The Battle for No. 1 Remains a Split in Division II Softball

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the top-ranked Division II softball team, needed an extra inning to beat Cal State Northridge in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday.

CSUN, ranked No. 2 in the nation, needed only Kathy Slaten to win the second game.

Slaten (18-4) shut down Cal Poly on just three hits, and her teammates pounded out 12 hits en route to a 5-1 victory. In the first game, Cal Poly’s Lorie Norcia singled home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The split of the doubleheader at San Luis Obispo left CSUN with a 42-10-1 overall record and a 14-4 mark in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. Cal Poly is 28-10-1 overall and 12-2 in the CCAA.

In the first game, Cal Poly tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the seventh inning, and won it in the first extra inning when Lisa Houk doubled and scored easily on Norcia’s single to center field.

Barb Flynn had two hits for CSUN in the first game and scored the Lady Matadors’ only run in the second inning.

In the second game, Slaten got all the runs she would need in the first inning. CSUN led 2-0 after the first and 5-0 after three innings. Slaten gave up Cal Poly’s lone run in the fourth.

First baseman Kelly Winn led CSUN with two hits and two RBI while second baseman Nancy Lucero had three hits and scored a run.

It was CSUN’s first victory over Cal Poly in five meetings this season.

The split of the doubleheader left the Lady Matadors two games behind Cal Poly in the loss column. CSUN has only two CCAA games remaining, and Cal Poly has six games left, including a doubleheader today against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Cal Poly only needs to win three of its remaining conference games--regardless of what CSUN does--to clinch the conference title and dethrone the defending champion Lady Matadors. CSUN has won the CCAA championship three times and finished as co-champion once in the last four years.