INDIANAPOLIS - NM State, which won its second-straight WAC Tournament title after going 3-0 and beating Grand Canyon 9-7 in the championship game Saturday, will travel to the Tempe Regional for the NCAA Championship this Friday.
The Aggies (29-22) will face host and No. 8 overall seed Arizona State (43-11) at 6:30 p.m. (PT) this Friday, May 18. Long Beach State (42-12) will face Ole Miss (30-23) on the other side of the bracket in the double elimination regional.
The Aggies are led by two-time WAC Player of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP Kelsey Horton, who is batting .402 with a .927 slugging percentage, 25 home runs and 64 RBIs this season. All-WAC first team honoree and WAC Tournament Team selection Nikki Butler is second on the team in batting average (.382), has 11 home runs and 52 RBIs. NM State pitcher Kayla Green, also a first team All-WAC selection, is 14-8 on the season with a 3.58 ERA, 70 strikeouts and one save.
The Sun Devils are led by Kindra Hackbarth, a second team All-Pac-12 selection, and Danielle Gibson, a first team All-Pac-12 honoree. Hackbarth led the team with a .363 batting average and 65 hits, while Gibson leads the Sun Devils in home runs (12), RBIs (39) and slugging percentage (.675). First team All-Pac-12 honoree G Juarez, a Top-10 Finalist for USA Softball's Player of the Year Award, leads ASU in the circle with 276 strikeouts, a 0.92 ERA and a .146 opponent batting average.
The Aggies fell 3-0 and 5-1 to the Sun Devils this season.
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