SAN MARCOS, Texas – After dropping the first three games of the 1-35 tournament, NM State Softball (5-4, 0-0 WAC) was able to rebound on days two and three with back-to-back wins concluding with a 4-0 shutout on Sunday versus Texas State (6-4, 0-0 SBC).
 
Aydenne Brown was back in the circle for the Aggies after pitching 12.1 innings with 21 strikeouts her previous two outings. This dominance continued into Sundays action as she threw four innings of perfect softball before walking a batter and giving up a double in the fifth. She also added five more strikeouts to her mix giving her a whopping 26 for the weekend.
 
Emily Dix took over for Brown in the fifth inning looking to keep the Aggie shutout intact. In 2.1 innings of work, Dix managed to only allow one hit and no runs down the stretch and recorded her second save of the season.
 
Paige Knight and Kristen Boyd combined to score all four of the Aggies runs in San Marcos Sunday, each driving in a pair. Knight drove in her pair with a sac fly in the first and RBI single up the middle in the fourth. Boyd also had a sac fly in the first to drive in the Aggies second run of the game and hit a homerun to dead center in the sixth to give the Aggies their fourth run of the ball game.
 
Second Inning
A pair of sac flies gave the Aggies a 2-0 lead in the second inning after the first three batters reached base safely. Kristen Boyd drove in Kayla Bowen from third with a fly out to right field and Paige Knight drove in Jayleen Burton from third with a fly out to left field.
 
After retiring the side in order in the first, adding two more strikeouts in the process, Aydenne Brown stepped in the circle for another inning of work. Brown got the first two batters to lineout and fly out, striking out the third batter to wrap up another clean inning for the first year Aggie.
 
Fourth Inning
With two outs in the top half of the inning, Hannah Lindsay reached base with a single to center field, hoping to spark a two-out rally in the fourth. The next batter, Kristen Boyd was struck by a pitch which put two runners on base with two outs in the inning. Back to the top of the order, Paige Knight was looking to drive in the runner from second and did so successfully with a single up the middle to extend the Aggie lead to three runs.
 
Still not having allowed a single Bobcat batter to reach base, Aydenne brown returned to the circle looking to continue her dominance over this Texas State lineup. With some help from her defense, Brown got through another inning of work without allowing a baserunner and was now pushing the envelope of history.
 
Fifth Inning
Aydenne Brown’s day finally came to an end in the fifth after allowing two walks and a double putting two runners in scoring position. Brown had gone the previous 4.2 innings without allowing a hit and didn’t allow a single baserunner until the fifth inning. She finished by adding five more strikeouts to her weekend total giving her 26 in her three outings.
 
Sixth Inning
Heading into the sixth, the Aggies were looking to add to their three-run lead and tack on some insurance, especially after the performance their starter gave them in the circle. Kristen Boyd did just that when she sent a high fly ball into center field that carried over the fence for a two-out solo home run giving the Aggies a 4-0 advantage.
 
Up Next
The Aggies will return to Las Cruces next weekend for the annual Troy Cox Classic where they will welcome #5 Oklahoma State, Nebraska (receiving votes), Creighton, New Mexico and CSU Bakersfield to the NM State Softball Complex. Action begins Friday morning with the Lobos taking on the #5 ranked Cowgirls and concludes with an Aggie double header starting at 4:30 pm.