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Aggies go 1-1 in two nailbiters against USF and ACU to open Longhorn Invitational.
Source: NMSU Athletics
Story and Photo By Matthew Knope: Courtesy
AUSTIN – NM State Softball made its weekend debut at the Longhorn Invitational on Friday, taking on South Florida and Abilene Christian. The battle with the Bulls went well into extra innings, with the Aggies eventually falling in a one-run, 10-inning battle. In the finale, NM State clawed back from three separate deficits to win in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning. The split snapped a five-game losing streak and bumped the Crimson & White to 10-9 on the season.
GAME ONE | SOUTH FLORIDA 6, NM STATE 5 (10)
Jaileen Mancha earned the start in the circle for the Aggies, doing so for the second time in 2025. The Bulls got to work early with a walk and a double to left field that scored the weekend’s first run. However, Mancha quickly got out of the inning and watched her offense get to work.
In the home half of frame one, the Aggies took advantage of several Bull miscues to take a quick lead. A walk and a hit batter led up to Kristiana Watson loading the bases with a one-out single. Riley Carley reached safely on a fielder’s choice, scoring Faith Aragon before Devin Elam was thrown out heading into home. Two pitches later, Kenzie Nicholson reached on a throwing error that compounded on itself quickly with a poor throw home. Both Carley and Watson scored on the play as Nicholson found her way to third base. The frame ended with the Crimson & White ahead 3-1.
Two innings later, Watson wasted no time, sending the first pitch to left-center for a leadoff single. Two fielder’s choices and an error later, the bases were full again ahead of the Lunar sisters. Kayla sent her first pitch faced to deep center, scoring Watson on a sacrifice fly. In the next at-bat, Tamara Carranza extended her hitting streak to three games with an RBI single to score Carley. An ensuing strikeout closed out the inning with the Aggies in front 5-1.
Unfortunately for the NM State faithful, Kathy Rodolph‘s bunch would fail to plate a runner for the remainder of the contest, while South Florida posted five unanswered runs.
In the fifth frame, USF cut into its deficit with a grounder up the middle that produced an error and an interference call, scoring one run after review. Taryn Bennett relieved a starting Jaileen Mancha to start the sixth inning. Mancha finished the day with just one earned run across 5.0 innings and 23 batters faced. Another Bull came around to cross home in the frame after a double, walk and a single to the right side. Faith Aragon quickly came into the circle, getting out of the jam on just four pitches, utilizing a double play on a bunt.
A leadoff walk in the seventh inning was immediately followed by a pair of extra-base hits, tying the game with one out in the final regulation frame. Once again, Aragon worked out of the inning, this time doing so via strikeout.
Despite multiple threats from each side, neither team pulled ahead in the first two extra innings. Starting in the 10th frame, a runner was placed on second base to accelerate the contest. USF successfully bunted the runner to third base before scoring on a hard-hit single to left field two pitches later. A double play ended the stanza, prompting one final chance for the Aggie bats.
Payton Nicholson pinch ran at second base, making the 60-foot trek to third on a successful leadoff Riley Carley bunt. While Kenzie Nicholson’s ensuing bunt failed to score her younger sister, the junior advanced to first base on an infield hit, setting up runners at the corners with just one out. However, the opportunity vanished quickly on a pair of popups to second base, ending the contest at 6-5 in favor of South Florida.
GAME TWO | ABILENE CHRISTIAN 5, NM STATE 6
30 minutes later, NM State looked for a shot at redemption against Abilene Christian. Desirae Spearman earned starting honors in the circle, entering at 4-2. ACU struck first with a walk, error and stolen base placing two runners in scoring position with no outs. Two batters later, a single to left field plated both running Wildcats, granting them a 2-0 lead through half an inning.
Spearman joined Johnna Aragon, who earned the designated player distinction, with singles on back-to-back pitches, both advancing on a wild pitch. Kristiana Watson brought them both home with a two-RBI double, knotting the affair after one frame.
Two singles set up a sacrifice fly for ACU as Jo Koons’ group recaptured the lead mere minutes after the game was tied. Aside from two NM State drawn walks, neither offense mustered much production until the fifth inning, when the Aggies knotted the contest once more. Kenzie Nicholson was hit by a pitch to start the frame. Faith Aragon followed up by reaching base safely on an error that advanced Nicholson to third base. Johnna Aragon drove in her teammate from 60 feet away on a deep sacrifice fly to left field, drawing even at 3-3 through five full innings.
A single, walk and an error broke the tie yet again in the top half of inning six, before a foul out to left field serve as a sacrifice for ACU’s fifth run on the afternoon. After a quiet batting half, NM State sat the Wildcats down in order, bringing up a must-score seventh inning.
Kenzie Nicholson wasted no time, turning on the first pitch of the frame for a double to left-center field. Faith Aragon followed up with a hard-fought, six-pitch walk ahead of Desirae Spearman’s RBI double in the next at-bat. Aragon was brought home by her cousin on another sacrifice fly in the next at-bat; this time, to right field. After Kristiana Watson walked, Riley Carley stepped up to the plate with two outs. The sixth-year Aggie sent a 2-1 pitch up the left field line before the defense attempted to throw out Watson at third base. When that attempt failed, they rifled a throw to second to try to tag Carley out, but the toss sailed into center field. Watson trotted towards home plate for an unconventional game-sealing run that clinched a 6-5 victory and snapped a five-game losing skid.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- The Aggies now trail the series to South Florida by a score of 1-8, including a 1-4 mark in neutral bouts.
- NM State now leads the all-time series against Abilene Christian 5-1, standing at 1-0 in neutral games.
- In each of the first 13 games in which the Aggies scored this season, they hit at least one home run. Now, the Aggies have scored without tallying a four-bagger in five straight contests.
- After notching her first career hit against Florida last Saturday, Tamara Carranza extended her hitting streak to three games with an RBI-single in the third inning versus USF. The true freshman was in the flex spot against ACU, recording zero at-bats, thus maintaining her streak.
- At least one Aggie has recorded a multi-hit game in all but two games this season. Kristiana Watson tallied two versus USF and Desirae Spearman matched with a pair of her own against ACU.
- After striking out seven times in the opener, the Crimson & White bats did not go down on strikes against the Wildcats.
- Riley Carley’s single to end the game was the third walk-off hit for NM State this season. The first came against Kansas City on Feb. 8, with the last coming against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi on Feb. 16. Both hits clinched run-rule victories, making Friday’s game-ender the first true walk-off win of the season.
- Desirae Spearman failed to record a hit against the Bulls, snapping her career-best hitting streak at 10 games. The sophomore tallied two base knocks against ACU.
- NM State opened the first 12 games of the season with a .381 team batting average. Since then, that mark has dipped to .232 across the past seven contests.
- NM State entered the weekend averaging 6.47 runners left on base per game. On Friday, the Aggies stranded 16 runners, including 10 against USF.
UP NEXT
The Longhorn Invitational rolls on tomorrow from Red & Charline McCombs Field with two more games for NM State. The Crimson & White will battle Abilene Christian once again at 10:00 a.m. MT before taking on hosting Texas (No. 1) approximately 30 minutes later. The latter contest will be streamed live on SEC Network+, with both games available via StatBroadcast.
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).
