The Colleges : Chong Feasts on Pomona Pitching After His Jersey Goes to the Dogs

Chae-Ho Chong, the designated-hitter for the Cal State Northridge baseball team, ripped his ninth home run of the season Tuesday against Cal Poly Pomona.

Chong, a senior, tore into a pitch from Pomona’s Wayne Koklys wearing the jersey that had been issued to his brother, Jason, a freshman catcher who left the team Monday to concentrate on academics.

There was nothing symbolic about Chae-Ho’s choice of wardrobe, however.

“My dog ate my shirt,” Chong said as he pulled his tattered regular jersey from his bag. “I have a couple of dogs that are a Doberman and dachshund mix.

“I put it on top of the washing machine and they jumped up and got it. They’re pretty smart and pretty wild.

“I don’t know which one ate it. They wouldn’t tell me.”

Double(s) talk: Merja Hellsten and Gunvor Hatling, a double’s combination for the Cal Lutheran women’s tennis team, have an advantage over most opponents.

They can blurt out strategy during a match without fear of revealing their plan of attack.

Unless, of course, their opponents also speak Swedish.

Hellsten is from Finland and Hatling is from Norway. They team to play No. 2 doubles for the Regals.

Hellsten and Hatling’s opponents are not the only ones who have been confused, however. Carla DuPuis, Cal Lutheran’s coach, also has trouble understanding her players--they speak Swedish as a common language.

“People come up and ask me what they’re saying, but I don’t know,” DuPuis said. “They get frustrated during a match and I think they swear in Swedish. As long as I don’t know what they’re saying, it’s OK with me.”

Shake and bake: Opponents beware. Knock Heather Lindstrom around early or forget it.

Lindstrom, a pitcher on the Northridge softball team, has experienced first-inning jitters in a few games this season.

She blames her occasional slow starts on nerves. CSUN coaches say it is to be expected from a freshman given the responsibility of pitching for a top-ranked team.

Whatever the case, when Lindstrom gets past those early butterflies--which often has been the case--look out.

In games against nationally ranked teams last weekend, the right-hander from Crescenta Valley High allowed one earned run in 23 innings while striking out 16 and walking two. She earned a win in CSUN’s 8-0 victory Saturday over Cal State Dominguez Hills, then picked up another Sunday for 16 innings of work in CSUN’s doubleheader sweep of second-ranked Cal State Sacramento.

“She’s really had only one real bad game, and that was when she had a sore arm,” Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson said. “She’s pitched very well, even in some of the games she’s lost.”

Lindstrom (16-4) doesn’t throw particularly hard, relying instead on a mix of five pitches.

“She’s a finesse pitcher, but she has good movement and changes speed,” pitching Coach Andy Kim said. “And she does little things, like throw in on left-handers, that pitcher’s have to do to win.”

King’s ransom: Debbie Dickmann, CSUN’s All-American softball pitcher, was a hockey fan long before it became fashionable in Southern California.

But her emotions were torn before Saturday’s seventh and deciding game between the Kings and Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I like the Oilers, they’re my team,” she said Saturday after pitching a three-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over Dominguez Hills. “But I like (Wayne) Gretzky more than I like the whole team of the Oilers, so either way I win.

“Really, I hope Gretzky does it, though, because I’d like to prove to the Oilers that one player does make a difference and that they made a big mistake.”

Consider it done.

Greener golf pastures: The Northridge men’s golf team tied for fourth two weeks ago in the 13-team Grand Canyon College tournament at Wigwam Country Club in Phoenix, an encouraging sign to Matador Coach Jim Bracken.

“We’re starting to come around,” said Bracken, whose team finished eighth in the Division II last season. “This was our best tournament of the year. We averaged close to 74 a man. . . . I think our prospects are looking up for nationals.”

The Matadors leave today for Corvallis, Ore., to play in the 16-team Oregon State tournament in preparation for a District 8 qualifying tournament Apr. 27-28 at Nevada Reno.

CSUN, which won the first district qualifier at Cal State Stanislaus, must defeat UC Davis, Portland State, Cal State Sacramento and Cal State Dominguez Hills in Reno to secure an automatic berth in the Division II nationals at the Lake View Country Club in Erie, Penn., in May.

Hitting his stride: Catcher Craig Pearson, frustrated over limited playing time as a freshman at Oxnard, transferred to Moorpark for his sophomore season.

As far as Raider Coach Ron Stillwell is concerned, he can have all the at-bats he wants.

Pearson leads the Western State Conference in batting with a .534 average.

Add Moorpark: The school record for hits in a season will be broken by at least three players.

Freshman second baseman Steve Sisco, with 55 hits, already has bettered the previous mark of 53 set by Kelly Cici. Hot on his trail are freshman third baseman Darin Furlong (52) and Pearson (51). Sisco and Furlong each had 20-game hitting streaks this season.

Shots in the dark: Three of the eight teams invited to the Division II nationals in women’s tennis could be from the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.

Northridge (6-12 overall, 4-3 in conference matches) certainly hopes so, because it is in third place, behind Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona.

The Lady Matadors, who will play host to second-ranked San Luis Obispo on Friday at 1:30 p.m., would be in better shape had they not been upset by Cal State Los Angeles, 5-4, two weeks ago.

“We played very uninspired,” Coach Tony Davila said of the CSLA match. “You might say we played nocturnal doubles. Unfortunately, we happened to be playing during the day.”

Staff writers Mike Hiserman, Gary Klein and Ralph Nichols contributed to this notebook.