runs while striking out five Texan batters. Faapito ended the weekend 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA. She struck out 10 total batters and surrendered just one walk. Butler had her best game of the season on Friday, as she entertained the home crowd with two home runs in game one of the weekend series. Butler hit a two-run home run in the third inning to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead. In her next at bat, Butler drove the pitch deep to left field for her first grand slam of the year. Butler hit .571 on the weekend with seven RBIs. She had an on-base percentage of .600 and a slugging percentage of 1.429. Tanori and De La Torre Win WAC Player of the Week Awards Hailey Tanori and Felicia De La Torre swept the WAC Hitter of the Week and Pitcher of the Week awards for their performances the WAC announced on Mar. 22. Tanori and De La Torre are the first Aggies to win either award this season and are the first to win either award since Nikki Butler won Hitter of the Week on Feb. 24, 2020. Tanori led an offensive attack that scored 52 runs in five games at the GCU Invita- tional.