CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE SOFTBALL PREVIEW : Lady Matadors Trying to Graduate on Top

These are lean times for the Cal State Northridge softball program, a peek at the exterior of the Lady Matadors’ third-base dugout being positive proof.

There, painted in bold, white lettering and strung together in rows like pearls, were lists of CSUN’s championships.

Since 1982, the ledger showed, Northridge had won eight consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships, seven regional titles and four NCAA Division II championships.

But the slate has been wiped clean.

Gary Torgeson, CSUN’s coach, had the wall painted over in black. His reasoning: Lately, the Lady Matadors have been making empty boasts.

“We have to get back to the level we’ve been bragging about,” said Torgeson, whose team had a record of 61-19 last season and failed to make the Final Four for the first time in eight seasons. “I used to think it gave us a mental edge when other teams came in and saw that, but we’re just not playing up to that level anymore.”

Besides, their Division II credits will not help in a year in which the Lady Matadors begin playing a Division I schedule. First, however, a grand exit is being plotted.

“Preparing for the Division I move is good, but our priority is to get out of (Division II) on top,” Torgeson said. “We want to win the whole thing.”

The team Northridge will field in its opener at Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday is a vintage mixture of pitching, speed and defense--”a very typical Northridge team,” Torgeson said.

With one notable exception: A little extra punch has been added to the Punch-and-Judy slap hitters for which CSUN is notorious.

Among those providing added pop is Jeanne Mixon, a redshirt freshman who is expected to share designated-hitter duties with Joanna Sanchez.

More power should be generated by cleanup hitter Patty Pearson, a sophomore catcher, and left-fielder Erin McGuire.

Batting leadoff will be All-American Lisa Erickson, which means Northridge will still have the slap-and-run and the drag bunt in its arsenal.

Erickson has batted .420 and a school-record .459 using such techniques the past two seasons.

A real strength for the Lady Matadors is the pitching staff.

Debbie Dickmann, a three-time All-American, has used a no-nonsense approach en route to a 76-13 record and 53 shutouts in her career at CSUN. An intimidating 6-foot-1, Dickmann has 468 strikeouts in 670 1/3 innings.

Heather Lindstrom, the Lady Matadors’ most valuable player by a vote of team members last season, plays Tommy John to Dickmann’s Nolan Ryan. Relying on control and a variety of off-speed pitches, Lindstrom was 22-6 with an 0.74 earned-run average as a freshman.