Early Impressions : College softball: Twenty-five wins bring soft-spoken freshman Blake a mound of respect with her CSUN teammates.

While other 8-year-olds slept, snuggled in cozy warm beds, Kathy Blake was working on her fastball. Until she was 12, Blake and her father Daniel awoke at 5 a.m. and headed for the back yard of their Hidden Hills home.

“We’d pitch every single day--200 pitches until I got to 25,000,” Blake said.

Currently reaping the benefits of Blake’s childhood work ethic is the Cal State Northridge softball team.

Blake, the team’s ace freshman right-hander with a record of 25-6 and an 0.59 earned-run average, has been the driving force in CSUN’s success.

Today, Blake will lead 10th-ranked Northridge (45-23-1) against No. 4 Fresno State (48-14) in the Matadors’ first NCAA Division I regional playoff game. Today is the first game of a three-game series, with the winner advancing to the College World Series in Oklahoma City.

Blake reached her goal of 25,000 pitches before the age of 10, improving her accuracy and velocity. She worked out in the morning with her father, a veterinarian, because it was the only time he had an hour to spare. By the time Blake reached her goal, she was hooked. Throwing in the early morning light simply became a habit.

“I always wanted to be good,” Blake said. “But my dad’s motivation really helped.”

Blake, 18, is a sensitive, soft-spoken athlete. So quiet, in fact, Coach Gary Torgeson wasn’t sure she would fit in with her outspoken and jocular teammates, whom he frequently refers to as a “bunch of Marines.”

In the beginning, Blake wasn’t convinced she would fit in, either. She sometimes blanched at the rough language, and her teammates’ pointed barbs often pierced her thin skin. “It was hard for me at first,” she said. “I took everything personally. But most of the time they’re just joking around.”

But Blake’s shy demeanor masks a fierce competitive spirit. “She hates to lose,” Torgeson said. “But you’d never guess it because she doesn’t project it.”

Blake’s competitiveness--and her solid performance on the mound--helped win the support of her teammates.

“When she pitches, the game is a lot more fast paced,” senior catcher Patti Pearson said. “She throws a lot more strikes (than the other pitchers), so it’s more of a bam-bam thing.”

In Blake’s senior year at Paso Robles High in northern San Luis Obispo County, she was 24-2 and did not allow an earned run in 177 innings. She appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section on July 1, 1991. None of that seemed to matter to her, however. She thought she was a mediocre pitcher and entered the college ranks with trepidation.

“I thought I was gonna bomb,” Blake said. “I didn’t think I was very good. I just thought I was good for high school and that was just about it.”

Torgeson expected more--but not much more. A 10-win season by his new recruit would have satisfied him. But she has more than doubled that and thrust herself into the Matador record book.

On May 2, she broke a school record for most wins by a freshman, set by former All-American Debbie Dickmann (24-3) in 1987. On the all-time list Blake ranks fourth in ERA, seventh in shutouts (12), eighth in games pitched (36), complete games (28) and strikeouts (103), and 10th in wins (25).

In 213 1/3 innings, Blake has hit only one batter and walked 21.

“Kathy Blake is going to make a name for herself,” Torgeson said.

Apparently, she already has.