Thirteen-Inning Thriller Caps Off Regular Season

KENNESAW, Georgia (KVIA) -- It took nearly twice as long as the scheduled allotment, but NM State Softball won by a score of 5-4 over Kennesaw State on Sunday. The series and regular-season finale lasted 13 innings, with Desirae Spearman driving in the winning run on an RBI double. The visitors improved to 27-25 overall and finished Conference USA play with a 14-13 mark, securing their fifth league series win. 

With the win, NM State locked up the No. 5 seed in next week’s CUSA Championship at the WKU Softball Complex in Bowling Green, Ky. On Wednesday, May 10, the Aggies will face off against LA Tech at 1:30 p.m. MT (2:30 p.m. local).

HOW IT HAPPENED

A 1-2-3 opening to the day brought Faith Aragon into the circle for Head Coach Kathy Rodolph as the sophomore made her 18^th start of the season. After the leadoff Owl reached on an error, a pair of hits brought two home baserunners around to score. 

Trailing 2-0, Kristiana Watson stepped into the batters’ box to lead off inning two. The first baseman made the most of her first at-bat on Sunday, drilling a one-strike pitch over the wall in left field. Watson’s 14^th home run of her campaign cut the deficit in half at 2-1. 

In the bottom of the third, Rodolph opted to bring Desirae Spearman in from center field, swapping the El Paso, Texas, native in for her two-way star counterpart. The second-year Aggie held the Owls scoreless across three innings of work, allowing just one hit and punching out six batters. 

Following two straight looking strikeouts to end the third, Watson headed back to the plate with one away in the fourth. The first-year Aggie tied up the affair with a solo shot just inside the foul pole along the left line, tallying her 15^th blast of 2025. 

In the fifth, fellow Tucson, Ariz., native Riley Carley got in on the action as well. After Spearman earned her third walk of the game, the right fielder belted a 1-1 pitch to the same location from Watson’s drive an inning prior. In Carley’s 199^thcareer game and her final regular-season contest, she picked up her fourth blast of the season and number 33 of her career.

With one out and a runner on, Kennesaw State tied the contest with one swing, unleashing a home run to center field to end the sixth inning at four runs apiece. Zantelle Rodriguez entered after the four-bagger, recording two outs to exit the inning, including a punchout. 

Both teams sent one batter to the basepaths in the seventh, but each offense ultimately went down quietly, queuing the Aggies’ fourth extra-inning contest of the season. 

Neither squad showed promise in the eighth as Rodriguez tallied a second strikeout and a pair of one-pitch outs, returning to the dugout in just six pitches. In inning nine, a leadoff single preceded Aragon returning to the circle for the first time in over two hours. 

Back-to-back ensuing hits loaded the bases with no outs on the board. The cousin of the pitcher, Johnna Aragon, picked up a ground ball, tossing it to home plate for the first out. After Kendal Lunar caught the second out on a popup, Payton Nicholson made a sprinting grab in her third appearance at second base to extend the affair into the 10^th inning.

After both offense tallied a hit apiece in the 10^th, the Aggies entered new territory, reaching their first 11-inning game of the season. Each pitcher remained hot through the 12^th, as Skye Johnson’s pinch-hit double was not capitalized on. 

Finally, in the 13^th inning, Faith Aragon reached on a five-pitch walk before advancing on a wild pitch. On a 3-1 count, Desirae Spearman (No. 13), sent a double to left-center field that brought Aragon 120 feet home to score. The squads changed sides shortly after and Aragon tallied two more punchouts as the Owls’ season ended with a 1-2-3 inning. 

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• NM State finished in fifth place in the CUSA standings at 14-13, deadlocked with Sam Houston (14-13), but holding the head-to-head tiebreaker due to a sweep over the Bearkats in late March. 
• The win was the team’s fifth in true road contests this season, vaulting to 5-14.
• Sunday’s contest was the third in the all-time series between Kennesaw State and NM State, making the Aggies 2-1 against the Owls.
• The Aggies have scored five or more runs in five of their last six contests, winning each time. 
• NM State jumped to 9-4 on Saturday this year, including a 5-3 mark in CUSA play.

·       With the win, Head Coach Kathy Rodolph secured her 14^th campaign with a conference record of .500 or better as NM State finished the regular season at 14-13 and fifth in CUSA play.

·       In the seventh inning, Zantelle Rodriguez recorded her second collegiate at-bat.

·       Taryn Bennett made her first pinch running appearance of the season, coming in to replace Taylor Nicholson after being hit by a pitch. 

·       Joleeanna Hair tallied the third stolen base of her young career with a swipe in the sixth inning.

·       Kristiana Watson notched her first-ever two-home run game, doing so on back-to-back at-bats in the second and fourth frames.

·       The first-year Aggie tallied her seventh three-hit game and her 14^th multi-knock outing of the season. 

·       Watson’s two-RBI game was her 11^th outing with multiple runs driven in as an Aggie.

·       Riley Carley’s two-hit day was her seventh of 2025. Her two-run blast secured the fifth multi-RBI showing of her campaign.

·       Four pitchers entered the circle for NM State, utilizing all but one on the roster. Faith Aragon, Desirae Spearman, Taryn Bennett and Zantelle Rodriguez all recorded outs on Sunday.

·       Desirae Spearman was walked four times on Sunday, matching a season and career high. 

·       The sophomore standout was granted seven free trips over the weekend, driving her incredible season total to 53.

·       Last season, Spearman led the team with 21 free bases on balls.

FROM THE FIELD

Redshirt junior first baseman Kristiana Watson, on her two-home run game: “I was just feeling all the confidence in the world. I didn’t have the best couple of games on Friday and Saturday, but at that point it didn’t matter. Today was a new day. I was feeling really good with my swing and I was seeing the ball well. I feel like we just have a lot of fight in us. We used almost everybody on the team today at different times. We were all able to come through at different times and there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to come out on top.”

UP NEXT

The Aggies will venture to Bowling Green, Ky., in the next 24 hours to prepare for the CUSA Championship. NM State secured the No. 5 seed in the six-team tournament and will face LA Tech in the first round on Wednesday, May 7. First pitch against the Bulldogs is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MT (2:30 p.m. local). The first three days of action will be streamed live on ESPN+ before Saturday’s title game is broadcast on CBS Sports Network. All 10 games over the four-day span will also be available to follow via StatBroadcast.