New Mexico State softball looks to rebound from a rare down year

LAS CRUCES - New Mexico State softball was picked 10th in this year's Western Athletic Conference preseason poll by league coaches.

The Aggies were 13-38 last season and 6-18 in conference play, but Aggies longtime coach Kathy Rudolph believes last year to be an outlier.

"Coaches voted us 10th after having one bad year last year, so I'm just letting one game at a time, our game talk for itself," Rodolph said.

The Aggies started the season 11-7 entering this week's road trip that included a doubleheader at Arizona before traveling to Utah Valley to open WAC play with a three game series this weekend.

Utah Valley enters league play with a 6-14 record.

"Last year we played them at home and there were 70 runs scored in the three-game series," Rodolph said. "I think we are much stronger in the circle than we were last year."

The Aggies added three junior college transfer pitchers with Aydenne Brown off to a 6-2 start in the circle. Emily Dix and Ana Rodriguez have joined the Aggies rotation in the circle.

"They have done very well and Ayden can really spin the ball," Rodolph said. "We knew since she helped take Odessa College to the World Series twice, she knows how to win. ... We definitely have six options where last year we were down to a couple arms."

Offensively, Jillian Taylor is off to a good start with six home runs from the lead off spot, fifth-year senior Kayla Bowen is hitting .309 in the middle of the lineup and Alamogordo product Kendal Lunar is starting as a freshman behind the plate and leading the Aggies in batting average at .368.

"Conference USA will be a step up next year and we only graduated three players so we want to make a great run in the WAC and I absolutely believe we are talented enough to vie for the championship again," Rodolph said.

Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or jgroves@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: New Mexico State softball looks to rebound from a rare down year