SOFTBALL / PAIGE A. LEECH : Mavericks Feel CSUN Influence

About 120 women have lettered in softball at Cal State Northridge in the 15 years the school has offered the sport.

Most hung up their glove and spikes and called it quits after college.

This summer, however, nine former Northridge players dusted off their equipment, joined forces and returned to the diamond.

Although the team easily could call itself the Matador Alumna, it is known as the Stevenson Ranch Mavericks, a women’s Amateur Softball Assn. fast-pitch team based in the Santa Clarita Valley.

With only six players back from last year’s team, the flood of former Northridge players was considered a welcome addition by Coach Daren Allen.

Because most of the team members played together at one time at Northridge, team chemistry was not a problem. This summer has been more a homecoming for the players than a new experience.

The Mavericks earned a berth in this weekend’s Division A national tournament in Salem, Ore., with a third-place finish in the state tournament in San Diego last month.

Terri Pearson is the lone team member who is currently a Northridge player. Pearson’s older sister, Patti (1989-92), and Heather Lindstrom (1989-92) just finished their senior seasons with the Matadors.

Other former Northridge players include: Jamie Berkman (1989), Susie Duane (1988), Anna Getherall (1987-90), Erin McGuire (1989-90), Sue Oran (1981-83), Leslie Plank (1987-90) and Pam Smith (1988-89).

Other team members include: Deb Cohen (Grant), Faith Barkin (Valley College), Nancy Lucchese (Burbank) and Tamara Silvera (Pierce).

Add Northridge: Those 10 former Northridge players aren’t the only Matadors to have banded together this summer. Four other current and former Matadors are playing for the Southern California Jazz, a top-ranked Division A team that also will compete in this weekend’s national tournament.

Current Matadors Missy Cress, Jen Fleming and Tamara Ivie along with former player Lisa Erickson (1987-90) have helped the Jazz streak to a 31-4 record this summer. The Jazz is 2-1 against the Mavericks in tournament action.

True to form: Cress and Erickson are continuing to do for the Jazz what they did for the Matadors.

Cress, who led the Matadors last season with a .444 batting average with runners in scoring position, has 28 runs batted in this summer, second only to three-time All-American Camille Spitaleri (Kansas) with 31.

“She’s a clutch hitter,” Jazz Coach Don Dykstra said. “She has been playing Missy Cress-type softball.”

Erickson, whose .459 batting average in 1989 is the highest ever at Northridge, is hitting .438 for the Jazz.

Champions: The Orange County Bat Busters posted an 8-0 mark in tournament play last week in Chattanooga, Tenn., and won the 18-and-under national championship.

Gordon’s Panthers, a team that includes six players from Ventura County and the Valley, finished sixth, and the Shilos, who have five Valley-area players, finished 20th in the 77-team tournament. Members of the Panthers include Jenny Dalton (Glendale), Nicole Ochoa and Christy Collier (both of Thousand Oaks), Jamie Dean (Hart), Nancy Evans (Hoover) and Laura Richardson (Camarillo).

Area players on the Shilos are Marie Costa (Chaminade), Kerry LeMasters (Canyon), Dionne Mackey (Ventura) and Michelle St. Pierre (La Reina).

Illegal pitches: Before the 18-and-under national tournament last week, St. Pierre had pitched 91 innings this summer. Not once was she called for an illegal pitch.

The national tournament, however, was another story.

St. Pierre, who did not give up an earned run in the tournament, twice was called for illegal pitches. The umpire ruled that St. Pierre’s front foot had come off the rubber before she had released the pitch. On each occasion, it cost the Shilos a run.

“It was just kind of weird because I never got called for it in California (this summer),” St. Pierre said. “And then they didn’t call it until there was a runner at third.”

Runners advance a base when an illegal pitch is called.

Rick St. Pierre, Michelle’s father and the Shilos’ coach, immediately pulled his daughter from the circle each time and did not dispute the call.

“It’s one of those judgment calls,” he said. “That’s life. I don’t argue those.”

Action and excitement: The Shilos saw plenty of action in their tournament games, and the excitement didn’t stop when they left the field.

A stolen cement truck crashed in front of the hotel after a high-speed police chase during the team’s first night in Chattanooga.