Small Colleges / Alan Drooz : It’s That Time of the Year for CS Northridge

It’s been an unusual school year for Cal State Northridge, a perennial Division II power that usually dominates nationally in several sports. This year, the Matadors have come up with only one title, in women’s swimming.

With spring sport tournaments under way, though, it may be Northridge’s time of year. Matador teams will be competing for national titles in women’s softball and golf and will be playing in the baseball regional in the next week.

The softball team, in particular, appears to have a good shot at its fourth National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title after winning the regional last weekend in Sacramento.

The Matadors (55-7) are top-seeded going into the final four Friday at Quincy College in Illinois. They open against Mankato State of Minnesota. In the other opener, Sacred Heart of North Carolina will play Florida Southern.

In a game in which runs are usually at a premium and sacrifices are often a hitter’s most important statistic, the Matadors have an unusually heavy hitting lineup that has produced a .310 team batting average. Priscilla Rouse is hitting .424, Beth Onestinghel is at .359 and Barbara Jordan is at .346. Two other players are above .300. Onestinghel has broken her own school record for runs batted in for a season with 33.

The team’s batting average has risen from .220 two years ago and .250 last year. Coach Gary Torgeson has two major reasons for the improvement.

“First, they moved the mound back three feet this year and that has helped the batters,” he said. “You don’t see the vast number of strikeouts as in the past. The other thing is we have a large hitting complex, with three batting cages, so the girls are able to hit a lot. They probably take 200 or 300 balls a day. Plus, we hit off live pitching every day. I think we hit more than any team around.”

Most good fast-pitch teams feature a star pitcher. Northridge has not one but three successful pitchers. Freshman Debbie Dickman has emerged as the ace with a 21-3 record including two starts and two relief appearances in the regional without allowing an earned run. Delanee Anderson is next at 15-3, and Lisa Martin is 10-1.

“Debbie came into her own over the weekend,” Torgeson said. “She was an awesome sight out there.”

She’ll open against Mankato, and may pitch every day in the double elimination tournament. Torgeson said he’ll let conditions dictate the starter, but he plans to rely heavily on the powerful 6-foot 1-inch Dickman.

“We’re fortunate we have the depth,” he said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to win this thing. If we stay at one game a day, I may stay with Dickman. She’s going to be a great one. She brings the ball. You’ve got to go with that.”

Add Softball: Cal Poly Pomona will visit Cal State Fullerton, defending national champion, for a best-of-three Division I Western Regional series Friday and Saturday. Pomona (42-21) finished fourth in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. but received an at-large bid.

Fullerton (55-8) has beaten Pomona in 4 of 5 games this season. Pomona’s one victory was a 3-0 one-hitter by Rhonda Wheatley that snapped Fullerton’s NCAA-record 34-game winning streak in late April, and Fullerton has not played especially well since. Wheatley is 35-19 with 17 shutouts this season.

Baseball Pairings: Cal State Dominguez Hills will play host for the first time to the Division II baseball regional starting Friday with games at noon and 3 p.m. The opening game of the double-elimination tournament matches Cal State Chico (35-15) and Northridge (36-20). Dominguez Hills (39-13), winner of two straight California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles, will play the loser of the first game at 3 p.m.

If the Toros win that game, the loser is eliminated and the remaining teams will play a best-of-three series. If the Toros lose Friday, they will play the first game Saturday against Friday’s first-game winner.

The Toros are ranked third in the country, Northridge is seventh and Chico ranks 16th, although Chico is seeded second as the Northern California Athletic Conference champion. Northridge was CCAA runner-up, earning an at-large bid. The Matadors have made 12 NCAA appearances, winning five regional and two national titles.

On the NAIA level, Southern California College is riding the season’s most improbable winning streak to the area tournament in Portland this weekend. SCC (23-31) was the upset winner of the NAIA District 3 tournament over the weekend.

The Vanguards, whose coach was fired last week, went into the District 3 tournament coached by a redshirt pitcher and lost the first game. But they unexpectedly won four straight, knocking off Westmont for the championship.

The Occidental College women’s tennis team, which won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title, is one of the top four seeded teams in the Division III tournament starting today at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. Oxy is seeded fourth behind Trenton State, Mary Washington and UC San Diego. The other teams involved are Skidmore, Hope, Kenyon and Emory.

In individual competition, the field includes Oxy’s Kristin Carter and Sue Hulse, Claremont-Mudd’s Suzanne Katleman, Karen Neilson of Pomona-Pitzer and Christine Behrens and Nancy Calhoun of UCSD. Carter and Hulse will also compete as a doubles team.

Small College Notes Cal Poly Pomona sophomore Xenia Anastasiadou won the Division II women’s tennis title over the weekend, defeating teammate Chris Ryan in the semifinal and upsetting Portia George of Southern Illinois Edwardsville in the final. Southern Illinois won the team title. Pomona finished third for the second straight year. . . . In leading Azusa Pacific to its sixth straight NAIA District III track and field championship, Herbie Akpom set two school records: 13.85 seconds, best in NAIA this year in the 110 high hurdles, and 24 feet 10 inches in the long jump. . . . At the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference track and field meet, Claremont-Mudd’s Mark Messana ran the fastest 200 meters in the country for Division III this season--21.26. Teammate Brigid Stirling had the nation’s fastest time in the women’s 1,500, 4:29.50, upsetting favored Michelle Trimble of Occidental.

Kevin Platt, Cal State Bakersfield’s first-year tennis coach, has been named the CCAA’s Coach of the Year, a first for a rookie. He unexpectedly guided the Roadrunners to second place in the CCAA and an NCAA appearance. . . . Sophomore relief pitcher Richard Pickowitz of UC Riverside tied a school record with his sixth save last week. He also leads the Highlanders in victories and earned-run average. . . . Fast Break magazine has named Cal Poly Pomona seniors Debra Larsen and Michelle McCoy first-team basketball All-Americans, and Cal State Los Angeles sophomore center Lupe Quintana a third-team All-American in the college division. Larsen was also named Player of the Year. The magazine named Pomona’s Niki Bracken to the freshman All-American team. All four players and Cal State L.A.’s Shelly Bowcutt were named to the All-Far West team. On the Division III level, Laura Lewis of Cal Baptist was named a second-team All-American.