CSUN Launched by Ivie’s Blast : College softball: Matadors make plans for Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City after junior first baseman’s homer, her ninth, defeats Fresno State, 2-0.

Tamara Ivie’s two-run home run in the first inning fueled Cal State Northridge’s 2-0 victory Sunday over Fresno State in the decisive game of the NCAA Division I championship series before 701 at Northridge.

The second-ranked Matadors (47-7-1) advance to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City, May 27-31. It will be their first appearance since joining the Division I ranks in 1991. Fresno State, which pushed the regional series to a third game with a 2-0 victory earlier Sunday, finished 38-24.

For the second time in as many days, the Matadors beat Fresno State pitcher Marcie Green with a two-run home run. Scia Maumausolo’s two-run homer Saturday paced the Matadors’ 2-1 victory in the first game of the series.

Green (24-11), a senior right-hander who pitched every inning of each game, allowed a total of seven hits. Of the 258 pitches she threw, she would probably like two back.

“Unfortunately . . . they both went over the fence and that hurt us,” Fresno State Coach Margie Wright said.

Green’s second mistake came early in the deciding game. With one out in the first Ivie swatted an outside pitch over the right-center field fence then circled the bases jumping, thrusting her fists into the air and pointing at the Bulldogs as if the game had ended. It hadn’t, of course, but Ivie’s blast--and her taunting home run trot--certainly appeared to deflate the Bulldogs.

For Ivie, who has hit nine of the the Matadors’ NCAA record-setting 40 home runs this season, it was a matter of waiting for a pitch that she had seen before--an outside curve.

“(In) the first game (Green) threw those pitches and I flied out to center field and I flied out to right field. And I was really upset with myself because I should have hit those two balls balls out,” Ivie said. “But, I didn’t. I had lazy spaghetti hands and spaghetti arms and I wasn’t holding the bat tight.

“I told myself if she’s gonna bring that pitch, I’m gonna hit it hard.”

The Matadors poured out of the dugout and held a short celebration party for Ivie at the plate with hugs, high-fives and nifty little hand-slaps.

And it didn’t end there. After the rest of the team had returned to the dugout, Beth Calcante, who was on base when Ivie hit her homer, corralled the slugger for one more bow--at the Bulldogs’ expense. Both dropped to one knee, then pointed and shouted once more at Green and the Bulldogs.

The action was viewed as taunting by the umpire and he served warning to Coach Gary Torgeson and the Matadors, a warning to which Torgeson took exception. He showed his displeasure by kicking the dirt on his return to the dugout. It was nothing short of what goes on every day in baseball, according to the coach.

“It seems to me like we have a double standard--how baseball players play and how softball players play,” Torgeson said. “There is no gender equity in this thing as far as I’m concerned.”

While Ivie put the Matadors on the scoreboard, Kathy Blake’s outstanding pitching performance kept the Bulldogs off it.

Blake (21-2), a sophomore right-hander, tossed a three-hitter and faced just three batters over the minimum. Northridge is 4-3 against Fresno this season; Blake owns all the victories.

In the first game, Fresno State scored in the first inning on a two-out single by Jenifer Henry, a Buena High graduate. The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the sixth on a double by Melissa Thatcher from Agoura High.