COLLEGE PREVIEWS : CSUN SOFTBALL : Northridge Includes Some Serious Power in Slap-Stick Lineup

Not much new about the Cal State Northridge softball team this season.

The Lady Matadors should still be strong in the field and fast on the bases, and when they come to the plate most of the right-handers will be batting left-handed.

Does the latter sound strange? Then you haven’t paid attention in recent years.

Coach Gary Torgeson’s CSUN teams have won 344 games and 4 NCAA Division II national championships largely because of what is refered to as “the short game.”

To be a good short-game player takes 2 basic ingredients: One must make contact (preferably on the ground) and be fast to first base.

Left-handers are 1 1/2 steps closer to their destination than right-handers, and that is why Torgeson teaches right-handers to hit--slap?--from the left side.

To further that advantage, batters are taught to be on the move when they make contact. Therefore, they line up deep in the batter’s box and run toward the pitch, veering to the right as the bat crosses the plate.

Lisa Erickson, who hit .161 as a switch-hitting freshman, perfected the short stroke last season and batted .420 with a school-record 89 hits.

Is it any wonder, then, that of CSUN’s 9 left-handed hitters, 7 are converts?

Torgeson calls the short game an “undefensible tool.”

Only this time around it won’t be the only weapon in the team’s arsenal.

Already stocked with Punch-and-Judys, Northridge has added some straight punch in the form of Char Schmitt, a double-transfer from Arizona State and Golden West College.

Schmitt, a catcher, will bat No. 4 for CSUN, which went without a true power hitter in the cleanup position last season and still finished 53-13 and third in the nation.

“She has a lot of experience, a gun for an arm and she hits with power,” Torgeson said. “We’re back to where we were two years ago in that we have people who can really sock the ball.”

Outfielder Jamia Berkman and designated-hitter-catcher Patty Pearson are other newcomers capable of providing extra power.

Lisa Hall and Pam Smith give the Lady Matadors experience at the corners. Hall, a 3-year starter at third base, batted .300 last season and was second on the team with 46 runs batted in. Smith batted .279 and had 32 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.

And when the offense stalls, CSUN can always fall back on old dependable, All-American pitcher Debbie Dickmann.

Dickmann was 22-4 with 17 shutouts last season and Torgeson claims she has improved.

“She has developed a great work ethic,” Torgeson said of Dickmann. “She’s matured a lot and is more mentally tough.”

Perhaps even more importantly, she is healthy. Last season Dickmann had to contend with constant soreness in her throwing shoulder. She also had a stress fracture in her left shin that limited her preseason exercise program.

“I couldn’t run or even ride a bike,” Dickmann said. “Now I’m in shape and my shoulder feels great.”

CSUN opens its season at home at 8:30 this morning against Nevada Las Vegas in the 3-day Tournament of Champions.