Northridge Powers Past Utah, Into Record Book : College softball: Matadors hit five home runs in doubleheader sweep, establish NCAA Division I standard with 30 in a season.

Softball players at Cal State Northridge realized they were doing something right a couple of weeks ago when university President Dr. Blenda J. Wilson interrupted practice only to say how proud she was of the team, which just had been voted the No. 2 ranking in the nation.

At least someone was paying attention.

Now the Matadors are trying to wake up others. With five home runs Friday in a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of Utah, 2-0 and 8-1, Northridge improved its home run total to 30, eclipsing by one the NCAA Division I record set in 1985 by Texas A&M.;

The NCAA record of 36 was set last year by a Division II school, Virginia Union. That, too, appears in jeopardy. Northridge has 20 games remaining.

Terri Pearson started things with the first game’s only homer. In the second game, Beth Calcante, Tamara Ivie and Scia Maumausolo punctuated the third inning with consecutive shots.

Calcante’s was a grand slam.

“It’s a roommate thing,” Pearson said. “She’s always upstaging me.”

This time, so did Maumausolo, who also had a solo blast in the second.

It was the second consecutive doubleheader in which Northridge (30-3-1, 6-0 in the WAC) had launched five home runs, and the first time the Matadors have hit four in one game and three in a row, a power surge that seems to have infectious qualities.

“I knew we had a lot of power,” Ivie said. “But I didn’t know we were going to hit home runs to this extent. It seems to be running through the whole lineup. Anyone can hit one out.”

Players are not taking all the credit, they’re giving some of it to the ball. The NCAA this season replaced the standard white ball of years past with a fluorescent green version that has a harder core. Batters are seeing it better and they don’t have to hit it hard to get it over the fence.

Pearson’s homer in the first game looked like “a deep popup, but it just kept carrying,” she said.

Maumausolo’s first home run also was a deceptive fly ball that didn’t appear to have enough loft to clear the fence.

“If you don’t hit it solid,” Ivie said, “it still goes.”

Added Northridge Coach Gary Torgeson: “That’s exactly what effect the new ball was supposed to have. It’s adding life to the game. In the past, we didn’t have this much excitement in a whole season.”

The new ball isn’t only swelling statistics, it’s boosting Northridge’s confidence level.

“When we win the conference this year, it will be the first time a Northridge team in a major Division I conference has done so,” Pearson said. “And, hopefully, we’ll go further than that.

“We have a lot of pride, and everyone wants to be the first Northridge team to bring home an NCAA championship.”