Four Aggies Belt Home Runs in Victory over Bearkats

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – On Friday, NM State Softball returned to the City of Crosses for the first of a three-game series against Sam Houston. For the third time in the past three contests, Desirae Spearman tossed a complete game, earning her ninth win of the season. The sophomore also blasted her 16^th home run of the campaign as the Aggie unit belted four altogether, including three in the fourth inning. Riley Carley added her first four-bagger of the season in the fourth frame, notching her 30^th long ball as a member of the Crimson & White.

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HOW IT HAPPENED
An uneventful first inning brought the Bearkats to bat in the second, scoring a pair of runs to open the contest. A one-out single was subsequently followed by a home run just over the outstretched glove of Devin Elam. 

In the ensuing frame, NM State cut the lead in half with a single from Riley Carley. The right-field shot scored Payton Nicholson, who entered to pinch run after a leadoff hit from Lauren Garcia. 

The visitors expanded their lead in the next top half, doing so with a two-RBI single. Starting pitcher Desirae Spearman would then do her part to chip into the lead in the home half. 

The sophomore led off the Aggie bats with a walk, before Lauren Garcia did the same with two outs. With a pair of teammates aboard, Tamara Carranza waltzed to the plate. The red-hot hitter continued her impressive stretch, belting a 2-2 pitch well over the wall in left field, knotting the affair at 4-4.

An 11-pitch top of the fourth interrupted a truly dominant 20-minute stretch for Kathy Rodolph‘s offense as the home side got back to work in the bottom half. On just the second pitch of the inning, Riley Carley sent it back where it came from and over the center-field wall. Carley’s first home run of the season pushed her side ahead 5-4 and later proved to be the winning run.

After Kayla Lunar drew a four-pitch walk, Spearman was offered a pitch she could not resist. The sophomore had faced 11 balls to open the contest, but swung on a 3-1 pitch that sailed into the outfield batting cages, scoring two more Aggie runs.

Just two pitches later, Devin Elam joined in on the action, sending a 1-0 offering out of the park to left-center, expanding the lead to 8-4 with her third home run of the season. 

In the fifth, Sam Houston showed life with a pair of hits and a walk, but a runner was thrown out at home on the second successful connection between the Lunar sisters of the day. Another walk would extend the threat, but Spearman escaped via a smooth putout from Tamara Carranza to Kristiana Watson at first base.

Faith Aragon led off the fifth inning and reached via an error, but each of the final six Aggies on the evening were retired in order. 

Sam Houston went down quietly as well in the sixth, but showed more life in the seventh. After two walks, a one-out single loaded the bases and sent the tying run to the plate. A popup to Kendal Lunar brought the home fans one out away from exiting happy. Spearman, closing out her 20^th straight inning pitched for the Crimson & White, emptied the tank on a three-pitch swinging strikeout that gave her side a win and completed her third straight complete game.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• NM State now sits tied with Sam Houston at 6-4 in league play, tying the pair for fourth place in CUSA. 
• With four home runs, NM State set its second-best mark of the year and a new high in league play, only falling short of five home runs hit against UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 8.
• Riley Carley’s fourth-inning solo home run was the outfielder’s first of the season and the 30^th of her career.
• Tamara Carranza continued her hot streak by blasting a fourth-inning solo home run for her third of the season; all of which have come in the past four contests.
• The true freshman has 10 of her 15 career hits in the past six games and has hit .500 over the span.
• Before CUSA play, Carranza was batting .167 without a career home run. Now, the freshman is batting .283 after a four-game span in which she tallied her first three four-baggers.
• The third-inning solo home run was Desirae Spearman’s 16^th of the season, marking her fourth straight outing with a blast and widening her lead on the rest of the conference.
• Devin Elam rounded out the scoring with a solo home run in the fourth inning, marking her third of the season and 11^th of her career.
• NM State improved to 10-3 all-time in matchups with the Bearkats, including a 5-2 mark in Las Cruces.
• Allowing just four runs on seven hits on Friday, the Aggies climbed to 17-3 when holding opponents to five or fewer runs this season. 
• Desirae Spearman still holds the longest active hitting streak on the team, recording a knock in eight straight games and reaching base safely in nine straight. 
• The two-way star was also walked twice, marking 32 free bases for Spearman this season. 
• Entering this weekend, only five other student-athletes in all of Division I had more than 30 walks. Last year, she led the team with 21 bases on balls.

FROM THE FIELD
Head Coach Kathy Rodolph, on the win: “Well, I feel like we definitely cleaned up our defense tonight. Desirae [Spearman] did a great job of holding things down with a lot of pressure in the circle, and I have challenged us hard to start really taking what the game requires of us with runners in scoring position. I don’t know how many runners we stranded tonight, but we were way more aggressive and assertive. Our team can produce offensive explosions, because we’re built that way. Today, we took advantage of an opportunity to play and show how much work we put in offensively in practice.”

Senior outfielder Riley Carley, on her 30^th career home run with NM State: “Honestly, it made me really emotional. It’s kind of a big deal to me. Obviously I haven’t hit as many home runs this year as I have in the past, but I haven’t thought about it too much. When it happened today, I felt really proud, though. I felt the love from the team and I think that meant the most to me. No matter the outcome of my senior year, I think that’s the most important thing to me. That’s what I’ll leave with. At the end of the day, stats are great and they look good on paper, but my teammates mean so much more to me. I’m very thankful for them.”

UP NEXT
The Aggies and Bearkats will meet again tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., MT. The home team has its eyes on a third CUSA series win its fifth straight wins over Sam Houston, while the Bearkats aim to even the tally at one game apiece. All the action will be broadcast on 91.5 FM KRUX and available to follow via nmstatesports.com.

For complete coverage of NM State Softball during the 2025 season, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of the Aggies – and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Softball), Twitter (@NMStateSoftball) and Instagram (@NMStateSoftball).