The Aggie softball team hosts No. 16/18 Hawai'i this weekend as the Aggies try to bounce back from an 0-3 start to conference play. Aggie play-by-play man Kyle Doperalski also points out that the Aggies have a chance to beat a Top 25 team for the third consecutive week, something not many Aggie teams in any sport can claim.

The Aggies have been battling the injury and sickness bug for the past several weeks and it has taken its toll on the team. The Aggies have lost both middle infielders, Tehani Kaaihue and Kristi Covarrubia, to ACL injuries and eight of the 22 players on the team have been battling mono.

For the Aggies to win the series this weekend they'll need to get strong pitching performances from both Karysta Donisthorpe and Alex Newman. Donisthorpe continues to improve week after week and she'll get a stiff challenge from the Hawai'i offense. Last weekend BYU's Delaney Willard really hurt the Aggies in the cleanup spot for the Cougars and the Wahine have a similarly dangerous hitter in Jessica Iwata who is 6th in the league in batting average. Iwata is second in the league in RBIs. Fellow UH batter Kelly Majam is tied for first in the league in runs scored.

For the Aggies they'll have the difficult task of figuring out the puzzle that is the Hawai'i pitching staff. Kaia Parnaby and Stephanie Ricketts have the two best ERAs in the league at 0.68 and 0.88 respectively. Aggie head coach Kathy Rodolph says the Aggies will need to be aggressive early in the count against both of these pitchers in order to be successful.

Today's game is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. (MT) first pitch and the game will be televised on ESPNU but is tape delayed for an 8:00 p.m. (MT) broadcast.

The New Mexico State equestrian team picked up some national recognition as they had four riders earn All-American honors. Four riders were named to the All-American Honorable Mention team -- Stephanie Gershon and Ruby Jenkins in Equitation on the Flat and Amy Lang and Emily McConnell in Equitation over Fences. Congratulations to those four Aggie student-athletes.

Today's Links...

Aggie Softball
Teddy Feinberg of the Las Cruces Sun-News features Amber Olive.

Aggie Football
Teddy Feinberg of the Las Cruces Sun-News talks things to watch in spring practice.

Teddy Feinberg also talks about fortifying the offensive and defensive lines.

Follow bleedCrimson.net on Twitter: @AgsBleedCrimson, get scoring updates @AggieScores and become a fan on Facebook

If you've found an article that you think other Aggie fans would like to read, send it to us! Select "The Daily Aggie" from the 'Category' drop-down