With the Conference USA Softball Tournament around the corner, the name of the game will soon change to simply survive and advance. However, it was time for the Aggies to take care of business against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in their final home series of the season. Especially as the Aggies find themselves clinging to postseason softball on shaky ground in the 7th seed.
The first game on Friday started with Desirae Spearman on the mound to get that much closer to the postseason if everything went right. Unfortunately, it turned into a pitch and defensive duel, with neither team scoring in the first two innings as Leila Ammon silenced the Aggies bats.
It was the Aggies that blinked first, with Middle Tennessee scoring the first runs of the game courtesy of Addy Edgmon and Macie Harter. The Aggies continued to have no response all game and things just got worse with one more run in the fifth inning ending Spearman’s Day.
The sixth inning was when things finally turned around for the Aggies. The Aggies won their Friday matchup 5-2.
Saturday was senior day, which meant winning was basically mandatory as senior Jaileen Mancha was on the mound, and the Aggies played like it. Three shutout innings for Aragon started the game and the bats gave her support with a third inning score off an error. Before MTSU finally responded with a run scored from Jana Want’s home run that started the punch, counter punch exchange.
The Aggies answered back with a hit run in the fourth as Nicholson completed a home run., MTSU scored again in the fifth to end Mancha’s day as Aragon came in for another relief effort before the Aggies ended Tori Coffman’s day for the Blue Raiders Aragon shut down MTSU in the sixth, with one more run followed by a shutout seventh that gave the Aggies a 2-0 series lead in dramatic fashion.
Sunday saw Spearman on the mound again with one thing on the minds of fans – a sweep. The team took care of business right away, with Spearman showing her dual threat capabilities with a home run in the first inning. She continued a shutout performance through four innings and on the other end the Aggies had figured out Ammon.
The Aggies continued the streak into the third courtesy of another Carley home run, followed by three more in the fourth inning scored through small ball base hits and a sacrifice fly. After bringing the score to 6-0, the Blue Raiders were forced to tap out and bring Mary Martinez to the mound for any hope of catching up.
However, they could only muster one run in the fifth inning before the Aggies had the opportunity to end Spearman’s Day via mercy rule. That’s when freshman Tamara Carranza stepped up. This was something that Carranza spoke about following the game.
“We definitely went into the inning like ‘someone just hit it out, let’s end the game,’” Carranza said. “But I was honestly just trying to get a hit because I didn’t have the best weekend at the plate, but I felt better at the plate today. So, I did feel kind of confident with [Mary Martinez (MTSU)], but I also hadn’t seen her, so I was thinking ‘we’ll see how this goes.’”
It couldn’t have gone better for Carranza. With one swing she got her first memorable moment as an Aggie with a walk off, two-run home run over the left field wall that got the sweep for NMSU.
“As soon as I hit it, I was thinking ‘oh, I barreled that up, I’m good,’ It’s awesome,” she said before reflecting on her first season in Las Cruces. “It’s been so fun, and I think it’s been great to be with all these girls. They’re all great people and the coaching staff is great, so I’ve had a lot of fun.”
As for coach Kathy Rudolph, she shared what went right this weekend for the team as the season comes to an end.
“I think that they’re seeing themselves as hitters again and they’re seeing the possibilities of what can be done and taking what is coming to them in the game,” she said. “It was a total team effort. You look at defense, you look at offense, you look at pitching. I told them that if we just played, we could go into the tournament as the hottest team.”
In terms of the quickly approaching postseason, Coach Rudolph maintained her optimism.
“I believe during a season, there’s ups and downs and depending on when the down happens, [it] dictates really what this season is going to be about,” she said. “If we really challenge ourselves to stay present and play pitch by pitch, I think we’ll look up at the end of the game and be pleased with the outcome of it.”
With only one more series before tournament play begins, there’s no better time for the team to take heed of the coach’s words and challenge themselves to give themselves a chance at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Softball Tournament.
