If you haven't done so yet, check out our fall check-in with Aggie softball coach Kathy Rodolph. The Aggies hosted the National Fastpitch All-Star team last week losing 10-1 (the one run being a highlight because not many college teams have scored on the All-Stars) and open up fall ball this weekend against some much easier competition.
Coach Rodolph's team also was recognized by the American Fastpitch Coaches Association for being outstanding in the classroom. The Aggies carried a team GPA of 3.305 and out of nine WAC programs, they were the only team to be honored. They also had 11 student athletes post at least a 3.50 GPA for the academic year of 2009-2010 earning the distinction as a Scholar Athlete. Very impressive stuff. Aggie I-10 rival UTEP also made the list and came in just slightly ahead of the Aggies with a 3.337 GPA, though they only had six players earn the Scholar Athlete distinction. UNM did not make the All-Academic Team list nor did they have any players on the Scholar Athlete list.
The Aggies have very high hopes for the 2011 season as they'll say goodbye to seven outstanding seniors who have helped take this program from being one of the worst programs in the country to one of the better programs in the country and certainly one of the most potent offenses in the country.
This could very well be the season that the Aggies make their first trip to the NCAA Regionals.

The Aggie football team will be back to work as they prepare to travel to Fresno State to take on the Bulldogs. The Aggies and Bulldogs have played a couple of close games over the course of their time together in the WAC. Two of the last three games have been decided by a touchdown and the Aggies' last visit to Fresno resulted in a 24-17 loss.
The good news for the Aggie defense is that they don't have to worry about Ryan Matthews running the ball, he's in San Diego playing for the Chargers. The bad news is the Bulldogs have a pretty good passing attack led by quarterback Ryan Colburn who has thrown 12 touchdowns and six interceptions and has 1250 passing yards on the season and is averaging 250 yards per game.
It'll be a good test for the Aggie defense who found life against New Mexico forcing four turnovers (again, the fifth turnover came on special teams) and getting their first two sacks of the season.
The big question offensively is who will start at quarterback. Andrew Manley's redshirt came off in the final drive against New Mexico and there is certainly a lot of support for the true freshman to earn the starting spot this week. While it's a very small sample set to go off of, Manley did move the Aggie offense on that final drive completing passes for 11 yards and 21 yards, the 21-yarder being a pass that we noted as one that we haven't seen thrown by an Aggie since the days of Chase Holbrook.
Regardless of who starts at quarterback (our vote is for Andrew Manley but of course our vote doesn't count) it will be a much stiffer test against a much better defense in Fresno State than the one the Aggies struggled against on Saturday when they faced New Mexico.
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