COLLEGE HIGHLIGHTS : Northridge Opens With Easy Wins

Cal State Northridge rolled to victories over Chico State and San Francisco State in the first two games of the Sacramento softball tournament Thursday at Cal State Sacramento.

Debbie Dickman (16-3) struck out seven and pitched a two-hitter as CSUN opened with a 5-0 victory of Chico State. Priscilla Rouse had three hits and Kelly Winn, Lisa Hall and Kim Bernstein had two hits each for CSUN.

Northridge had 13 hits in a 10-1 victory over San Francisco State that was called after five innings because of the tournament blowout rule. Lori Shelly’s two-run double put CSUN ahead 4-1 in the second inning and Barbara Jordan’s two-run triple in the third gave the Matadors a 9-1 lead. Delanee Anderson improved her record to 14-2 with a three-hitter.

CSUN (47-6), ranked No. 1 in among Division II schools, completes pool play today with games against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 10 a.m. and UC Davis at 1 p.m.

BASEBALL

Moorpark scored six runs in the first inning and rolled on to a 13-2 Western State Conference victory over visiting Pierce (13-19, 9-14 in conference).

Moorpark’s Rick Allen had a grand slam and a double to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. During the streak, Allen is 22 for 44 and has raised his batting average from .205 to .345.

Moorpark (21-14, 14-9) can wrap up third place in the WSC Southern Division with a doubleheader sweep of Santa Barbara City College on Saturday. A sweep would also give the Raiders their second-best record in school history.

At Cal Lutheran, Azusa Pacific scored three runs in the second and third innings en route to a 9-7 Golden State Athletic Conference victory. The loss eliminated Cal Lutheran from contention for a berth in the NAIA District III playoffs.

Cal Lutheran scored twice in the ninth inning and had the bases loaded with one out, but Azusa Pacific reliever Joe Avalos retired the next two batters to end the game.

Ed Howard was 3 for 4 and Stacy Kruse had a home run and three runs batted in for Cal Lutheran (16-25, 7-11).

SOFTBALL

Ann Swinehart hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning to give Cal Lutheran a 3-2 nonconference win over Whittier College. Dee Pilkington had a solo home run for 19th-ranked Cal Luthern (29-14) in the third inning.

TENNIS

CSUN ended its season with a 6-3 California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory at UC Riverside. Nicolas Renard, Mark Copeland, David Yablon and Fran Chavez each scored singles victories for CSUN (13-9, 7-5 in conference).