LAS CRUCES, N.M. – On a wild Friday of softball in Las Cruces, the NM State Aggies moved to 2-0 to open the 2023 campaign. The Aggies opened the season with a 7-4 over Colorado State before taking a thrilling nightcap 14-11 over Bradley.
 
Laurali Patane earned both a win and a save on Friday, factoring into both contests in the circle. At the plate, five different Aggies lifted home runs with freshman Devin Elam driving in four runs on the day.
 
GAME ONE | NM State 7 Colorado State 4 
Patane (1-0) did most of the damage from the circle for the Aggies, picking up her first win of the year after going 3.0 scoreless innings pitched while allowing a pair of hits and recording a strikeout. Junior college transfer Emily Dix came in and recorded her first action for NM State, earning the save after tossing a pair of shutout innings.
 
Colorado State deployed Giselle Bentley to start the second game of the day, going 3.1 innings while allowing three runs and picking up a strikeout. Danielle Serna (0-1) took the loss after giving up four hits,
 
FIRST INNING
Jordin King started off strong, racking up a strikeout to open the game, but Colorado State jumped on the sophomore afterwards, loading the bases and scoring a run after a wild pitch. Felicia De La Torre came in to relieve King, but the results were similar, with the Rams jumping out to a 4-0 lead before De La Torre retired the last two batters to end the top half of the inning.
Facing an early deficit, the Aggie offense needed to show up right away, and Jillian Taylor decided to take matters into her own hands. Picking up where she left off last season when she led the team in batting average, something and something, the junior from Spokane launched a solo shot to deep center field, putting NM State on the board (4-1).   
 
FOURTH INNING
Laurali Patane recorded a one-two-three inning, coming up with two outs herself to send things to the bottom half of the inning.
Riley Carley stepped up to the plate with one out, knocking a single through the air to left field,  putting a runner on the basepaths ahead of Paige Knight. The junior in her second season at NM State came up and smacked a deep shot to left field that just squeaked over the fence to make it a one-run ballgame (4-3).
 
FIFTH INNING
UT Arlington transfer Jessica Carreon started the bottom of the fifth inning with a bunt down the third base line, putting one aboard for Jillian Taylor. As she did the first two times she came up to bat, Taylor recorded her third hit of the afternoon, a line drive to right field that should've been a single, but advanced to second with a heady play on the basepaths. Graduate student and Preseason All-WAC Selection Kayla Bowen stepped up to the plate, lifting a ball to the left field wall, driving in Carreon and Taylor giving the Aggies a 5-4 lead, their first of the afternoon and first of the season. Paige Knight recorded her third hit of the afternoon, a single to drive in Kayla Bowen and grow the NM State lead 6-4.

SEVENTH INNING
After adding an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, the Aggies needed three outs to end the game and pick up their first win of the season. Emily Dix, a JUCO transfer from Yavapai College, was handed the ball and sent into the circle to try and complete the game. Dix made it look easy, taking down the heart of the Coloardo State lineup in quick succession, forcing a pair of flyouts and a groundout to end the game 7-4. She recorded a save for her efforts, posting a final statline of 2.0 innings pitched, with a pair of hits allowed and zero runs scored. 
 
GAME TWO | NM State 14 Bradley 11


FIRST INNING
Bowen once again got things going in the first inning, driving home Carreon with a single. Later in the inning, the Aggies used a double steal that saw Bowen swipe home to put NM State ahead by two (2-0).
 
THIRD INNING
The Aggies scored six runs in a monster third inning to blow the game wide open against the Braves. Bradley pushed a run across in the top of the inning before the Aggie offense caught fire. With the bases loaded, Kristen Boyd was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Elam's first career hit came in a big moment, driving in two runs with a single to center field. The following hitter, fellow freshman Kendal Lunar, roped her second double of the night to drive in another pair of runs. After Savannah Bejarno entered as a pinch runner, she immediately stole third base and scored on a throwing error by the Bradley catcher, giving the Aggies an 8-1 advantage.
 
FIFTH INNING
Bradley struck for five runs in the fifth inning to cut the NM State lead to just two. The Aggies managed to steal a run back in the bottom half of the inning, capitalizing on a throwing error by the Braves third baseman.

SIXTH INNING
After Bradley launched two solo home runs in the top half of the sixth inning and cut the NM State lead to one (9-8), the Aggie bats once again caught fire. Riley Carley led off the inning with a solo shot before Elam lifted a two-run blast to left field just two batters later. Following Lunar's third double of the night, UTEP transfer Kaylin Jackson ripped a pinch-hit two-run home run over the trees in right field. With three home runs in the sixth inning, the Aggies held a 14-8 lead and needed just three outs to move to 2-0 on the season.

SEVENTH INNING
Those three outs were anything but easy to come by as Bradley struck for three runs in the seventh. With a pair of runners in scoring position and the tying run at the plate, Coach Rodolph once again turned to Patane to close out the ballgame. Patane induced a pop up to Bowen at first base to earn a win and a save in the same day for the Aggies.

UP NEXT
The Aggies will return to the NM State Softball Complex on Saturday, Feb. 11, for a pair of games, starting with Bradley at 1:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Colorado State tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m. This will conclude the Aggies time at the NM State Invitational, but Bradley and Colorado State will go head to head on Sunday morning (10:00 a.m.) to close out the three-day tournament.
 
For complete coverage of NM State Softball, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Twitter (@NMStateSoftball), Instagram (@nmstatesoftball) and like us on Facebook (NM State Softball).