May 8, 2003
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State softball team (36-17) managed to escape defeat when freshman shortstop Bianca Cruz launched a home run over the center field fence in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the Aztecs with the New Mexico Lobos, 3-3, in SDSU's first game of the 2003 Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday afternoon. The game was suspended due to darkness and will resume in the eighth inning Friday morning at 9 a.m.
SDSU scored first in the game when junior first baseman Jacque Vaca drove in sophomore outfielder Erin Mahoney to put the Aztecs up, 1-0. New Mexico took a 3-1 lead in the sixth courtesy of Stephanie Kennedy's three-run homer.
In the Aztecs' sixth frame, Mahoney crossed home plate again off a Vaca single to cut the Lobos' lead by one, 3-2, before Cruz's home run in the seventh.
The winner of the SDSU/New Mexico contest will advance to the next round where it will play the winner of the Utah/BYU game, while the losing team will play UNLV in an elimination contest. Game 5, originally slated for a 9 a.m. start, will begin approximately 20 minutes following the conclusion of the Aztec-Lobo game.