College Notebook MIKE HISERMAN : Cry of the ‘Kat’ Attack Retires at Northridge

A crowd of more than 1,000 rose to the chant of “Kat!” “Kat!” “Kat!” last week as Cal State Northridge pitcher Kathy Slaten was introduced as a member of the Division II championship all-tournament team.

It was a cheer heard often around the Northridge softball field during the past three years, but it may have been heard for the last time.

Kathy Slaten told The Times last month that she would not return to Northridge for her senior season in 1986. At the time, several people close to her and close to the Northridge softball team did not expect her to stick to her decision.

It appears they were wrong.

Reached at home on Wednesday, Slaten confirmed she will not return, adding there is almost no chance that she will change her mind.

“As of right now, I’m not coming back and I don’t see any reason why in the future I’d change my mind,” Slaten said. “I’ve been thinking about quitting since the start of this season. Softball was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of pressure. When the pressure started to outweigh the fun, I thought it was time to quit.”

Slaten certainly didn’t disappoint those who expected her to leave behind a souvenir.

She pitched the Lady Matadors to another national championship--the third in her three years at the school--and once again posted the kind of statistics that made her a unanimous All-American selection.

Slaten finished 101-27 at CSUN. This season she was 44-12 with 30 shutouts and three no-hitters. In 420 innings, she struck out 533. Strikeout No. 533, fittingly, came on the last out of the championship game.

“It makes it easier to leave--going out a winner,” Slaten said. “When we had only one out to go I knew there was no way they’d beat us.”

So the question remains: Can CSUN win without Slaten?

She thinks so.

“They’ll find a way to win,” she said. “They always have and probably always will. I hope I can come and watch them play. We’ve been sort of like one big family the last three years. It’s hard to walk away.”

It’s a good thing the performance of the athletic teams Los Angeles sends abroad has no direct effect on the nation’s diplomatic relations.

Two weeks ago, the Crenshaw High basketball team swept through an international basketball tournament for high school-aged teams, winning games by an average of almost 90 points per game.

Last week, a football team coached by Pierce College’s Jim Fenwick caused about the same amount of damage in an international football tournament in Finland.

Fenwick took only 23 players, most of whom have played for him at Pierce. All-star teams from Finland, West Germany and France were the opposition. On the surface it appeared to be a pretty good match-up.

The results, however, were pretty one-sided.

In its first game, Pierce defeated the Tampere (Finland) Rocks, 63-0. In the title game the following day, Pierce beat the Helsinki Roosters, 61-0.

Fenwick had explained before leaving on the trip that while Pierce’s team was not an all-star team, it would still probably be the tournament favorite because football was just developing in Finland.

“They’re learning, but the people I’ve talked to were enthusiastic about the sport,” Fenwick said.

Well, at least they were enthusiastic.

A successful season ended on a not-so-happy or healthy note for the Pierce College men’s tennis team.

At the state championship tournament last week, Pierce’s No. 1 singles player, Jonas Wallgard, and its coach, Paul Xanthos, each succumbed to illnesses.

Wallgard, the Southern California community college singles champion, won his first-round match, but lost in the quarterfinals to Bob Green of Foothill College after experiencing a stomach ailment.

“He had been having problems for three days before the competition and never said anything,” Xanthos said. “I noticed he was holding his side in the second set of his first-round match.”

Wallgard won the first set, 6-3, but barely held on in the second, winning, 7-6.

In doubles competition, Wallgard and teammate Leo Valencia also were eliminated in the quarterfinals, losing to a team from Foothill, 6-1, 6-3.

Xanthos, however, had more serious problems than the demise of his team. He was hospitalized during the tournament due to chest pains.

“It felt like my heart was fluttering and there was a burning in my chest,” Xanthos said by phone from his home in Tarzana this week. “I checked my pulse and it was going crazy. Up around 150.”

After visiting a doctor Wednesday Xanthos had good news to report. He did not have a heart attack. “The doctor just told me to take it easy, that my body was trying to tell me something.”

He will have to cancel a business trip to Japan scheduled for next week. By doing so, Xanthos figures he can salvage a 22-day cruise and tennis tour of Greece he has planned for the end of June. “It’s something to look forward to,” he said.

Wallgard also will be traveling a bit, trying to decide where to continue his tennis career next year.

He is considering offers from national champion Georgia, Arizona State, Utah and Arkansas, among others.