OTHER SPORTS : NCAA Steps Back; CSUN Steps Ahead

What a difference three feet can make. The NCAA moved the softball pitching rubber from 40 feet back to 43 feet this season and Cal State Northridge has taken full advantage.

The Lady Matadors are batting .314 as a team compared to .258 in 1986. Coach Gary Torgeson said the extra distance has changed his strategy as much as the team’s average.

“Before, you’d get one run and could sit back and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got it,’ ” he said. “You can’t afford to do that now. There’s more hitting. Anything can happen.”

But, usually, it hasn’t--at least not when Northridge is on the field. CSUN pitchers have a combined earned-run average of 0.48, only a slight increase from the 0.40 ERA they had last season.

Cents over sense: As the top-ranked team in Division II softball, Northridge assumed it would be the host of the West regional Friday and Saturday. But when the site of the three-team, double-elimination tournament was announced Monday, it was Cal State Sacramento.

Naturally, Torgeson was more than a bit upset. He said a member of the playoff committee already had told him Northridge would be the host.

“At the time they assumed only two California teams would qualify for the regional,” Torgeson said. “Now there are three and two are from Northern California. It’s just their policy. It doesn’t matter where we’re ranked. It’s a matter of dollars and cents. They’d rather pay for one team to travel than have to pay for two.”

Nevertheless, Torgeson said he expects the team to have no trouble playing big games on the road.

If Northridge advances, it will have to travel again--this time all the way to Quincy, Ill.--for the national championship tournament, May 15-17.

Cal State Northridge won the NCAA Division II District 8 golf championship Tuesday, defeating Cal State Sacramento by two strokes at the La Contenta Country Club in Valley Springs.

The Matadors were led by Wayne Tyni, who shot 208 over 54 holes to place second among individuals. CSUN’s Pat Boyd was fourth at 214.

Northridge, which trailed by six shots after 18 holes Monday, rallied to defeat Sacramento, 857-859. Both teams have qualified for the Division II national championships in Columbus, Ga., May 19-21.

The NAIA District III tennis championships will be held at Cal Lutheran at 9 this morning. Chris Groff of CLU is the top-seeded singles player. Truls Midtbo is seeded fourth. The doubles team of Groff and Mike Wendling also is seeded first in the tournament.

Jeremy Bowman and Chris Ro of Valley College finished eighth in the men’s 1,650-yard and 200 freestyle, respectively, at the state junior college swimming championships last week at Merced. Shawna Sacks was eighth in the women’s 500 free. Each received medals.

In the team standings, the Valley men finished 14th and the women were 27th.

Add Swimming: Norm Skorge and Kim Reese of Pierce each won three medals at the state championship meet to lead the men’s and women’s teams to 16th- and 24th-place finishes, respectively. Skorge won the 100-yard butterfly (50.47), was third in the 100 free (47.49) and seventh in the 200 individual medley (1:57.1). Reese finished fifth in 50 free (25.5), fifth in 50 butterfly (27.79) and sixth in the 100 free (55.69). In the consolation final, Pierce’s Brent Hermanson placed third in the 200 butterfly (2:02.52) and fourth in 400 individual medley (4:26.63).

All-CCAA: Northridge placed three women and two men on the All-California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tennis teams. Kelly Grattan, Allison Kincaid and Nicole Gillis made the women’s team. Renard and Feinbloom were among the men selected.