PROVO — Utah cruised and BYU crashed on the first day of the Mountain West Conference softball tournament at Gail Miller Field.
While the No. 2 seeded Utes (28-33) blanked No. 3 UNLV, 8-0, Thursday in the double-elimination tournament, the No. 5 Cougars (29-22) fell to No. 4 New Mexico, 4-1.
BYU faces UNLV at 2 p.m. Friday. If the Cougars manage to down the Rebels, they will meet No. 1 San Diego State at 7 p.m. They must win both games to remain alive.
"We're still optimistic," said BYU pitcher Cynthia Fallowfield, who surrendered only four hits but couldn't overcome UNM. "We know we'll be tough to beat."
Utah will take on the winner of the New Mexico-Colorado State contest Friday at 4:30 p.m. With a win, the Utes can advance to Saturday's championship game.
They didn't waste much time to defeat UNLV. Highlighted by Lyndsey Trevis' grand slam, Utah scored five runs in the second inning. In the fifth, Masie Ota scored on a throwing error by the catcher with the bases loaded. At that point, the game was called due to the eight-run rule.
Junior pitcher Jennifer Pusell (16-16) turned in a brilliant performance for the Utes, allowing just one hit and striking out seven batters.
Tournament-host BYU, on the other hand, outhit New Mexico, 7-4, but it wasn't nearly enough.
The Cougars tied the Lobos, 1-1, in the top of the sixth inning only to watch the Lobos seal the game in the bottom half of that frame.
UNM seized a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI double by Brooke Chaffee. Neither team could get anything going offensively over the next four innings.
In the top of the sixth, the Cougars finally got on the scoreboard when they loaded the bases and Lauren Watson flied out to left field. Debbie Dodds crossed the plate following a UNM throwing error.
However, the Lobos bounced back with a three-run sixth inning. BYU intentionally walked Chaffee to load the bases after it missed a chance to get a force-out at second base. Catcher Tiffany Chambers made the Cougars pay when she drilled a two-run double.
"My only regret is giving up that hit,"said Fallowfield (12-7). "It wasn't a good pitch."
BYU has now lost three straight games, all to New Mexico, and placed itself on the brink of elimination. "We've been here before," Cougar coach Mary Kay Amicone said of her team's predicament. "Our goal is to live til Saturday."
In other MWC Tournament action Thursday:
UNLV 5, COLORADO STATE 1: In the tournament opener, the Rebels broke a scoreless tie by plating four runs in the fourth inning. CSU plays New Mexico Friday at 11:30 a.m.
SDSU 4, NEW MEXICO 1: The No. 1 seeded Aztecs wo n its 40th game of the season, making them to fastest to reach that plateau in MWC history. Conference pitcher of the year Bre DeSanta (19-8) pitched six innings for SDSU, yielding two hits and striking out four batters. The Aztecs will face the winner of the BYU-UNLV game Friday at 7 p.m.
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